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| Baker,Yolanda Y.missing August 1,1999; Washington D.C | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Sep 9 2006, 02:19 PM (700 Views) | |
| oldies4mari2004 | Sep 9 2006, 02:19 PM Post #1 |
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http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/b/baker_yolanda.html |
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| oldies4mari2004 | Dec 20 2006, 11:29 PM Post #2 |
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Yolanda Yvette Baker Above: Baker, circa 1999 Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance Missing Since: August 1, 1999 from Washington D. C. Classification: Missing Date Of Birth: January 28, 1964 Age: 35 years old Height and Weight: 5'9, 160 pounds Distinguishing Characteristics: Brown hair, brown eyes. Baker has a tattoo of a rose on her left ankle. Her ears are pierced. Baker's middle name may be spelled "Evette." Details of Disappearance Baker was last seen in Washington D. C. at approximately 3:00 a.m. on August 1, 1999. She was at her residence in the 400 block of 44th Street northeast at the time of her disappearance. Baker has never been heard from again. Her vehicle is also missing and has never been recovered. A description of Baker's car is not available. Her case remains unsolved. Investigating Agency If you have any information concerning this case, please contact: Washington DC Metropolitan Police Department 202-727-9099 Source Information Washington DC Metropolitan Police Department Charley Project Home |
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| oldies4mari2004 | Apr 12 2007, 10:56 PM Post #3 |
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http://z13.invisionfree.com/PorchlightUSA/...pic=10286&st=0& |
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| monkalup | Mar 12 2010, 04:18 PM Post #4 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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Murder trial begins in case of D.C. woman who vanished in 1999 By Keith L. Alexander Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, March 11, 2010 It's been nearly 11 years since Yolanda Baker's family has seen her. So much time had passed that authorities declared her legally dead last year, although her body has never been found. This week, Baker's family poured into three rows of Judge Michael L. Rankin's third-floor courtroom in D.C. Superior Court, hoping for some closure in the death of the woman they nicknamed "Princess." Last summer, authorities arrested Baker's boyfriend, Terrence Barnett, 45, the father of the D.C. woman's twin children. He has been charged with first-degree murder. It is only the third time a "no body" murder case -- the most difficult for prosecutors -- has been tried in the District in at least 30 years, according to a spokesman in the U.S. attorney's office. Adding to the challenge for prosecutors is the lack of eyewitnesses to Baker's disappearance or death. No murder weapon has been found and no cause of death established. When Baker's car was discovered almost a week after her disappearance, drops of her blood were found in the trunk, but no DNA from Barnett. The trial pits two of the District's most formidable lawyers against each other: Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Haines and criminal defense attorney Nikki Lotze. Haines is no stranger to prosecuting complex murder cases. She's one of the lead attorneys prosecuting Ingmar Guandique, charged in the 2001 kidnapping and killing of former federal intern Chandra Levy. That trial is scheduled to start in October. ad_icon In her 30-minute opening statement Wednesday, Haines told the jury that on the morning of Aug. 1, 1999, after attending a family party together in Suitland, Barnett killed Baker, 35, after an often-abusive seven-year relationship. On that day, she said, Baker "disappeared into the night." Haines then walked over to Barnett, seated next to Lotze, and pointed to him: "Mr. Barnett was the last person to see Ms. Baker alive." Haines characterized Barnett as controlling, jealous and often violent, a man whose anger "erupted suddenly, often without any warning." The two had lived together off and on in Baker's house in the 400 block of 44th Street NE with their twins, who were 5 when Baker disappeared. Haines talked about how the couple often argued and fought, so much so that Baker obtained a restraining order, keeping Barnett away from her for about 18 months from 1997 to early 1999. Shortly before she disappeared, a District judge had ordered Barnett to pay Baker child support for the twins. Three days after Baker was last seen, family members filed a missing-person report with the D.C. police. Baker's picture was displayed on the department's missing-person Web site, and friends and family members passed out fliers and held candlelight vigils. Barnett played no part in the search for Baker, Haines said. He waited another three days before he approached police about Baker's disappearance. Haines said a witness saw Barnett just hours after he was seen with Baker in her car leaving the 1999 party. The witness said Barnett was on a bridge about midnight, pulling a large object wrapped in a plastic garbage bag from the trunk of a car. Haines also acknowledged that there were some mistakes by police in the investigation. "The system failed [Baker] during her life and after her death," she said. In her opening statement, Lotze told the jury that Barnett was innocent and that the DNA from two other individuals was found in the trunk of Baker's car. She said two other men had been driving Baker's car around town when it was discovered. "There is more evidence that one of these two other men did it, not Mr. Barnett," she said. Lotze said that her client cooperated with the police investigation and that Baker's family thinks Barnett killed Baker because relatives never approved of the couple's relationship. Lotze later displayed pictures of Baker and Barnett, laughing together and dancing with family and friends at the party, just hours before she disappeared. The trial is expected to last about a month. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...31003757_2.html |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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| monkalup | Mar 25 2010, 07:33 PM Post #5 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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http://voices.washingtonpost.com/crime-sce...