Search Captions & Ask AI

Amy Baker /// Part 1 /// 619

October 05, 2022 / 48:05

This episode covers the unsolved murder case of Amy Baker, who disappeared in Virginia in 1989. The hosts discuss the details surrounding her disappearance, the discovery of her body, and the investigation that followed.

Amy Baker, an 18-year-old, was last seen leaving her aunt's house in Falls Church, Virginia, on March 29, 1989. Her vehicle was found abandoned on Interstate 95 later that night. Her mother, Sue Baker, reported her missing the next day, unaware that her daughter's car had already been located.

The hosts highlight the timeline of events, including the police's initial response and the eventual discovery of Amy's body by her family just 200 yards from where her car was found. The autopsy revealed that she had been murdered shortly after leaving her vehicle.

They also discuss the lack of urgency from law enforcement in the early stages of the investigation and the family's frustration with the police's handling of the case. The episode emphasizes the importance of public tips and the ongoing hope for justice in Amy Baker's case.

Listeners are encouraged to visit the Virginia Fairfax County Cold Case website for more information on Amy's case and other unsolved homicides.

TLDR

The episode discusses the unsolved murder of Amy Baker in 1989, detailing her disappearance and the investigation that followed.

Episode

48:05
00:00:07
[Music] thank you [Music] [Music] thank you foreign garage wherever you are whatever you're
00:00:43
doing thanks for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always ladies and gentlemen the proud owner of a paperback
00:00:50
copy of cooking with Coolio five star meals at a one star price here is the cap slide slide slippity slide it's good
00:00:58
to be seen and good to see you thanks for listening thanks for telling a friend [Music]
00:01:08
Oktoberfest is technically over according to the official calendar but here in the garage we are just super
00:01:14
festive so let's let the celebration continue this week we are very happy to be featuring spatzen Oktoberfest your
00:01:22
meriton beer so we're getting very festive over here in the garage I hope I said that right this is a dark copper
00:01:30
colored beauty so you're going to want to pour this baby into a glass and it is sure to put you in a festive mood as
00:01:38
well garage gray three and three quarter bottle caps out of five and let's give some cheers to our friends that are
00:01:45
helping us celebrate today first up a big cheers to Rebecca from Ankeny Iowa and the big wheel like your jib to Dana
00:01:52
Miller in Goshen Indiana and last but not least we have Priscilla from Grand Rapids everybody we just mentioned went
00:02:00
to True Crime garage.com and clicked on the Donate button which helped us out with this week's beer running for that
00:02:06
we thank you yeah BW double r-u-n Beer Run get you some go to the website store and buy yourself a hoodie it's hoodie
00:02:16
season and we're gonna be launching some more hoodies in the next couple weeks so
00:02:21
look out for those and make sure you sign up on our mailing list when you're at truecrimegarage.com and Colonel
00:02:27
that's enough of the B is yes all right everybody gather round grab a chair grab
00:02:32
a beer let's talk some true crime foreign [Music] this week's case us back to the great state of Virginia
00:03:03
now Virginia has not been a frequent stop for us here at True Crime garage in fact in the first six or so years
00:03:11
that we have been covering cases I can only think of a few times that we dropped by this state that is home to
00:03:19
the Blue Ridge Mountains and Chesapeake Bay rather we have spent a great deal of
00:03:24
time in other states larger States and sadly states that we're home to some strange and unsolved murders
00:03:33
States like Texas California Florida and of course we've spent a good deal of time in our own State Ohio
00:03:44
but that does not for one second mean the Virginia or its people are immune to the tragedies that befell others in
00:03:53
other states nor should one think that Virginia is without its share of some strange and
00:04:00
unsolved murders why one would only need to look to the Colonial Parkway murders and the still
00:04:06
unsolved Shenandoah murder cases to see that sadly that is not the case both factually and unfortunately none of
00:04:16
our states of 50 are immune to any of this madness recently we have seen an increase in cases
00:04:25
covered here in the garage coming out of Virginia we covered the short family murders the
00:04:30
murder of socialite Danita cuts an Emma Compton Lane all still unsolved this is not to suggest an uptick in
00:04:40
murders and crime in Virginia no we covered the short family case just this last August on the 20th anniversary of
00:04:48
the crime a sad reminder that Justice is still needed danita's case dates back to the late 70s
00:04:57
and unfortunately Emma's case is now over five years old we are still holding out hope here in
00:05:06
the garage on all of these cases the cases we cover are suggested to us from our fine listeners and that is
00:05:14
because we are kind enough to allow them to steer this ship more than one person emailed us about
00:05:20
the still unsolved case of Amy Baker a quick internet search turned up a short news piece from ABC 7 News on your
00:05:28
side wjla.com if you would like to read it for yourself Timothy Barber from back in August of
00:05:38
2020. and it's titled murder victims family hopes Fairfax County Cold Case website will provide answers
00:05:48
the title is in bold squatty little letters I'm unsure of the font and just below there's a very nice
00:05:56
picture of the young lady it may even be a high school senior portrait she has a pretty and somehow familiar
00:06:04
face her smile is confident in her eyes and expression are both full of promise sometimes it might be okay to judge a
