In the quiet, church-going neighborhoods around Waco, Texas, the name Matt Baker doesn't just represent a person; it’s a shorthand for a betrayal that local residents still haven't quite processed. It’s been years since the 2010 trial that saw a charismatic Baptist minister traded his pulpit for a prison cell, but the details of what happened in that Hewitt bedroom on an April night in 2006 remain deeply unsettling.
Matt Baker was the guy who had it all. Or so it looked from the pews of Crossroads Baptist Church. He was a Baylor University graduate, a father of two, and married to Kari, a beloved elementary school teacher and Sunday school regular.
Then everything broke.
The Midnight Call That Changed Everything
It was just after midnight on April 8, 2006. Matt Baker called 911, sounding frantic. He told dispatchers he’d just come home from renting a movie to find his wife, Kari, unconscious on their bed.
The scene he described to the police was textbook suicide. A typed, unsigned note sat on the nightstand. An empty bottle of Unisom was right there. Baker even claimed he had to pry the bedroom door open with a screwdriver because it was locked from the inside.
At first, the system believed him.
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The local Justice of the Peace, without even visiting the house, ruled Kari's death a suicide over the phone. No autopsy was ordered. Within days, Kari was buried. It looked like a tragic, closed case of a woman overwhelmed by grief—Kari had been struggling since the 1999 death of their young daughter, Kassidy, to a brain tumor.
But Kari’s parents, Jim and Linda Dulin, weren't buying it.
They knew their daughter. They knew her faith. They also knew that Matt’s behavior after the funeral was... weird. Honestly, "weird" is an understatement. Within weeks, he was already dating, moving Kari’s photos out of the house, and shopping for engagement rings with a new woman.
The Turning Point: Why Matt Baker Waco Texas Became a National Headline
The Dulins did what any grieving, suspicious parent would do: they fought. They hired a private investigator and filed a wrongful death lawsuit just to get the power of subpoena.
What they found was a digital and personal trail of breadcrumbs that Matt Baker probably thought he’d swept away.
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- The mistress: Her name was Vanessa Bulls. She was the music minister’s daughter. While Matt was "counseling" her, they were having a full-blown affair.
- The search history: Investigators found that Matt had been searching for things no preacher should be looking for—pharmaceutical sites to buy Ambien without a prescription and, eventually, how to use chloroform.
- The forensic "impossible": Experts later testified that Matt’s story about performing CPR and dressing Kari’s body while on the phone with 911 didn't line up with the timeline of his call. There simply wasn't enough time.
The most damning evidence, though, came from Vanessa Bulls herself. After a grand jury gave her immunity, she talked. She told them Matt had planned the murder for weeks. He didn't want a divorce because it would ruin his career in the church.
Basically, he decided it was easier to be a widower than a divorcee.
Bulls testified that Matt drugged Kari with a "vitamin" (actually a crushed-up sedative), handcuffed her to the bed under the guise of "spicing things up," and then held a pillow over her face until she stopped breathing. He even told Vanessa he rubbed Kari's hand over the typed suicide note so her fingerprints would be on it.
The Sentence and the Reality of 2026
In 2010, a Waco jury didn't take long to find him guilty. He was sentenced to 65 years in prison.
Where is he now? As of early 2026, Matt Dee Baker remains incarcerated in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice system. Specifically, he is housed at the Michael Unit in Tennessee Colony, Texas. He is 54 years old now.
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He won't even be eligible for parole until December 19, 2039.
Even from behind bars, the case has ripples. The custody battle for his two daughters was a whole other saga. His parents, who reportedly believed in his innocence, fought Kari's parents for the girls. Eventually, the Dulins won. It was a messy, public display of "parental alienation," where the girls were allegedly told their mother had abandoned them through suicide, when in reality, their father had taken her life.
What Most People Get Wrong
People often think this was a "crime of passion." It wasn't. This was a cold, calculated administrative move by a man who valued his reputation more than his wife's life.
There's also a common misconception that the police caught him immediately. They didn't. Without the Dulins' persistence and their own money spent on private investigators, Matt Baker might still be behind a pulpit today. The case is a massive lesson in why "scene-of-death" investigations need to be handled by medical examiners, not just a Justice of the Peace on a phone call.
Actionable Insights: Lessons from the Baker Case
If there is anything to take away from the tragedy of Matt Baker in Waco, it’s about the importance of professional oversight and the power of intuition.
- Trust the "Red Flags": In true crime cases like this, the perpetrator's behavior immediately following the death is often the biggest giveaway. Rapidly replacing a spouse or showing zero genuine grief is a documented forensic red flag.
- The Importance of Autopsies: If a death is unexpected or occurs in someone relatively young and healthy, an autopsy should never be "optional" or decided over a phone call.
- Digital Footprints are Forever: Even in 2006, Matt Baker couldn't hide his search history. In 2026, that trail is even wider. If you're following a case, look for the digital forensics—it's usually where the "intent" is proven.
Matt Baker’s story is a reminder that the most dangerous people aren't always in the shadows. Sometimes, they're the ones standing right in front of the congregation, leading the prayer.
For those looking to understand the full legal timeline, you can look up the Texas Tenth Court of Appeals records for Matt D. Baker v. The State of Texas. It details every failed attempt he made to overturn his 65-year sentence based on claims of "ineffective counsel." He’s stayed busy with appeals, but the evidence of his affair and the testimony of his mistress have proven to be an insurmountable wall.