ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — The case of a murdered Georgia woman is now underway after advanced DNA technology made possible the arrest of a suspect more than two decades later.

Here is what you need to know about Tara Baker’s killing and Edrick Faust, the man facing 12 felony counts in connection with her violent death.

The killing:

• In January 2001, Tara Baker, a 23-year-old UGA law student, was killed in her apartment in Athens.
• Baker was last seen by friends around 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 18, 2001, at the UGA Law School Library.
• A friend called Baker around 9:46 p.m., and she said she planned to leave the library around 10 p.m.
• That was the last time anyone heard from her alive.
• According to arrest warrants, Baker was killed sometime between 9:45 p.m. on Jan. 18 and 11:30 a.m. on Jan. 19, 2001.
• She was subjected to strangulation with an instrument, a knife wound to the neck, blunt force trauma to her head and sexual assault.
• Baker’s body was discovered by Athens-Clarke County firefighters around 11:20 a.m. on Jan. 19, 2001.
• She was found in her burning apartment on Fawn Drive in Athens.

What happened afterward:

The murder remained unsolved for over 23 years.

The case gained renewed attention after podcaster Cameron Jay produced the “Classic City Crime” podcast, which covered the case from June 2020 to January 2021.

In April 2023, Georgia lawmakers passed the Coleman-Baker Act, which allocated over $5 million toward reopening cold-case murder investigations.

The arrest and charges:

In May 2024, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) Cold Case Unit arrested Faust, who was 50 at the time, after new DNA science and biological evidence allegedly linked him to the murder.

He is facing 12 charges:

• Count one - malice murder
• Count two - felony murder
• Count three - felony murder
• Count four - felony murder
• Count five - felony murder
• Count six - burglary
• Count seven - aggravated sodomy
• Count eight - rape
• Count nine - aggravated assault
• Count 10 - aggravated sodomy
• Count 11 - arson in the first degree
• Count 12 - possession of a knife during commission of a felony

Faust has a criminal history and pleaded guilty to aggravated assault less than a month after Baker’s killing.

Faust pleaded not guilty to Baker’s murder at his August 2024 arraignment. He was denied bond and remains in custody at Clarke County Jail.

The attorneys

Prosecutors: Kris Bolden, assistant district attorney for Athens-Clarke County

Defense: Ahmad Crews, Ahmad R. Crews law firm

Atlanta News First will stream the trial gavel-to-gavel starting at 10 a.m. on ANF+ under our courts and trials channel.

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