KERRVILLE — The details of moving convicted murderer Matt Baker’s two daughters to Woodway will be sorted out in the coming week after a jury awarded sole custody of the girls to their maternal grandparents Friday afternoon.

Jim and Linda Dulin were given custody of convicted murderer Matt Baker's daughters by a jury Friday.
Kerrville Daily Times photo

Jim and Linda Dulin of Woodway, parents of the deceased Kari Baker, will get custody of the girls, ages 10 and 15.

The girls, who live in Kerrville with paternal grandparents Oscar and Barbara Baker, cried when the verdict was read by District Judge Robert Barton.

The oldest, Kensi, sat between friends who patted her back and consoled her, while Barbara Baker had her arms wrapped around the youngest girl, Grace. 

The decision was agreed to by 10 of the 12 jurors, who individually confirmed their rulings after attorney Beverly Crowden asked for polling of the jurors.

As each juror agreed about their decision and the judge spoke about discharging them of their duties, the Dulin family held each other and cried.

Matt Baker did not show much emotion to the decision other than looking at the ground and shaking his head.

The former Central Texas Baptist minister is serving a 65-year prison sentence after he was convicted in 2010 of drugging and suffocating Kari Baker in 2006 and making it look like suicide.

He and his family maintain his innocence despite a recent appeal denial.

Jurors also ruled to limit Matt Baker’s parental rights by denying him possessory conservatorship. Parents generally are denied that right when they are thought to endanger the physical or emotional welfare of the child.

Throughout the trial, the Dulins said if they win custody they plan to send the girls to an intensive week-long therapy program focused on reunification in California with follow-ups in Dallas. 

Barton said details of the move will be determined in the coming week. He also said all parties involved still were under a gag order, preventing them from speaking with the media. 

Lindsey Pick, Linda Dulin’s niece who sat through the long trial, wiped tears from her face and said she was very excited about the jury’s verdict, but she knows the move will be difficult for the girls. 

“My heart hurts for the girls right now,” she said.