00:06:15
book by its cover this cover tells me she was a good kid the picture also tells me that she is
00:06:23
missed dearly the story references a one Sue Baker she's the victim's mother and angel here
00:06:31
on Earth still fighting for her daughter the story gives a few details about the
00:06:37
case but it is more about introducing a new website for the public one put together by the Virginia Fairfax
00:06:45
County Cold Case Squad unfortunately Amy Baker's 1989 case is just one of dozens that are featured on
00:06:55
the website the story ends by saying click here to learn more about Amy's case and other
00:07:01
cold cases one click of your mouse will take you to a spreadsheet of Unsolved Cold Case
00:07:07
homicides from Fairfax County spanning from 1980 to 1989. Amy Baker's case and that same nice picture are found at
00:07:18
the top of page five I am not happy to report that when I scroll through the pages
00:07:24
there are a couple of other names and photos of victims that I recognize in a column to the right of Amy's
00:07:32
picture the spreadsheet cell provides a brief description of her case that reads
00:07:39
18 year old Amy Baker was last seen leaving a relative's house and Falls Church the evening of March 29 1989.
00:07:49
her vehicle was located on the side of Interstate 95 by Blacklick Road later that evening
00:07:58
on March 31st 1989 Amy's body was found in a wooded area off the interstate personally
00:08:08
I don't feel that Amy Baker's case has received enough media attention over the years
00:08:13
and that is why we are covering it here today this is True Crime garage [Music] on the evening of Wednesday March 29
00:08:41
1989 18 year old Amy Baker got in her car she had just wrapped up a several day visit to her aunt's house this is her
00:08:51
mother's sister as she was visiting some friends as well in Falls Church a Virginia suburb of Washington DC that is
00:08:59
quite developed and populous Amy was heading home to Heartwood in Stafford County where she lived with her parents
00:09:07
the drive was not far and consisted mostly of highways that are busy at all hours of the night and then notoriously
00:09:15
congested area Amy headed south on I-95 Interstate 95. unfortunately she never made it home and
00:09:25
by 11 pm Sue Baker Amy's mother was starting to get worried she knew that Amy had left false church around 8 20
00:09:34
p.m even in DC's crazy traffic it would not have taken her two and a half hours to get home to Fairfax
00:09:43
the trip should have taken under an hour Sue managed to catch a few hours sleep but in the morning the first thing she
00:09:51
did was call her sister to confirm that yes Amy had left the night before Amy's frantic parents reported her missing
00:09:59
Thursday morning in the age before cell phones there was no tracking their daughter's location to
00:10:07
see where she was but they also knew Amy and that she wouldn't have likely have deviated from her route there was no
00:10:14
reason to she was 18. if she wanted to go somewhere else rather than coming home she would have just told her mom
00:10:22
that's what she was doing but no Amy had said that she was coming home in fact she said I'm coming home I'll be
00:10:31
there soon and Sue Baker didn't know this at the time but the state police had already found Amy's car that's right
00:10:38
Captain the vehicle was spotted by a Virginia state trooper on that Wednesday night it was found abandoned on the
00:10:46
shoulder of Interstate 95 southbound the massive eight Lane Highway it runs the length of the East Coast it was just
00:10:57
south of the Newington interchange which is a major commuter area according to the Newport News Daily Press police said
00:11:05
Amy pulled over on the shoulder of Interstate 95 near the Blacklick Road exit in Springfield this was less than
00:11:15
30 minutes away from her parents home her light blue 1970 Volkswagen Beetle was Amy's first car and it was her pride
00:11:25
and Joy Amy's vehicle was found with its flashers on by a passing officer this is
00:11:31
sometime after 10 pm on that Wednesday night the police seeing that it was abandoned
00:11:37
and was a safety hazard radioed to have it towed to an impound lot that was about 2 45 a.m Thursday morning all
00:11:47
right so just to be clear on a couple things because the timeline with all of these cases is one of the most important
00:11:54
things that we will discuss here today Amy's 1970 Volkswagen Beetle was spotted sometime after 10 pm by the
00:12:03
state police so that is fact that's nothing that we can call into question there right also what is fact is that
00:12:10
state police called in to have it towed at 2 45 a.m we've talked about this in other cases Captain where and when a
00:12:18
vehicle spotted by law enforcement especially Highway Patrol they're going to Mark the vehicle they're going to
00:12:25
note the license plate the description of the vehicle the time that they see it abandoned on the side of the road
00:12:31
especially we're talking about a busy major commuter area a congested traffic area this interstate 95 Southbound
00:12:40
they're going to note all of these items and they're going to allow a certain amount of time for the motorists whoever
00:12:48
they may be to return to the vehicle and get the vehicle themselves off of the side of the road whether it be to drive
00:12:56
it away or have it towed so in this situation the vehicle is spotted by State Police a
00:13:02
little after 10 pm that Wednesday night and then so we fast forward to about four four and a half hours later at 2 45
00:13:10
a.m technically Thursday morning is when it's radioed in to have the vehicle towed away well and that time is going
00:13:17
to vary depending on how much of a hazard the vehicle could be how much of the vehicle is obstructing the
00:13:25
