Jurors hear voice of accused killer during trial
WAYNESBURG — Greene County jurors heard the voice of Scott Baker for the first time Friday in a recorded call to 911 in which he tells a dispatcher that he heard on the police scanner that his wife was murdered.
The audiotape was played during the second day of testimony in Baker’s homicide trial. Baker is accused in the Nov. 20, 2009, death of his estranged wife, Melissa Baker, who was found dead inside her Crucible mobile home after she failed to show up to work the 4 p.m. to 12 a.m. shift that day at the Greene County Prison.
On the tape, Scott Baker, 39, identifies himself and then tells the dispatcher that he heard on the scanner that his wife was murdered and she lives in Crucible. The dispatcher then speaks to someone and the voice of a state police trooper is then heard and the trooper directs Baker to go to the state police station in Waynesburg.
A friend of Scott Baker’s, Douglas “Bull” Helms, testified that he knew Scott and Melissa before they were married, adding that all three worked together at Mahoney’s in Uniontown for a time. Helms said he had sporadic contact with Scott Baker after he and Melissa Baker got married, but the contact became more frequent after the pair separated in September 2009.
Helms said he took Scott Baker to the police station on the night of Nov. 20, 2009, after he received a call from him asking for a ride.
The prosecution is alleging that Scott Baker strangled and then slit the throat of Melissa Baker in an attempt to make the death look like a robbery gone awry. District Attorney Marge Fox also said in the opening that she intends to prove that Scott Baker recruited his elder son, Nathaniel Baker, who was age 12 at the time, to provide him with an alibi for the killing. Scott and Melissa Baker’s son Brett was 18 months old at the time of Melissa Baker’s death.
Testimony revealed that Melissa Baker had filed for divorce prior to her death.
Trooper Jason Altman of the forensic services unit testified that he took numerous digital photographs of the scene, and described many of those who were shown to the jury on a large television screen. The various photos showed an undamaged door jam and various rooms of the mobile home. Altman said pictures of Melissa Baker’s hands showed that there were no injuries on them.
Altman said most of the mobile home was neat and orderly, with the exception of a dresser drawer that was open, an open closet and an end table with an open drawer. He said there were some clothes and jewelry lying in the bedroom. He said Melissa Baker’s body had an injury to the neck area and a large pool of blood behind it. Her purse and its contents were on the floor.
A gun found beside Melissa Baker’s body had not been fired and did not have any fingerprints on it, state police Cpl. Anthony Delucio testified.
Various telephone calls and text messages were presented as evidence between the cellphones of Scott Baker and Heidi Wedge of Scottdale. Earlier in the week, Wedge testified that she mostly communicated by phone with Scott Baker, but he had stayed at her house one night after seeing a band perform in New Stanton in November 2009.
Text messages and phone calls between the phones were presented during the time frame of Nov. 14 to 21, 2009.
The trial will continue at 9:30 a.m. Monday in Greene County Court before President Judge William R. Nalitz.