By Joe Johnson
A 49-year-old Athens man on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to murdering University of Georgia law school student Tara Louise Baker,
The murder case had gone unsolved for 23 years until Edrick Lamont Faust was arrested in May of this year.
A grand jury earlier this month returned a 12-count indictment charging Faust with malice and felony murder, rape, aggravated sodomy, arson, and other crimes associated with Baker’s death on Jan. 19, 2001.
The indictment alleges that Faust broke into Baker’s home in the east Athens neighborhood of Deer Park and killed the 23-year-old student by stabbing her with a knife and strangling her with a cord. He also allegedly raped and sodomized Baker and set fire to her apartment in an attempt to conceal his crimes.
The case went unsolved for over two decades —mostly because the arson fire destroyed the crime scene and physical evidence — until after the Athens-Clarke County Police Department in September of last year partnered with the newly-formed Georgia Bureau of Investigation Cold Case Unit for a comprehensive review of the case.
Biological evidence and DNA science along with new technology all played a role in solving the case, according to GBI Director Chris Hosey.
At the time of the murder, Faust was living just a couple blocks away from Baker’s apartment on Fawn Drive.
Also at Tuesday’s arraignment, Superior Court Judge Lisa Lloyd heard arguments on the defense’s motion that Faust be granted a $100,000 bond with house arrest.
Prosecutors opposed their motion, citing the heinous death of Baker’s murder, and also noting that Faust had an extensive and violent criminal history that included stabbing a man just one month after Baker was killed.
Lott denied the bond request.
DA Gonzalez won the motion to deny bond. She argued this motion. You left that part out.