road correct and in this case the vehicle is cleanly off of the road and this is probably why the why they
00:13:33
allowed so much time for someone to return to it the interesting thing here too though in the notations made by the
00:13:40
state police will be that obviously it said that the vehicle was found abandoned so this is not a situation
00:13:48
where they come upon the vehicle and Amy Baker's inside or standing near the vehicle this vehicle was abandoned
00:13:55
meaning the motorist the driver in this case it's Amy Baker is not present when the state police find the vehicle
00:14:02
shortly after 10 pm well very scary situation when your daughter does not come home after she says she's coming
00:14:09
home and then two even more of a red alert situation when you find her car abandoned also of note here Captain it's
00:14:19
important to mentioned that the vehicle was found unlocked I'm a little unclear as to what this means does this mean
00:14:28
that the state police found the vehicle unlocked when they first located at 10 pm or was the vehicle discovered to be
00:14:38
unlocked when it was eventually towed away at 2 45 a.m it sounds to me if I had to guess that likely the locks the
00:14:47
doors were probably not checked until it was time to tow the vehicle away but what is of importance here is that one
00:14:56
the vehicle was found unlocked but it also sounds like they didn't do too much or go to too much effort to figure out
00:15:04
who owned the vehicle or to search the the vehicle itself before having it towed away well you stated that the
00:15:12
flashers were on correct see I'm going to disagree with you on this because the flashers were on I would assume that law
00:15:19
enforcement when they come up upon the vehicle wanted to turn the flashers off and that's probably when they noticed
00:15:26
that the doors were unlocked before having it towed away yeah because if you leave the flashers on you run the risk
00:15:31
of having the battery die and if somebody is coming back for the vehicle obviously they're not going to
00:15:37
be able to move it if the battery is dead that's interesting and that's something that I would like to learn
00:15:43
more about because it from my understanding you would you would leave the flashers on as a this is night time
00:15:50
right so that nobody smashes into this vehicle the what I'm curious about is if in fact that is the case if they spot
00:15:58
the vehicle and it's found a little after 10 flashers on they leave the flashers on is that the indicator to
00:16:06
the state highway patrol that the owner never returned to the vehicle and now it's time to tow it away and again I'm
00:16:13
not a mechanic but I'm guessing if you leave those flashers on for four hours that your battery is going to be drain
00:16:20
dead the thing that I think is interesting here though is that the car is found unlocked again I'm pointing out
00:16:28
that I don't think that they took the time to check to see one the contents of the vehicle but more importantly who
00:16:36
owned it right you check the glove box or you check something inside the vehicle and you're likely going to
00:16:42
figure out who owns this vehicle and the reason why I think that that's a bit of
00:16:46
a misstep here and I know that we've discussed this before they're finding an abandoned vehicle
00:16:53
that's one thing completely different that's a completely different situation than what this situation is going to
00:17:00
lead us to right I don't know it's frustrating looking back on this in hindsight because
00:17:06
you would think that if they did figure out who owned the vehicle that they would be concerned that a young woman
00:17:15
who had just turned 18 years old two weeks before and inside the vehicle we have a backpack her purse containing her
00:17:24
wallet a paycheck her clothing her glasses are also found inside the car so to me if I happen upon this vehicle I
00:17:33
find those items in there as an officer I'm going to be concerned about finding these items in there and just a little
00:17:39
rant because I I know this is 1989 correct correct now of days with the technology
00:17:47
that we have just on our smartphones law enforcement when they see a abandoned car could go on there do a voice
00:17:55
recording of what they found and then snap a couple pictures and then send that to a file so then if the
00:18:03
person goes missing and the person's missing for 10 years or 15 years or whatever it is we have that documented
00:18:11
from the moment that they found the car that's correct in my opinion here Captain all of these items being found
00:18:17
in the vehicle is a very bad sign and likely that I mean really this is a bad sign that's going to turn into a very
00:18:24
bad Omen rather quickly question for you the tires were okay correct so what what
00:18:31
we have here is we have mom who calls in and reports her daughter missing the Amy
00:18:38
Baker's family reports her missing that Thursday morning now they didn't know that the vehicle had been found the
00:18:45
night before they didn't know that the vehicle had been towed away it's once they report her missing that the family
00:18:52
is informed that a vehicle matching remember because they didn't check to see who the owner of the vehicle was
00:18:58
that they found right but they're saying hey by the way a vehicle that matched the description of your daughter's
00:19:03
vehicle we actually spotted that on Interstate 95 and we had it towed away early this morning and they were told
00:19:11
that the determination was that Amy's car had run out of gas and sad when you think about that because just a simple
00:19:19
mistake and now we have a missing teenager well yes and this is one of those situations that you really hate to
00:19:25
hear about you know this is something that I experienced in a vehicle that I owned at one time it had a bad gas gauge
00:19:32