-rare-dc-m.html Closing arguments in rare D.C. murder case in which no body was found Washington Post Editors Closing arguments are set to begin Wednesday in the trial of the man accused of killing Yolanda Baker, the District woman who was missing for nearly 11 years before authorities legally declared her dead in 2009. It is only the third time a so-called "no body" murder case -- the most difficult for prosecutors because the victim's body has not been found -- has been tried in the District in at least 30 years, according to a U.S. attorney’s office spokesman. U.S. marshals and other attorneys in D. C. Superior Court have dubbed the two-week trial between criminal defense attorney Nikki Lotze and Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Hanes a courtroom “Ali vs. Frazier" match. Lotze says Baker’s boyfriend, Terrance Barnett, 45, who was arrested last year and charged with first-degree murder, is innocent of killing the mother of his twins, a boy and a girl, who were 5 when their mother went missing. During the trial, Hanes has called numerous family members and friends of Baker’s to the witness stand to testify that Barnett frequently abused Baker during their seven-year relationship. The trial has been before Judge Michael L. Rankin. |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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| monkalup | Mar 31 2010, 11:56 PM Post #6 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...0033003906.html Boyfriend convicted of murder in '99 disappearance of D.C. woman By Keith L. Alexander Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, March 31, 2010 For the seven years that Yolanda Baker and Terrence Barnett dated, Baker's family watched a once loving relationship grow increasingly violent. Baker would show up at family functions with bruises and bald patches on her head from having her hair pulled out. She took out a restraining order against Barnett but began seeing him again after a little more than a year. Baker also sought child support from Barnett on behalf of their then-5-year-old-twins, a boy and girl. Then, after the two had seemingly made amends, Baker went missing from her Northeast Washington home Aug. 1, 1999. She has not been seen since. Authorities declared her dead last year and charged Barnett with killing her. After Baker disappeared, her family members spent years trying to find answers, closure and accountability in the death of the woman they had nicknamed Princess. On Tuesday, after three days of deliberating, a D.C. Superior Court jury found Barnett, 45, guilty of second-degree murder. He was charged with first-degree murder, but the jury was unable to determine during the three-week trial that there was enough evidence that he planned to kill Baker. As the jury foreman announced the verdict, Barnett bowed and shook his head slightly. Cold-case detectives sitting in the back row of the courtroom fist-pounded each other and smiled. Members of Baker's family, who filled up three rows of one side of the courtroom, and members of Barnett's family, sitting on the other side, broke into tears. "All these years, it's over," cried Andrea Flemmings, one of Baker's sisters. "We are very pleased. Thank God for this justice," said Deon Haynes-Parker, another of Baker's sisters, as family members gathered outside the courtroom. Baker's twins, now teenagers, are being raised by her family. Baker's brother-in-law Leroy Flemmings said that although his family mourns for Baker, they are also concerned about the twins. "I'm glad the kids can now have some closure," Flemmings said. "They lost their mom and their dad the moment this happened." Cold cases are challenging to prosecute, but murder cases in which a body is not found are even more difficult. This was only the fourth case without a body that the District's U.S. attorney's office has tried since the 1980s, officials said. Lawyers, law students and trial watchers visited the courtroom during the trial to watch Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Haines square off against criminal defense lawyer Nikki Lotze. Lotze insisted that Barnett was innocent, telling the jury that there was no evidence of Baker's death and no eyewitnesses linking Barnett to Baker's disappearance or death. In her nearly 90-minute closing argument last week, Lotze reminded the jury that police questioned Barnett just days after Baker was reported missing and released him. Baker's car was found blocks from her house days after she disappeared and after two other men had been seen driving the car around the District. Lotze dismissed as "cockamamie" the story that one of Baker's sisters saw Barnett hours after Baker had gone missing, standing on the 14th Street Bridge outside Baker's car and pulling a large plastic bag from the trunk. Lotze called the case a "witch hunt" based primarily on Barnett and Baker's volatile relationship. In her hour-long close, Haines suggested to the jury that a history of abuse could be used as a motive in a slaying in domestic cases. Haines said Barnett killed Baker in the bedroom of the house they shared, cleaned the room with bleach, and ripped the bloodstained carpet up and got rid of it. Haines said Baker then "chopped up her body," put it in the trunk of her car and disposed of it. "Her car is her gravesite," she said. During the trial, Haines called about 30 witnesses, including family members, court officials, prosecutors and police officers. All testified about the abusive relationship and Baker's efforts to seek help from police and the courts. Prosecutors had sought first-degree murder charges, but Glenn L. Kirschner, head of the homicide unit for the District's U.S. attorney's office, said that securing first-degree convictions in domestic violence cases is difficult because, in most cases, such slayings are "spur of the moment" rather than planned. Haines was assigned to the case last year. After the verdict, Baker's family showered her with hugs. "The jury gave this family the closure they have been seeking for the past 10 years," Haines said. Barnett is scheduled to be sentenced June 18 by Judge Michael L. Rankin. |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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9:41 AM Jul 11