Man Convicted in 2001 Murder of UGA Law Student Tara Baker

A Georgia jury has convicted a man of murdering University of Georgia law student Tara Baker — a crime that went unsolved for more than two decades.

On Feb. 17, 2026, a Clarke County jury found 51-year-old Edrick Faust guilty on all 12 counts related to Baker’s 2001 killing, according to CBS Atlanta and the Associated Press. Two days later, he was sentenced to two consecutive life terms plus 45 years in prison.

For Baker’s family, the verdict marked the end of a 25-year wait for answers.

A Birthday That Never Came

Baker, 23, was last seen studying at the UGA law library on Jan. 18, 2001.

The next morning — just hours before her 24th birthday — firefighters responded to a blaze at her Athens apartment and discovered her body inside. Investigators determined she had been sexually assaulted, stabbed, and strangled before the fire was set, according to CBS Atlanta.

The case quickly drew attention across Georgia. But despite early investigative efforts, no one was convicted, and the case eventually went cold.

For years, Baker’s family lived with unanswered questions about who had killed their daughter.

The Breakthrough

The turning point came after Georgia passed the Coleman-Baker Act in 2023, legislation that created a dedicated cold case DNA unit to reexamine unsolved homicides.

According to CBS Atlanta, new analysis of biological evidence preserved from the crime scene led investigators to Faust.

Faust had a prior criminal record and had been arrested in the weeks surrounding Baker’s death in 2001, authorities said. Investigators ultimately linked him to the crime through advances in DNA testing that were not available at the time of the original investigation.

He was indicted in 2024, and the case proceeded to trial in early 2026.

The Trial and Sentence

During the trial, prosecutors laid out evidence tying Faust to Baker’s apartment and to the biological material recovered from the scene.

After deliberating, the jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts on Feb. 17.

At sentencing two days later, the judge imposed two consecutive life sentences plus an additional 45 years, effectively ensuring Faust will spend the rest of his life in prison.

In court, Baker’s mother addressed Faust directly.

“There are no words to fully express what this monster did to my daughter,” she said, according to CBS Atlanta.

Under U.S. law, Faust had been presumed innocent until the jury’s verdict.

A Family’s Long Road to Justice

For 25 years, Baker’s name remained attached to one of Athens’ most haunting unsolved crimes.

She had been a young law student with her career ahead of her, studying late into the evening before returning to her apartment the night she was killed.

The fire that engulfed her apartment initially obscured evidence and complicated the investigation. As the years passed, technological advances in forensic science would eventually reopen the door that had once seemed closed.

The creation of a statewide cold case unit under the Coleman-Baker Act proved pivotal in revisiting evidence that had long sat in storage.

For Baker’s family, the conviction does not erase the loss, but it brings a measure of accountability after a quarter-century of uncertainty.

In the quiet of a Georgia courtroom this week, a case that began on the eve of a young woman’s birthday finally reached a legal conclusion — and a family that waited 25 years heard a jury say the word they had hoped for all along: guilty.

References: Edrick Faust Found Guilty on All Counts in Tara Baker Murder Trial | Tara Baker Murder Trial: Opening Statements Set as Edrick Faust Case Begins | Edrick Faust Sentenced in Tara Baker Murder