and that was the same thing with with Amy's beetle it had a bad gas gauge look her vehicle was 19 years old and
00:19:41
so this wasn't a terribly uncommon thing back then for older especially people driving vehicles that are of the older
00:19:48
state and from my understanding the way that the family has reported this they said
00:19:53
that the gas gauge at times worked and at other times did not work so this would be and that's even worse than it
00:20:01
just not working all the time because at least if it doesn't work all the time then you can calculate the
00:20:08
mileage and all that kind of stuff and but sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't work but you've you've been in a
00:20:15
old Volkswagen even going to high school in the 90s there were kids that had Beatles from the 70s that there were
00:20:24
their prized possession and it was kind of a iconic car but those are like basically
00:20:31
driving around a golf cart or a little go-kart well and not to get too far off on a Side Story here but a
00:20:39
gas gauge that works sometimes and sometimes does not work is the same thing that happened to Leonard Skinner
00:20:45
so this is not a terribly uncommon thing here it's really unfortunate she's traveling alone runs
00:20:54
out of gas in the middle of the night and then would be forced to pursue getting gas or getting help on foot
00:21:00
because of it being 1989 and as you pointed out no cell phone for for Amy Baker it's also should be noted that
00:21:08
this was not the first time that this gas problem had occurred she probably knew what to do anybody that's
00:21:15
ever run out of gas the the car behaves in a certain way and vehicles behave differently when this occurs but she
00:21:24
clearly recognized the issue once the gas was out and was able to cleanly get the vehicle off of the road
00:21:33
and she must have been awfully frustrated maybe even a little scared she's in the dark far from home probably
00:21:40
one thing that makes her feel a little better that's a little more comforting in this situation it is a congested area
00:21:46
there's a lot of people a lot of vehicles flying around that I I would think one would feel
00:21:52
somewhat better not being alone out there even though she is trekking it alone on foot and so she would have to
00:22:00
have decided to get out of the vehicle and pursue help uh which would be in this case means walking to a nearby gas
00:22:09
station well it's dangerous not just because there's humans that become Predators out there the fact that she's
00:22:16
walking in the dark on the highway so after receiving this report the family is told about the vehicle that was towed
00:22:24
away Amy Baker's vehicle the mother Sue she immediately demanded to check out her daughter's vehicle per the Newport
00:22:34
Daily News at the impound lot Sue found Amy's purse wallet and backpack inside the car the car keys were not located in
00:22:44
the vehicle actually here Captain the car keys have never been located never been found their absence remains of
00:22:51
mystery to this day it's part of the larger mystery of what happened to Amy Baker The Bakers feel strongly that the
00:22:59
items left behind in the car should have suggested to law enforcement that a crime had been committed
00:23:05
they say after all what you know woman would leave her unlocked disabled car without taking her person ID she never
00:23:14
makes it home that night I agree with the family here we don't know when an abduction occurred of Amy Baker
00:23:24
but we do know that it did take place to me this is a little more terrifying than
00:23:30
I than I would think or or to to picture this situation because this points out to me
00:23:38
and again we'll we'll stay water as we go through this timeline and stay fluid of the situation but when I look at the
00:23:45
early findings in the situation it looks to me like the abduction may have occurred at the vehicle itself or
00:23:53
for some reason whoever took her decided to return an item or two to the vehicle I cannot see her
00:24:03
getting out on foot leaving the vehicle unlocked and not at least taking her purse or her wallet but again we'll stay
00:24:12
water as we go through this timeline well just you know to throw out some hypotheticals she could have assumed
00:24:19
because this happened before that she just ran out of gas put on her flashers stood outside her car
00:24:26
and then she's abducted like you said outside of her car leaving her valuable items behind so the family is
00:24:36
immediately concerned and they are really worried that something horrible has happened to their daughter but on
00:24:42
the other hand the police were not so quick to embrace a foul play situation as the operative Theory but come on are
00:24:51
they ever I mean that you get missing person cases they'll lean towards suicide or running
00:24:58
away to start a new life before they ever lean towards Foul Play this is from a Washington Post interview with the
00:25:07
mother of the victim Sue Baker says quote I was beside myself and I was trying to get the Fairfax County Police
00:25:13
to do something but because Amy was 18 they considered her an adult and proceeded accordingly they asked us if
00:25:21
she might be running away from something and whether she might have abandoned her
00:25:25
car they later told us that they had sent a patrol car to drive along the shoulder where her car had been and that
00:25:34
a helicopter had taken a look but no one saw anything suspicious but Amy's family
00:25:40
is left wondering where is Amy [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] we are back to the windows to the walls
00:26:16
love you all cheers everybody cheers to you Captain before we get too far into the weeds here and the details of this
00:26:25
case let's take a quick look in a few minutes to talk about Amy Baker and we learned a good deal about Amy this all
00:26:34
