A Response

The 20/20 show generated a lot of comments on this blog and other news sources. One comment from Sadie really stands out and says so eloquently what a lot of us are feeling. So I am pulling that comment up into a post as suggested by A_News_Junkie. ;)

"Watching this made me cry for Kari. And for Linda and Jim, and for all of Kari's students and friends and family... and mostly for her precious girls who have been lied to and brainwashed, controlled and exploited by their mother's killer, so shamelessly and for so long.

It's beyond tragic, that a man in a position of trust as a worker for God could harbor this unbelievable level of evil inside. That a man trusted by his wife could set out to utterly and heartlessly destroy her like this; that a man trusted by his little girls could rob them of a normal life; that he would scheme to erase the beautiful love their mother had for them, and they for her; that a man trusted by the family could so hideously betray and destroy that trust and care nothing for their shattered lives and broken hearts.

It is the epitome of EVIL. He not only carried out a heinous, cruel, premeditated murder by tricking his wife, he also proceeded to protect himself from the consequences of his actions by trying to murder her good name and her good memory, and by perverting the love in his children's hearts. He turned them against their mother and taught them to hate those who sought the TRUTH about what he had done. He has controlled the girls' minds and kept them imprisoned in his dark web of lies for all this time (with the help of his mother), effectively forcing them by default to act as unwitting accomplices in his cover-up! My heart breaks for them. That is a violation of the highest order.

Yeah, this made me cry. But I will rejoice with you and the Dulins and all who seek justice, when Kari's girls are brought home, and when their hearts and minds are finally free of the mystification that keeps them from accepting the truth and remembering the love of their mother and their other family.

Justice for Kari, part one: Matt Baker has lost the right to live free in society. He is where he belongs. One day, the girls will be where they belong, too: back in the arms of love. And that will be the fulfillment of Justice for Kari.

Love trumps evil. Oh, yes it does."

If you have general comments or thoughts on the show, feel free to leave a comment on this post. I'll be posting some more specific things throughout the day.

Video from 20/20 - Vanessa Bulls

Murdering Minister's Lover Tells All
Pastor Matt Baker used sex game to drug wife, former lover Vanessa Bulls says.

WARNING: Matt Baker's description of his wife is not for the ears of children.

The 20/20 Buzz

There is much talk, chat, articles, blog posts and comments in the air as everyone anticipates sitting down and watching 20/20's update tonight. I thought I'd share some links here. If you find some in your local papers or websites or anywhere else, please comment on this post or email me and I'll include them here.

Was Pastor's Double Life Motive for Murder?
20/20 - By JIM AVILA, SUNNY ANTRIM and JOANNE NAPOLITANO

When asked by Crawford Long if Matt Baker ever told her anything about Kari's death, he said, Bulls confessed to an affair with the preacher and knowledge of his alleged plans to kill his wife. "'Yes, he told me he killed her because of me,'" Long recalled her saying.

Why Would a Popular Baptist Minister Murder His Wife?
ABC News Press Room

In an exclusive television interview from prison, ABC News Correspondent Jim Avila talks to Matt, the popular Baptist minister from Waco, Texas, convicted of murdering his wife and staging it as a suicide.

20/20 to air update on pastor convicted of murder
Bob Allen - Associated Baptist Press

He was indicted in 2009 after a female member of his church who first denied having an inappropriate relationship with Baker changed her story and told authorities the two were having an affair and that Baker told her he killed his wife so they could be together.
Crawford Long and Susan Shafer, assistant district attorneys in McLennan County, Texas, recently published a detailed account in an online trade journal of allegations by their star witness, Vanessa Bulls, that helped convince a jury to, on its first ballot, unanimously find the former preacher guilty of murder.

20/20 to air update on Matt Baker story
Christa Brown - StopBaptistPredators.com

According to investigators, Baker had also spent years living "a secret life as a sexual predator." Yet, despite multiple allegations of sexual assault and abuse, he was always able to move on through churches, schools and organizations affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas.No one stopped him.Not until he was put on trial for murder did people in the pews finally learn about the sexual abuse and assault allegations against him.

ABC's 20/20 to feature report on Baker
WacoTrib.com

A 19th State District Court jury convicted Baker of murder in January in the April 2007 drugging and suffocation death of his 31-year-old wife at their Hewitt home.

Then there are countless websites that are posting about this that refer back to other articles, either AP, or ABP or the WacoTrib:

ReligionNewsBlog.com
BaylorInformation.com
Facebook - Texas Monthly
TheGospelNewsWire.com
BaptistPlanet.com

20/20 Teaser

Why Would Preacher's Wife Commit Suicide?
"When devoted mother Kari Baker is found dead, suspicions surround her husband."

There is video footage in this that I haven't seen before. There are some great pictures/videos of Kari and the girls. And then there are a couple of the "closed-eye" (non-flattering) pictures of Kari that were probably submitted by Matt's mother as she has done in the past to continue to try to disparage Kari's image/memory.

But as in life, the good way outshadows the bad.