Part one of the investigation into the murder of Kari Baker. In 2006, Matt Baker returned to his Texas home to find his wife, Kari, dead next to an empty bottle of sleeping pills and a suicide note. Police ruled it a suicide but her family believed otherwise and started their own investigation. But then a surprise witness changed everything. “48 Hours" Correspondent Erin Moriarty reports. This classic "48 Hours" episode last aired on 5/25/2013. Watch all-new episodes of “48 Hours” on Saturdays, and stream on demand on Paramount+. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What happened on the night of Kari Baker's death?
Carrie loved Matt from the very beginning, and he seemed to adore her. There were times when it was very difficult being the wife of a pastor, but Carrie was very good at it. I'm Carrie's mother. I'm Linda Doolin. More than anything, Carrie loved her girls, loved them.
I think she was a very loving, caring person. Family was first for her. But I also know now Cassidy consumed her. The loss of Cassidy consumed her thoughts. After Cassidy passed away, she couldn't go to sleep. She could not go to sleep. And so she started taking sleeping pills. But I never saw it as suicidal. I saw it more as she's hurting. She's missing her daughter.
It was right at 12 o'clock by the time I made it home. I had that eerie feeling when I walked in the room that something's not right here. I don't think my wife is okay. And I go to her side and I touch her and she doesn't move. She doesn't respond. And I call out her name and there's no response. And I immediately pick up the phone and call 911. It was 911.
Do you have an emergency? My wife is laying in the bed and Her lips are blue.
There was no pulse. There was nothing. I'm on the phone.
Is she conscious? No, she's not.
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Chapter 2: How did Kari's family react to her death?
No, no, no. She's not breathing at all. I was gone maybe 40 minutes, and during that time, I don't know what happened to her. The police officer brings me the note. I read the first line, and I handed it back because I said, I can't read it right now. My first thought at that time was, her parents need to be here.
Matt tells us that Carrie committed suicide. I'm thinking, how can that be? I talked to her, and she was... just in a really good mood.
I never thought in a million years that my wife would do this. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. She was my best friend.
I found it unbelievable, but I accepted it. I mean, what was the alternative?
My name is Matt Baker, and I have been accused of murdering my wife.
I'm Erin Moriarty, the preacher's wife.
I know if she was sitting here, she would look at you and say, he didn't do anything. Leave him alone. But she can't.
Ever since Matt Baker's wife died suddenly at the age of 31, the Baptist preacher has lived under a cloud of suspicion. Is he an innocent man unfairly accused, as his followers and friends believe?
Daddy, what are we having for supper?
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Chapter 3: What were the circumstances surrounding Kari's struggles?
I mean, she's beautiful.
Yeah. Yeah, she is.
Linda and Jim Doolin remember their daughter was instantly smitten with the Baylor University senior. The thing she kept talking about was, Mom, this guy's a really good Christian. Just three months after meeting, Matt and Carrie suddenly announced they were getting married. Did you like him?
My daughter loved him, and I saw him through her eyes.
By their first anniversary, Carrie was pregnant with daughter Kenzie. She was so excited. She really was a terrific mom. A second daughter, Cassidy, followed a year and a half later. She loved her girls. You know, you know how you feel. There are no words. But right after Cassidy's first birthday, doctors discovered a brain tumor and she was hospitalized.
There'd be days that it looked really good, prognosis was good, and then turned around and went right back downhill. How did Carrie deal with that?
Oh, my gosh. She was just there with her baby, just did not leave her.
In late February 1999, after a 90-day bedside vigil, Cassidy was well enough to go home.
I always assumed that she would pull through this and fight through this.
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Chapter 4: Why do some believe Kari's death was not a suicide?
To sit there and struggle that far, to come what I thought was so far, to watch her die, that was devastating. It really was a very hard, hard thing to cope with.
especially for Carrie. How hard did she take that death?
Oh, incredibly hard. She lost her child and she grieved hard.
A grief counselor helped Carrie get through the first year, and in 2000, a third daughter, Grace, was born. But Matt says his wife was never the same.
I don't think it was a split second. All of a sudden, she was completely different. It was a gradual changing of a person. She had almost two personalities in a way. Not negative, but when she went to work, she had the ability to put issues behind her and focus on work. And the other personality? The other personality was a little bit more withdrawn at home.
The way Matt tells it, he became Mr. Mom to Kenzie and Grace.
So I typically gave them their bath, washed their hair, get them dressed, put them to bed, sing them their songs, and read them their books.
And from the time Cassidy died, Matt says, Carrie relied on pills to sleep. What kind of sleeping pills? What would she take? Unisom. An over-the-counter sleep medication. But Matt says sometimes she borrowed something stronger from family and friends.