from a local paper the Fairfax times that said the baker family had moved only months before from Falls Church to
00:26:44
the small community of Heartwood in Stafford County remember we had said that Amy was visiting friends and
00:26:51
relatives in false church so it makes sense that she would want to go there and visit these people
00:26:58
for several days as she is relatively new to where they are living now the family the baker family composed of
00:27:07
Sue and Mark who are Amy's parents and her younger brother David and the family says well Sue says we
00:27:16
wanted a larger home with some land and to get away from the urban mess in Fairfax County Amy's Father Mark told
00:27:25
the newspaper we wanted a larger home with some land and to get away from the urban mess in Fairfax County Amy Baker
00:27:33
attended both Falls Church and J.E.B Stewart high schools she played varsity field hockey loved photography and had
00:27:43
plans to attend art school in Savannah Georgia she worked at the local mall as an event photographer taking shots of
00:27:51
children with the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus for example Sue Baker her mother said that as worried as she was when Amy
00:27:59
didn't come home that night she tried to tell herself that her daughter was now 18 and that as a mother she had to start
00:28:06
thinking of her daughter that way as an adult and not to be so overly protective
00:28:12
but when Amy failed to come home by 6 a.m she said that she knew something was terribly wrong so Mom started calling
00:28:21
everyone that she could think of she called the hospitals towing companies relatives and the police she called
00:28:28
everyone and that is when after speaking with police that she learned that the vehicle was spotted and found the night
00:28:34
before when we see this a lot with missing person cases where the family doesn't believe law enforcement is
00:28:41
taking the case serious and like we said law enforcement tends to lean towards these ideas of well is there some
00:28:51
conflict in the family and did Amy decide to start a new life my big issue with the with Amy's case and you you
00:29:00
kind of you kind of leaned on this idea her valuables her purse her identification all the stuff she left
00:29:09
behind and the location of the vehicle itself seems like an odd place meant for somebody that's choosing to run away as
00:29:17
police were hinting at in the early stages of this case again Amy is 18 she's a legal adult so
00:29:26
they they do have some grounds for that argument but with everything I'm seeing I think that that was a misstep here by
00:29:35
law enforcement the mother Sue Baker she wasn't going to wait around the family the baker family was not going to wait
00:29:42
around to have police come to their side in their way of thinking in the police's
00:29:47
defense they did send a car they did send a helicopter to kind of look around the area but we're gonna find some
00:29:55
issues with that as well as we will get to here in this next part not to come off as a boot licker but law enforcement
00:30:04
deals with thousands of missing person cases where the next day the family is calling and saying we we found Amy we
00:30:14
found whoever that was missing and they're home now and they're safe Sue Baker and her sister-in-law Mary
00:30:21
bellette quickly threw together missing persons posters and getting ready to put
00:30:29
them up saying quote have you seen Amy Baker and keep in mind this 1989 so this is no small feat back then
00:30:38
it must have been a terrible feeling to be putting those posters together that of your child asking strangers and
00:30:45
posting them at spots near her vehicle hoping that a stranger calls with some type of information about your missing
00:30:53
child be it an adult child or otherwise they distributed these posters all over the Newington area of course they're
00:31:05
also praying that Amy was somewhere safe and someone had seen her and has information to pass along to the family
00:31:13
the police said that they were taking appropriate steps to look into Amy's whereabouts according to the then
00:31:21
Fairfax police spokesman Warren Carmichael who gave a statement to The Washington Post
00:31:28
he said in addition to a police Lookout a uniformed officer an officer with a police dog and a homicide investigator
00:31:37
were sent on Thursday to a section of Interstate 95 just south of Blacklick Road where Amy Baker's vehicle was found
00:31:47
by a Virginia State Police Trooper a helicopter also searched the area he said well this exit area would make more
00:31:55
sense if you saw a picture it'll be on our Facebook our Twitter and Instagram page this and kudos to Amy Baker's
00:32:03
family this was not enough this was not good enough for Amy's mother in particular so on March 31st
00:32:11
Sue insisted that an officer meet her at the location where the car was found and
00:32:19
that they would search the area together so she's offering to help law enforcement and requesting that they be
00:32:25
there when she is out there actively searching boots on the ground for her own daughter right so here's what she
00:32:32
told the Fairfax times she says a police officer was supposed to meet us at noon
00:32:37
that day but they had gotten a call so that officer that was scheduled to meet her at noon got called away to a
00:32:46
different situation a different unrelated scenario and so no one ever showed up so mother Sue Baker says well
00:32:54
me and my sister-in-law we waited around about 45 minutes and then we decided to
00:32:59
start walking the area ourselves you know they weren't going to go out there for nothing and so her and her
00:33:07
sister-in-law Mary started walking the wooded area near the abandoned car's location
00:33:14
this was on Good Friday and unfortunately we will see why this will never be good for the Bakers
00:33:23
