"Remind me to tell you about the time........We were both worried about Bro's TAKS test stuff. We both knew he could do it....but were worried about his motivation to get through it as he should. Did I mention that she loved my boy? We worked together and worked together getting him ready. Literally. Worked. Together.
One day after the reading TAKS results had just gotten in and letters had been written to the parents but not mailed yet.....she was sooooooo excited to share with me that she knew Bro had not only passed, but passed WELL.......I was in the lunchroom with other parents that went in to pick up their kidlets and make eye contact with their teachers and try to keep up with the pulse of things. I saw Bro's class come out of the hallway. THEN.....I saw Mrs. Baker see me. She had a piece of paper in her hand. We made eye contact and she "lit up." Then............she skipped across the lunchroom to me. She didn't walk. She didn't glide. She didn't stand there with other teachers and just wave to me. She. Skipped. With that giant "Kari Baker" smile. She loved my boy and she loved and taught him so well he rocked that freakin' TAKS test. She was beaming. I was beaming watching her beam over my son. Now....right now...I'm a cross between beaming at the memory, crying that she's not here, and anger.....and now a bit of relief."
"Waco's 10th Court of Appeals Thursday rejected former minister Matt Baker's appeal of his murder conviction for killing his wife, Kari, at their Hewitt home in 2006 and staging the scene to look like suicide." (read more)
"WACO (June 9, 2011)—Waco’s 10th Court of Appeals has affirmed the conviction of former Waco pastor Matt Baker, who was sentenced to 65 years in prison in 2010 for the 2006 murder of his wife Kari Lynn, whom prosecutors said he drugged, handcuffed to a bed under the guise of amorous play, and then suffocated with a pillow." (read more)
"WACO - Convicted killer Matt Baker has lost an appeal in the murder of his wife in 2006. Wednesday, the 10th Court of Appeals in Waco confirmed the former minister's conviction." (read more)
Linda Reichenbach and Shannon Gamble are staying busy. Businesses and people around the world have donated a hodge podge of items to them for an online auction they're organizing.
"We have small items, $5 in value, $3 in value all the way up to a Rolex watch which was donated for $1,500," Linda says.
One of Shannon's favorites is a red, white and blue baseball cap. "This was from West Lake Monogram in Hewitt. And they created these hats custom made, we have six that will be auctioned off separately that say 'I helped Kari's kids.'"I haven't seen the 6:00 PM news yet and am waiting for the 10:00 PM news story. I tried to brag on all the wonderful local businesses that donated things and I hope that those comments make the 10:00 story.
Since Kari Baker’s death, family and friends have united behind the Dulins and are doing so again with an online auction to raise funds for legal expenses and, they hope, to fund the girls’ therapy if the Dulins prevail in the custody trial.Linda Reichenbach and Shannon Gamble, friends of the Dulins, are organizing the online auction and are soliciting donations through Twitter, Facebook, emails, going door-to-door and on Gamble’s Internet blog, “Don’t Even Get Me Started,” a tribute to Kari Baker’s memory that she has kept for several years.
Reichenbach, a computer instructor at McLennan Community College, and her students will create a website on which the auction will be conducted and the auction items displayed. (read more)
‘Just not done yet’
Gamble met Kari Baker when her son, Brody, was in Baker’s third-grade class.
“We are putting this together because it is just not done yet,” Gamble said. “We have part one done, which is justice with Matt being convicted and bringing back Kari’s memory in a better way. Part two is saving her girls. I don’t feel like they are in a safe place. She would have kept fighting until her girls were safe and if I can help do that, I am going to do that, too.” (read more)
Matthew Baker is a former preacher and father of three who was convicted of killing his wife so he could be with his mistress. The Baptist minister drugged and suffocated Kari Baker and attempted to make her death look like a suicide. The scheme almost worked.
The Dulins, who have visitation rights with their granddaughters once a month, filed suit seeking custody of the girls. More than a year later, with legal bills mounting, a group of friends stepped forward to organize a fund raiser through a “Justice for Kari” website and Twitter.
