ATHENS, Ga. — The roommates of a University of Georgia law student killed in their home 25 years ago testified they did not know about a rift between her and her boyfriend.
Defense attorneys claim that Tara Baker’s boyfriend was the one who killed her.
Baker was strangled and stabbed to death in her Athens home back in 2001. Prosecutors say her killer then set her home on fire.
Channel 2’s Tom Jones was in the Clarke County courtroom on Thursday as Baker’s roommates testified they were so busy and Baker was so private, that they weren’t keeping up with her and her boyfriend’s relationship, so they couldn’t confirm defense attorney Ahmad Crews’ allegation that the couple was at odds.
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“You have to remember, I was very protective of Tara. She was my best friend,” Ashley Hall said from the witness stand.
“We all got along very well. We were all very busy,” Dr. Valery Lang Lowe said.
The roommates said they weren’t home when Baker’s killer took her life.
Hall said finding out who did it was very important.
“We would do anything they asked so they could proceed and find out who did this to our friend,” she said.
Prosecutors say Edrick Faust killed Baker. They say test results connected his DNA to the UGA law student.
But defense attorney Ahmad Crews says the state has it all wrong.
“Our position is, so the court knows, is that Chris Melton did this,” Crews said.
On Thursday, Crews tried to get Baker’s roommates to admit she and her boyfriend, Melton, were no longer in good standing when she was killed, and that Baker had cut him off, possibly giving him reason to kill her.
But the roommates said she was private about her personal life and it’s possible they weren’t seeing each other as much because Baker was focused on her studies.
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Crews wasn’t buying that.
“Do you feel the need to protect Chris Melton?” he asked Lowe.
“No, I don’t,” she replied.
“And you are going to be truthful or honest with the jury?” Crews asked.
“Yes,” Lowe responded.
A police crime analyst who helped investigate the case said it would have been impossible to Melton to give have killed Tara based on where he was at the time. The defense claimed Melton and his co-worker’s alibi wasn’t thoroughly checked out.
Testimony continues on Friday.
Faust faces 11 counts, including felony murder, malice murder, rape, arson and burglary.
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