ever again Mary the sister-in-law told the Fairfax times we were walking around inside the Clover Leaf area of the exit
00:33:33
ramp when I saw some bright colors among all of the brown leaves and twigs I saw
00:33:40
blue and white and then I saw Amy devastating I saw her but my brain didn't register what I was seeing until
00:33:47
Sue put her hand on my shoulder and screamed that sort of brought me back to reality end quote
00:33:55
Amy lay on the ground just about 200 yards from where her car had been found her body was covered with leaves this
00:34:04
was right near the Blacklick road bridge over Interstate 395 in Newington do you find it odd that
00:34:13
law enforcement didn't find her first yes yes that's why I think it's important and the the telling of this
00:34:21
story of this True Crime Story to point out that law enforcement is saying hey we we did do a brief search of the area
00:34:31
given the description of how the body was found I don't find it terribly weird that the
00:34:37
the helicopter above didn't spot Amy it what it points out to me more so Captain
00:34:44
is that I I don't think a lot of effort was made in that search I agree with you now a
00:34:50
lot of our listeners and I was doing this myself when I was looking into Amy's case we like to get on the
00:34:56
different map applications and really kind of scour the area and we gave a great description of where the vehicle
00:35:03
was found keep in mind that was Interstate 95 just south of Blacklick Road what all reports that I've seen
00:35:11
captain and from what I've been told is that this area especially the Blacklick Bridge
00:35:20
that we just discussed where she was found this area has changed drastically over the years so if if anybody were to
00:35:29
try to to look on some map applications today just be just know that this area is not laid out the same that it was
00:35:38
that's 33 years ago now Sue went on to tell the Fairfax times in her interview I knew right away what I was seeing it
00:35:47
was my daughter she was covered in leaves but I saw the new tennis shoes she had just gotten for her 18th
00:35:53
birthday sticking out and I knew it was my daughter so the two women they flagged down a passing ambulance and
00:36:02
within 20 minutes the area was corded off with crime scene tape and with officers and
00:36:10
investigators on the scene Mary told the Washington Post that the whole thing left a bad taste in her mouth she was
00:36:18
married to a policeman herself but the family did not like the way that the Fairfax police handled this whole thing
00:36:25
quote I'm mad because her mother and I had to find her it took us half an hour the police department couldn't do it in
00:36:34
two days she said Amy was a very sweet girl Mary said her assailant didn't murder one little girl
00:36:42
he murdered a whole family well I think the big word I would use to describe law enforcement in this search
00:36:50
effort would be pathetic and then obviously now we go from a missing person case to a homicide the
00:36:59
determination was that Amy had been beaten sexually assaulted and strangled this according to the autopsy she had
00:37:07
been dead for two days which was sadly as expected her mother told the Fairfax times they
00:37:15
found change in the pocket of her khaki shorts and a Coroner's report estimated that it all happened
00:37:23
within 30 minutes to an hour of when she left her car so not a whole lot of time takes place
00:37:30
between the time that Amy finds herself on the side of the interstate and when she is actually killed again according
00:37:38
to the corner 30 to 60 Minutes roughly after Amy left her vehicle now I do want to State the other problem with their
00:37:47
pathetic search is once you find her don't you believe that this is where the crime actually took place so not only
00:37:54
are you finding this missing person and now you know it's a homicide but now you
00:38:00
can preserve this scene which is outside you can do your best but she's been out
00:38:05
there for approximately two days right no but what I'm saying is if they would have done the search correctly they
00:38:12
would have found her probably two days earlier that's correct yes they did that cursorary search earlier and had they
00:38:22
spotted her and found her then they would have had a better more preserved crime scene to be investigating and and
00:38:29
you can't blame the baker family for for they have to be furious with this yeah I mean her body's located 200 yards
00:38:41
from where the vehicle was originally spotted so we're not talking like a a great distance here
00:38:49
now this is real interesting to me here captain and these are potential leads and this is based off of the police
00:38:58
requesting information in Amy's case so interestingly police asked the public to
00:39:05
call in any information they might have about two possible vehicles that were seen in the area so a statement said
00:39:14
that police were seeking two cars the state trooper spotted quote near the Volkswagen
00:39:21
and this was a one was a dark colored early 80s Buick and the other was a blue Ford Escort now whether they received
00:39:30
any calls about these pretty generic vehicles in their description is unknown once there was news reports that Amy has
00:39:39
been murdered there was a flood of tips so one of these was a caller referencing
00:39:46
an article about Amy in the freelance star of Fredericksburg this caller was a female caller and she
00:39:56
called Crime Stoppers on April 3rd police believe the caller was from the Fredericksburg area
00:40:04
the caller was assigned identification number 6125 but has never called back again now we don't
00:40:15
know what this tip involved we don't know the details of this tip but the reason why this tip is important here
00:40:22
Captain Captain is in 2005 police said that they were renewing their plea for this person to call back quote we
