By Tommy Witherspoon

Tribune-Herald staff writer

While former Central Texas Baptist minister Matt Baker makes his innocence claims on another national network broadcast, he’s also soliciting friends, family and “prayer warriors” in Kerrville for $100,000 in donations to his legal defense fund.

Baker, 36, formerly of Hewitt, wascharged in September with murder in the April 2006 death of his wife, Kari, an elementary school teacher and the mother of his two daughters.

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MATT BAKER CASE

• 09-04-09  Murder trial for former Baptist minister Matt Baker pushed back to January 
• 08-29-09  Picking Central Texas jurors for trials of pastors can be 2-edged sword 
• 05-20-09  Prosecutors subpoena Matt Baker's school records, preparing for murder trial 
• 05-15-09  Former Waco-area pastor changes attorney defending him in his wife's death 
• 04-25-09  Judge orders Matt Baker to submit DNA; rejects request for grand jury records 
• 04-22-09  Attorney for former Waco-area pastor opposes motion to get DNA from his client in murder trial 
• 04-17-09  Expert witnesses in Matt Baker case could be costly to taxpayers 
• 04-16-09  Prosecutors ask judge to order Matt Baker to submit DNA sample 
• 04-15-09  Former Waco-area pastor trying to get access to grand jury testimony in preparation for his murder trial 
• 04-11-09  Former Baptist minister Baker out of jail on $250,000 bond 
• 04-10-09  Judge approves $250,000 surety bond in Matt Baker murder case 
• 04-08-09  Former Waco-area preacher asks court to appoint defense experts in his murder trial in his wife's death 
• 04-07-09  Attorney for indicted former Waco-area pastor wants prosecutors sanctioned for behavior 
• 03-28-09  Former minister Baker who was indicted for murder transferred to Waco 
• 03-27-09  Former Waco-area Baptist minister surrenders to police on murder charge in wife's death 
• 03-26-09  Former Waco-area pastor indicted on murder charge in wife's death 
• 12-19-08  Wrongful death lawsuit against former Central Texas minister Baker pushed back 
• 12-13-08  Former Central Texas minister Matt Baker seeks dismissal of wrongful death suit because of lack of evidence 
• 07-26-08  Former minister Baker's attorney seeks delay in start of civil suit trial 
• 05-10-08  Matt Baker soliciting funds for civil suit battle over wife's death 
• 03-26-08  DA: Evidence lacking so far in Matt Baker murder case 
• 03-21-08  Ex-minister wants bond back in arrest on murder charges in wife's death 
• 03-21-08  Lawsuit refiled against former Central Texas pastor in his wife's death 
• 12-08-07  Matt Baker says rumor, innuendo fuel murder charge against him 
• 12-08-07  Arrest warrant affidavit for Matt Baker 
• 12-08-07  Death, depression and drugs: Q&A with Matt Baker 
• 10-26-07  Former minister Baker out after 3 weeks in jail 
• 10-24-07  Former minister Baker's release expected soon 
• 10-23-07  Bond reduced for man accused of killing schoolteacher wife in 2006 
• 10-19-07  Matt Baker gets high-profile legal help battling murder charge 
• 10-16-07  Couple drops civil suit in daughter's death, bets on criminal case 
• 10-03-07  Bond doubles for former local minister arrested in his wife's killing 
• 10-02-07  Former Baptist minister arrested in his wife's death moved to McLennan County Jail 
• 09-25-07  Former pastor Matt Baker still in jail on $200,000 bond 
• 09-22-07  Former local pastor arrested in wife's 2006 death 
• 09-21-07  Read the complete arrest warrant for Matt Baker 
• 09-19-07  Cause of Hewitt teacher's death ruled 'undetermined' 
• 08-30-07  Suicide or homicide? Rare inquest held into Hewitt teacher's death 
• 08-22-07  Judge sets inquest into Hewitt teacher's 2006 death 
• 03-09-07  Couple who sued in their daughter's death get more visits with their grandchildren 
• 01-11-07  Judge divides up records in wrongful death suit 
• 01-09-07  Judge considers request to quash subpoenas for records in wrongful death lawsuit 
• 09-09-06  Autopsy on Hewitt teacher inconclusive 
• 08-20-06  Teacher's body exhumed as Hewitt police reopen death investigation 

While Baker has maintained his innocence and has said his wife committed suicide by sleeping pill overdose because she remained despondent over the death of a daughter in 1998, her family and friends say they never believed the young mother who was seeking a new job days before her death killed herself.