I'm not even sure what the names would be. Other sleeping pills, just to help her sleep, help her get a good night's sleep.
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Chapter 5: What evidence was overlooked in Kari's case?
It was always two or three weeks leading up to it. It's coming. It's coming. I can't do this. I can't make it another year. I can't do this again.
In April 2006, seven years after Cassidy died, Matt says Carrie was still struggling with the loss. So he took her to the doctor, who diagnosed her as depressed and prescribed an antidepressant.
And about that time, my wife started almost hyperventilating again in the office. Didn't like him saying anything about depression. She would never agree that that could be a problem.
As they left the clinic and headed onto the highway, Matt says Carrie had a meltdown.
And I'm at about 45, 50 miles an hour, and she is hyperventilating, and she attempts to open the car door as we're driving down the road. Why? She said she needed to get out, get some air, to get some air, to get some air.
He says he grabbed hold of her waistband until he could pull off the highway. Did you feel that those actions indicated that she was trying to kill herself?
I didn't think suicide. I thought she just wanted fresh air and wasn't thinking. She lost it for a second.
Later that week, on Friday, April 7th, Carrie had a crucial interview for a new job at the junior high. What was her mood like? Her mood that day was nervous. And after the interview, Matt says, Carrie didn't feel well. She wasn't laying over like this.
It was just tired. I'm tired. I mean, just kind of exhausted. That evening, despite a queasy stomach, Matt says Carrie drank a wine cooler. She went to bed, and off and on, dozing off and on, watching TV. I'm in bed with her, taking care of the kids.
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Chapter 6: What unusual activities occurred after Kari's death?
She was just a very alive person all the time. And those girls, she had them going.
You really miss her, don't you, Jim? As out of character as suicide seemed, Carrie Baker's parents, Jim and Linda Doolin, say they had no choice but to believe it.
We kept trying to convince ourselves what other alternative was there. The idea that Matt could have taken her life was more horrible.
But that's exactly what Linda's family thinks. He killed her. Linda's sisters, Nancy, Kay, and Jennifer, and niece Lindsey. I immediately thought Matt did it. You believe that?
Oh, yeah, with all my heart. Carrie loved her life. She loved her family. She would never have left those girls.
From the start, they tried to convince Linda that Carrie's death needed to be investigated.
She said, drop it, and we all just said, okay, okay. And then we all walked out together to the cars and we said, that's not happening.
He could only say she called. I know, but no.
Linda's younger sister, Nancy, says Matt's story about Carrie's last day simply didn't match anyone else's.
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Chapter 7: What was discovered about Matt Baker's behavior?
You don't believe that?
No, people that saw her said she wasn't.
And would a sick, tired Carrie ask Matt to put gas in the car and rent a movie? That make sense?
No, at 11 o'clock.
And they certainly don't believe that if Carrie did commit suicide, that she would ever be found in the nude. Nothing seemed to make sense, not even the choice of the sleeping aid Unisom. She actually took a generic brand. She called it a sleepy time. She said her sleepy time pill. They also say that Carrie's unhappiness in the last weeks of her life wasn't about Cassidy.
According to her former grief counselor, Carrie was worried about herself.
And she said, I saw Carrie in therapy. She was afraid that her husband was having an affair and afraid that he was trying to kill her.
That was just three days before Carrie died. And there's more. Linda's sisters began sharing secrets they had kept from her all these years. I didn't realize that no one in the family had liked him. They began to tell Linda about Matt's odd and even boorish behavior.
He had come up behind my daughter and made some just really inappropriate sexual comment to her.
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Chapter 8: What actions did Kari's family take to investigate further?
Correct. I wanted Matt to be okay. I wanted him to be a good man. But it didn't add up.
Nothing adds up. Linda finally began to see Matt through her sister's eyes. But persuading the local police to reopen the investigation into Carrie's death was going to be far more difficult.
They didn't do their job, and they didn't take us serious. And I don't think we were asking them to believe that Carrie was murdered. We just wanted an investigation.
The police had concluded that Carrie committed suicide. Only a few photographs were taken at the scene. The only evidence collected was the Unison bottle, the remaining pills, and the typed suicide note. Why do you think the police were so willing to accept this as a suicide immediately? He's a pastor. He's a preacher. So what did you all do? We began an investigation. All of you?
Yes.
Calling themselves Charlie's Angels. Linda was Charlie and we were the angels. They began making phone calls.
Did you talk to Kay or Jennifer?
Following every lead and retracing Matt's movements the night Carrie died.
We weren't going to give up. Somebody was going to listen to us.
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