00:40:32
believe there is somebody out there who knows about this case and quote this is according to the spokesperson Warren
00:40:40
Carmichael right for the Fairfax police who goes on to say quote we hope that person will come forward and quote so it
00:40:49
sounds to me like this woman the the caller who called in way back in April 3rd of 1989
00:40:59
that this caller hinted that she had some significant information about the case but
00:41:06
police received this information they beg they plea for her to call back and according to everything I can find
00:41:15
she never called back and that's easy to believe one because we have a second plea public plea in 2005 requesting that
00:41:22
she called back while some people are so scared to call in in the first place so
00:41:29
you feel for law enforcement and you feel for the baker family because this individual look they they might have got
00:41:36
scared they might have gotten scared the other thing that I worry about too is is this person we're talking about a
00:41:44
significant amount of time in this case right we had just said 30 three years roughly in this case and in
00:41:53
2005 they're requesting that this caller call back in this is after several previous requests but
00:42:01
2005 still would have been 16 years after the fact so if this person if this female caller
00:42:14
did have intimate details of the case or knew who was responsible for Amy Baker's
00:42:21
murder there's a chance that that person was not still with us or still around in
00:42:27
2005. be it alive or in the area or the region at all well this case definitely has some interesting points to it
00:42:37
there's a lot of things that are very interesting to me here in this case Captain I feel like even though we're
00:42:43
sitting here 33 years later that there's still a possibility that this case could
00:42:50
be solved and there are some things that we're going to get into that are of evidentiary value that will point to the
00:42:58
possibility of still finding Amy Baker's killer all of these years later but even
00:43:03
in the early stages of this investigation look we can't go back in time and make the
00:43:10
police find Amy's body any sooner than it was eventually located we can't go back in time and and erase
00:43:19
the two days that that took place between the time of her death and when the body was found and then preserved
00:43:25
that crime scene even better but we can take the things and the items that we know to be fact
00:43:32
in this case and hone in on those and see what can be made of those so one we have
00:43:39
police asking the public for help on these two vehicles that were spotted the two vehicles that were spotted are very
00:43:46
important to me for a couple of reasons right one one of the vehicles could in fact belong to the killer or we have a
00:43:55
situation where both vehicles do not belong to the killer but could be potential Witnesses or eyewitnesses to
00:44:02
something even if they call in and talk to police and say that they didn't see anything at all
00:44:09
that is of value to the police because that goes into their timeline to say well these vehicles were Within
00:44:18
plain sight of Amy's vehicle and they didn't see Amy they also didn't see uh the perpetrator so we know that the
00:44:27
perpetrator was a male it was whoever's responsible for this is a male now the two vehicles yes
00:44:36
is there a chance that the tip that comes in that they were so concerned about that they were asking and begging
00:44:44
the caller to call back and speak with investigators another time is there a chance that that caller was the owner or
00:44:54
has information based off of one of those vehicles that was spotted because the vehicles that they're they're asking
00:45:01
the public about these aren't some random Vehicles yes they're pretty vague descriptions of the
00:45:07
vehicles but these are vehicles that were spotted by the patrol officer who was the one that noted the abandoned
00:45:14
vehicle in the first place and then factor in the situation of this female caller calling into Crime
00:45:21
Stoppers look that in itself points out that this caller likely wanted to remain anonymous
00:45:29
because Crime Stoppers is a great way to provide a tip to law enforcement and remain anonymous but this tip comes in
00:45:37
on April 3rd Amy Baker was driving home on March 29th so five days later is when
00:45:46
this tip is phoned in and it's not even five days later when you think about it because she's not found until the 31st
00:45:55
so we really only have about three days between now we have a known homicide to when this tip comes in how long did it
00:46:04
take from the time that we have a known homicide and Amy Baker is identified as the victim that between between that
00:46:11
information going out to the public and this call coming in on April 3rd I'm with police here I feel like this tip
00:46:19
whatever was that was stated in the information that this female caller gave to Crime Stoppers was important to the
00:46:26
investigators at the time and has remained important to the investigators for 33 years I'm with them I I don't
00:46:33
know what was said in that tip but it this tip is of of high priority in this investigation well it seems like this
00:46:41
tip was priority to the witness but then maybe they changed their mind or maybe they just don't want to be involved
00:46:52
[Music] foreign [Music] if you need more True Crime garage for your earballs check out our bonus show
00:47:07
on Stitcher premium it's only five dollars a month you get our show and every show that's on Stitcher premium
00:47:14
and you can check out that link at truecrime garage.com or just go to Stitcher premium join us back here in
00:47:21
the garage tomorrow for more True Crime garage and until then be good be kind and don't listen
00:47:32
foreign [Music]