Donations of used items, services and cash are rolling in for an online auction scheduled May 21-22. Bidding will start at 8 a.m. on Saturday, May 21, and continue until 5 p.m. on Sunday, May 22. Donations will be accepted until May 15, but organizers said making them sooner rather than later will help with cataloguing. (read more)
It's been 5 years since the Dulin's lost their one and only daughter and sister. 5 years since her family lost their precious, vivacious granddaughter, cousin, aunt and niece. 5 years since Spring Valley lost one of their stellar, loving teachers and 5 years since many lost their dear, if not best, friend. The most heartbreaking loss is that 5 years ago tonight, Kensi and Grace had their mother ripped from their lives, hearts and memories. Well, very soon they will be in the safe and loving environment they need in order to heal and love and remember their amazing Mother. At least six former foster children who lived in the Baker home in Kerrville in the 1970s are listed as potential witnesses in the custody battle between Kari Baker’s parents, Jim and Linda Dulin, of Woodway, and Matt Baker’s parents, Oscar and Barbara Baker. Court documents filed by the Dulins in the custody case in Kerrville allege “the Bakers have abused children left in their care in the past.” (read more)Well, this CERTAINLY puts more urgency to having this entire matter examined thoroughly and without delay, doesn't it? Of course, at this time, these are just allegations by the former Baker foster children. But it does make you wonder and worry while we wait for the trial. Prayers going up.
Court records show the judge approved the Bakers’ motion to postpone the trial, at least in part, to give a San Antonio psychologist more time to complete her evaluations of both sets of grandparents and their granddaughters, Kensi, 15, and Grace, 10. (read more)Well, so much for urgency! Postpone. Put off. Duck. Hide. It can only go on for so long. This particular postponement by the Bakers was "at least in part" to give the San Antonio psychologist more time? Obviously since this was not the Dulin's request, but the Baker's request for a continuance with the Court, they are the ones with the hold up with the psychological evaluation. What is the problem?? It seems to me that all parties would WANT to get this heard in court for the benefit of Kensi and Grace. Why keep these children in limbo? This is the third continuance in this case. THE THIRD. I know Linda and Jim have been ready to go to trial for a long time. I’m just asking.....What’s up???
The Purdys based their uphill campaign on a 2010 story by then-Tribune-Herald staff writer Erin Quinn about how local justices of the peacehave sole discretion on whether to order autopsies, even if they lack credentials to know better. JPs get about six hours of training in determining the causes and circumstances in a death — hardly reassuring.
and
We remember seeing bumper stickers on cars and trucks at Matt Baker’s January 2010 trial: “Justice for Kari.” However, if the wisdom behind this bumper sticker isn’t embraced by Texans for the benefit of other victims and their families, we will have sold justice short. “If this need isn’t met, something like this could happen again,” Tom Purdy told us this week. “It is too easy to commit murder, make it look like suicide and get away with it.”
Texas law at that time stated that an “inquest meant an investigation into the cause and circumstances of the death…, and a determination, made with or without a formal court hearing, as to whether the death was caused by an unlawful act.” Texas Code of Crim. Pro §49.01. Moreover, a justice of the peace could conduct the “inquest…at any other place determined to be reasonable by the justice.”AMEN!!!
In the Baker case, this meant that the presiding justice of the peace was able to investigate Kari Baker’s death and determine the cause via a late night phone call from the responding police officers without getting out of bed. Finally, a justice of the peace had the sole discretion of whether to order an autopsy. Texas Code of Crim.
Pro §49.10.
With all of the other duties of a justice of the peace –performing marriages, issuing warrants, setting bail, conducting criminal and civil trials-it seems that determining death is one duty that should be void of discretion and ultimately up to a medical professional. Accordingly, this Bill and its author are worthy of support.
TEAM.....Dulin!!!!! God bless you indeed....keep on keepin on Linda and all the other "angels"! Signs of the times show it's not too far off that "every tear be wiped away".....I thanked her for her email and asked if she knew the Dulins.
Kari, Linda and the girls have touched so many hearts. Prayers pouring in from everywhere for truth, love and healing for everyone. Well, the love is already here. Truth and healing are on their way.No, I don't know them personally, but feel almost as though I do...... I can just see they are very good and dear people. I watched the double 48 hrs. broadcast a couple times, and have been reading everything I can about it ever since. Kari was so beautiful, and I am just so sure she was just that way on the inside too! I have cried for Kari and for all those that love and miss her. My thoughts are often on this senseless and cruel tragedy. I give my continued prayers for the Dulins and those around them, and that the girls come to live with the Dulins, where the truth be instilled in them and they can heal.
Warmest regards,
J.L. from Pennsylvania
