Man convicted of murdering UGA law student Tara Baker sentenced to life in prison
The man convicted for the 2001 murder of University of Georgia law student Tara Louise Baker will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
On Tuesday, a Clarke County jury found Edrick Lamont Faust guilty of the 12 charges he faced, including malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, aggravated sodomy, burglary, tampering with evidence, and first-degree arson.
The jury took shortly more than a day to reach its verdict after a trial that lasted two weeks.
The 2001 killing of Baker remained an unsolved cold case for more than 20 years until 2024, when the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Athens-Clarke County police announced an arrest in the case.
After hearing statements from Baker's family and friends as well as Faust's relatives, Western Circuit Chief Superior Court Judge Lisa Lott sentenced him to two life sentences as well as decades in prison to serve consecutively.
"Based upon the evidence presented at trial and the jury's verdict that a sentence involving rehabilitation is not appropriate in this case," Lott said.
A Georgia cold case ends in a conviction
On the morning of Jan. 19, 2001, Athens-Clarke County firefighters found the 23-year-old first-year law student's body while responding to a burning apartment. Investigators say they quickly learned that Baker had been killed and the fire was intentionally set.
The only thing taken from Baker's home was her laptop computer.
Athens-Clarke County Police Chief Jerry Saulters, who was an officer at the crime scene at that time, said that he had hoped for years that Baker's family would find justice.
"I remember being there during that horrific time," he said. "Seeing this case now full circle, I appreciate the hard work of the detectives, from then and now. Knowing that the evidence collected at that time contributed to the arrest today gives me tremendous pride in all the officers who worked this case over the years."
After a 2023 law established a GBI cold case unit specializing in DNA technology, investigators reexamined evidence gathered at the scene. Officials say this led them to Faust, who officials said had been arrested and incarcerated multiple times in the years around Baker's murder.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