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 80
    Most heartbreaking
  • 70
    Most emotional
  • 65
    Most intense
  • 60
    Most dramatic

Episode Highlights

  • Amy Baker's Disappearance
    On March 29, 1989, 18-year-old Amy Baker went missing after leaving her aunt's house. Her abandoned car was found with personal items inside, raising concerns about a possible crime.
    “What woman would leave her unlocked disabled car without taking her ID?”
    @ 23m 04s
    October 05, 2022
  • The Search for Amy Baker
    Amy Baker goes missing, prompting her family to take action and search for her themselves.
    “Amy's family was not going to wait around for police.”
    @ 29m 40s
    October 05, 2022
  • Tragic Discovery
    Amy's body is found by her family just 200 yards from her abandoned car.
    “I saw Amy... my brain didn't register what I was seeing until Sue screamed.”
    @ 33m 43s
    October 05, 2022
  • Law Enforcement's Response
    Criticism arises regarding the police's handling of the case and search efforts.
    “The police department couldn't do it in two days.”
    @ 36m 34s
    October 05, 2022

Episode Quotes

  • It's good to be seen and good to see you.
    Amy Baker /// Part 1 /// 619
  • Justice is still needed.
    Amy Baker /// Part 1 /// 619
  • This cover tells me she was a good kid.
    Amy Baker /// Part 1 /// 619
  • The absence of her keys remains a mystery to this day.
    Amy Baker /// Part 1 /// 619
  • It must have been a terrible feeling to be putting those posters together.
    Amy Baker /// Part 1 /// 619
  • I knew right away what I was seeing; it was my daughter.
    Amy Baker /// Part 1 /// 619

Key Moments

  • Oktoberfest Celebration01:08
  • Introduction of Amy Baker Case02:59
  • Unsolved Mystery22:54
  • Missing Person Case24:12
  • Family's Desperation28:21
  • Heartbreaking Discovery33:43
  • Police Criticism36:34
  • Homicide Confirmation36:56

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown