After 23 years, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has arrested a suspect for the 2001 homicide of University of Georgia law student Tara Baker.
The GBI arrested 48-year-old Edrick Lamont Faust of Athens on Thursday on charges of murder, two counts of felony murder, one count of aggravated assault, concealing the death of another, arson, possession of a knife during the commission of a felony, tampering with evidence and one count aggravated sodomy.
Baker was found murdered in her Athens apartment on Jan. 19, 2001 — the day before her 24th birthday. She had been beaten, stabbed, strangled, and possibly sexually assaulted, and her apartment had been set on fire. Her death rocked the Athens community and has left an impact still felt more than two decades later.
The case has been cold for years. The Baker family received a death certificate in 2010 and an autopsy report in 2020. No suspect was arrested until now. The GBI and the Athens-Clarke County Police Department also worked with the FBI Gainesville RA, FBI Athens RA, FBI Athens Safe Streets Task Force, GBI Appalachian Regional Drug Enforcement Office, GBI Division of Forensic Sciences, and Georgia State Patrol in the investigation.
In September 2023, the GBI Cold Case Unit partnered with ACCPD to conduct an in-depth review and analysis of the ongoing investigation into Baker’s death. This review was spurred on by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signing the Coleman-Baker Act into law in April 2023. The act, named for Baker and Rhonda Coleman, who was murdered in 1990, focuses on reopening cold case homicide investigations. The act was one of multiple attempts over several years by the Coleman and Baker families to get such a law passed.
Prior to the passing of the Coleman-Baker Act, Baker’s case received renewed attention after it was highlighted in Athens local Cameron Jay’s “Classic City Crime” podcast from June 2020 to January 2021.
Anyone with more information can submit an anonymous tip by calling 1-800-597-TIPS (8477), through the GBI TipLine, or by downloading the See Something, Send Something mobile app.
This article appears on Now Habersham in partnership with The Red & Black
