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Paul Peirce can be reached via e-mail or at 724-850-2860.
By Paul Peirce
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Last updated: 2:47 pm
A 12-year-old boy testified this morning that his father used the ruse of a rash on his infant son to lure his estranged wife close enough to fatally strangle her.
After two hours of testimony from the boy, Scott Joseph Baker, 37, of Nemacolin, was ordered to stand trial for homicide in the death of Melissa Baker, 30, a former Uniontown resident who worked as a Greene County corrections officer.
The boy was steadfast throughout his testimony, never looking at his father. The boy's voice wavered only once, as he described the killing.
The boy testified that Scott Baker went to his estranged wife's home on Nov. 20 with the 12-year-old and his 18-month-old half-brother.
"He said he needed me there as an alibi so he could say we were together the whole day," the boy testified before District Justice Louis Dayich at the Greene County Courthouse in Waynesburg.
The boy said his father instructed him to ask to use the bathroom when they arrived at Melissa Baker's mobile home on Crucible Road in Cumberland Township. The boy said he went to the bathroom and he could hear his dad asking Melissa Baker to come closer to examine a rash on the baby.
From behind the bathroom door, the boy testified, he could hear his stepmother scream.
A few seconds later, Scott Baker called his son to come get the baby, who was crying, according to testimony. The boy said he saw Scott Baker sitting on top of the woman, with his hand over her mouth.
The boy said he took his brother to a bedroom and calmed him down as his father staged the home to appear as if the victim had been robbed.
As they were leaving the house, Baker instructed his son, "Don't look down."
But the boy said he looked and saw the victim had a gun in her hand. He later asked his father why Melissa Baker had a gun and his dad said "he was trying to stage the murder like a robbery," the boy testified.
Police allege Baker slashed his wife's neck during the assault. Dayich ordered him to stand trial for criminal homicide, criminal solicitation, intimidation of a witness and tampering with evidence.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A Greene County man has been charged with killing his wife in her home Friday, apparently by strangulation.
State police charged Scott J. Baker, 37, of Nemacolin, in the death of Melissa Ann Baker, 30, of Cumberland, Greene County.
Police said Ms. Baker died sometime between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. An autopsy is scheduled for today.
According to police, a witness saw Mr. Baker's vehicle at the victim's residence twice Friday. Following arraignment, Mr. Baker was placed in the Greene County Jail without bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Dec. 1.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09326/1015538-55.stm#ixzz0Xaa6iKIz
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