The mystery has since been featured in newspapers and on television shows, on the cover of Texas Monthly and on the national news magazine show “20/20.” It will be profiled on “48 Hours Mystery” at 9 tonight.

Kari Baker’s parents, Linda and James Dulin, refiled their wrongful death civil lawsuit against Baker in April after McLennan County District Attorney John Segrest said his office wasn’t prepared to seek an indictment against Baker within 180 days of his arrest. That allowed Baker to claim a refund of the $200,000 cash bond he put up to secure his release from jail in October.

While Segrest has said the evidence presented to his office in the case was “not suitable” to seek an indictment, his office is keeping the case active, said Crawford Long, Segrest’s first assistant.

“Our office has been investigating the facts and evidence in this case since we received it,” Long said. “Because of the nature of the case, there is complex scientific medical and forensic evidence that is being examined and evaluated in the investigation.”

Civil case moves forward

Meanwhile, the Dulins and their attorneys are preparing to go forward with the civil case, which has a less-stringent burden of proof than criminal cases. No trial date has been set.

The civil case has prompted Baker, who is living in Kerrville with his parents and two daughters, to send out letters dated April 30 seeking legal funds and asking for his supporters’ continued “prayers, hugs and words of encouragement.”

The letter is signed by Baker, his daughters and his parents, Oscar and Barbara Baker.

The letter angered the Dulins, who have struggled to maintain a relationship with their granddaughters while accusing their father of murder.

“I am sad and angry that Matt Baker would have my granddaughters sign a document that both disparages their mother and solicits money,” Linda Dulin said. “He is exploiting his own children.”

In the letter, Baker tells friends that Segrest dropped “ALL criminal charges due to significant lack of evidence.”

“This action is a tremendous blessing which will enable me to begin part of the healing process with my daughters,” the letter states. “It allows me to continue to nurture them and to be present in their development as they strive to become the young ladies God desires them to be.”

Baker has denied he killed his wife and has denied he was having an affair with a woman from his church in Lorena, to whom he gave his wife’s cell phone days after her death.

A friend of Kari Baker and her counselor both have said she told them she feared her husband would try to kill her after she found crushed pills in his briefcase.

After Segrest’s announcement in March about the status of the case, Shannon Gamble, whose son was in Kari Baker’s third-grade class at Spring Valley Elementary, and another friend produced bumper stickers emblazoned with the words “Justice for Kari.”

Gamble has established a blog in Kari’s memory and has sent out hundreds of bumper stickers to people in at least nine states and a dozen Texas cities who request them through self-addressed, stamped envelopes.

“Why do I do this?” Gamble said. “Because as L.M. Bujold so eloquently says, ‘The dead cannot cry out for justice; it is the duty of the living to do so for them.’ It is not only a duty but an honor for me to be able to do anything at all to help in this quest for justice for Kari.”

Keith Williams, a 54-year-old Kerrville attorney who represents Baker in the civil suit, said he and Baker had talked about soliciting funds for his legal defense but added that he had not seen the letter.

Williams beat three opponents in the Republican primary without a runoff to win the 216th Judicial District bench. He will become judge in January and said he would be unable to represent Baker after that. They are searching for a replacement, he said.

Williams defended the manner in which Baker and his criminal attorney, Guy James Gray, courted the news media in recent months, saying that sometimes the best defense is a good offense.

“Matt had been slammed and had been slammed so aggressively by the Dulins without much chance to respond, and they had done it so much through the media. His response has been appropriate — ‘I did not do this, I love my wife, I love my girls, it’s very unfortunate for everyone and everyone is grieving through her loss.’ ”

twitherspoon@wacotrib.com

757-5737