Greene County homicide trial to begin
Jury selection is scheduled to begin Tuesday in the Greene County trial of a Nemacolin man accused of fatally strangling his estranged wife in 2009.
Scott Baker, 39, allegedly strangled his wife, Melissa Baker, to death at her home in Crucible on Nov. 20, 2009. He is charged with criminal homicide, solicitation to commit homicide, tampering with evidence, solicitation to tamper with evidence and intimidation of a witness.
State police alleged that Baker used his son — his wife’s stepson — as an alibi, and then set up the killing to look like a robbery gone awry.
Nathaniel Baker, 12 when his stepmother died, told police his father started talking about killing Melissa Baker in early November 2009 because she wanted full custody of the couple’s 18-month-old son.
Authorities alleged Scott Baker kept his son home from school on Nov. 20, and the two went to Melissa Baker’s home. When they got there, police alleged the boy went to the bathroom, where he heard his stepmother scream and then heard a loud thud before his father asked him to come and get his brother because the toddler was on the floor screaming.
Nathaniel Baker, police alleged, saw his father standing over his stepmother’s motionless body with his hand on her mouth.
Police alleged that Scott Baker essentially asked Nathaniel Baker to offer him an alibi. If police asked the child where his father was, authorities alleged Scott Baker instructed his son to tell them that they were home all day.
Scott Baker and his two sons returned to the home later in the day so that Scott Baker could make it look like Melissa Baker was killed during the course of a robbery, according to prior testimony in the case.
The trial will be held before President Judge William R. Nalitz.