Deadly Little Secrets Part 9

"Very funny," he replied.

At 1:04, Kari again e-mailed Matt. She'd sent him a message earlier, suggesting a s.e.xual liaison for the evening, and he hadn't e-mailed her in return. Now she wondered, "Did you get my e-mail? Or maybe that is your answer, that you don't want me to do anything with you tonight."

"Whatever," Matt wrote back. "I just got both e-mails right now-we'll see what we can do tonight." A week earlier, Matt had talked about picking up some supplies to augment their s.e.x life. Now he typed, "Might have to use what we used before. :-)"

The following morning, Thursday, Kari e-mailed Matt, but he didn't respond. She wanted him to do what Bristol had recommended, to write down the reasons he loved her. "I know you think that is stupid, but if you don't mind, sometimes it is good to just see the reasons why a person loves you. I am not saying I doubt your love. I hope you understand and can do this for me. You used to write me little notes all the time telling me you love me . . . I love you."

A little more than half an hour later, Matt replied: "I did not get that other e-mail. OK-if your [sic] force me to :-) - here are a few: "I love that you make me laugh.

"I love the time we spend together.

"I enjoy the family we have created-how beautiful they are.

"I love you for loving me.

"I love that you are my best friend.

"I know that these are few-but very important. I DO love you. You are my wife. I love you."

When Kari responded, she sounded happy: "Thanks for putting those down. I guess sometimes I just need to be reminded why you fell in love with me. I know that I used to not ask this, but I really think I am a different person today. I need to hear more from you. I am sure you are thinking what happened to the woman that I married? :) I guess I want more from you. NO. I do want more from you.

"When we first met, you used to always do special little things to tell me you love me. I guess I just miss that.

"Well my heart slowed down a little this morning. I think I know why I get the way I do. I really just miss being with you, and I start thinking about being away from you all day, and I start feeling strange. I wish there was a way we could work together. I know that can't happen, but it doesn't hurt to wish. I love you."

In her final e-mail of the afternoon, at 2:29, Kari wrote: "We will just talk when I get home. I love you."

During Kari's phone call to Jill that afternoon, she sounded as if her life had turned an important corner and that the future looked brighter. "She was elated," says Jill. "Kari said things were better between her and Matt, that they were patching things up. I was happy for her."

On the way out the door at school, one of the other teachers approached Kari to remind her about the breast cancer walk coming up in two days, on Sat.u.r.day morning. "I'd like to, but I need to talk to Matt," she said. "I'll let you know."

Chapter 21.

Friday, April 7, 2006, was a hot day in central Texas. The thermostat was projected to climb to ninety-one, just three degrees below the 1972 record for that date. That morning, Jill called Kari but didn't get an answer. At 8:28, Linda e-mailed Kari, hoping to pump her up before her job interview that afternoon.

"Good luck," Linda typed. "Call me when it's over."

"Okay," Kari responded. "I'm so nervous, I didn't sleep at all last night. In fact, I couldn't remember if I took a sleepy pill at 11:40, so I took another one and now I think two, so my head feels strange. I hope they love me."

"Don't freak yourself out!" Linda responded. "You are a terrific teacher and you interview very well. Remember that you don't have to have this. Don't put so much stress on yourself." At that, Linda talked about wanting to spend time shopping with Kensi for her birthday. They discussed plans. "I do love those girls!!!!!!!!" Linda said. "I've decided both girls need time with Grammy!"

Meanwhile, at 8:30, Matt Baker called Vanessa at her parents' home. From March 30 through that Friday, April 7, Matt had called the Bulls's house seven times, talking for a total of sixty-three minutes.

That morning at school, Kari looked happy. She stopped at Shae's cla.s.sroom about 11:15 with a slice of pizza for her. They came in twos and Kari, on her diet, ate one and offered the other to her friend. Afterward, she exchanged e-mails with some of the other teachers about their plans for workshops that summer, Kari saying she planned to skip the one in June and look for another. Then, she told one of her fellow third-grade teachers that she'd decided not to do the Walk for a Cure breast cancer event the following day. "We're having a celebration for my grandmother on Sat.u.r.day," Kari said. "I really want to be there."

That afternoon, Kari left Spring Valley at 12:30, stopping on Crested b.u.t.te to change into a suit to wear for her interview for the language arts slot. Matt would later say he was there, that they had a snack before she left to drive to Midway Middle School.

At 1:30, Todd Monsey waited at the school's front doors when Kari arrived. She was nervous and excited, and she'd asked him to take her in and introduce her since he taught history at the school. They talked, and Kari joked, saying that if she got the job, they could be coteachers, and that they'd be so good at it that they'd end up on Oprah as teachers of the year. Todd walked Kari to the princ.i.p.al's office and introduced her to the secretary, then he left Kari in the waiting area. Later, the secretary would say that Kari appeared happy, enthused about the prospect of teaching seventh-grade English and talking about Kensi and Grace.

After the interview, when Kari walked toward the front doors, she saw Todd again. "How'd it go?" he asked.

"Great," she said, raising her hand. He smacked it in a high five. Seconds later, she was out the door and on her way home.

"I rocked," Kari said, when she called Linda. "I was so good. I slam-dunked it!"

"See, I told you that you would." Linda laughed, relieved to hear Kari happy after the past difficult weeks. "Way to go, Kari!"

As soon as Kari could, she e-mailed Todd asking him to check on how she'd done. "Go in there and find out if I got the job," she said.

Later, when Kari called, her friend had good news. "They were blown away," he responded. "You're one of those being considered for the job."

"Yes," Kari said. "Oprah, here we come!"

Minutes later, Kari walked into Walmart. Shannon Gamble was there shopping when she saw her son's favorite teacher. They talked briefly, Shannon saying for not the first time how delighted she was that her son had pa.s.sed the standardized test and that she appreciated all Kari had done for him. Shannon noticed how cheerful Kari looked, and they parted as Kari hurried to pick up a few things.

A short time later, Kari logged onto her school e-mail account to send a letter to Midway's princ.i.p.al, thanking him for the interview. "I felt the interview went very well," she wrote. "I was so glad to get to meet some of your great teachers . . . Thank you again for this opportunity, and I look forward to hearing from you. Kari Baker."

Yet at some point late that afternoon, something must have happened, something troubling. For by the time Kari was seen again, her mood was decidedly darker.

That afternoon, one of the other moms, Kim Johnson, saw Kari and Matt walk through the door into the Family Y's pool area for Kensi's swim team at 5:15 and sit in the bleachers with Grace. Immediately, Kim knew something was wrong. On any other evening, Kari would have walked over to Kim, to sit with her and talk. On this evening, Matt and Kari kept to themselves. "Her eyes were red," Kim said. She also noticed that things seemed not right between Matt and Kari. "You could have cut the tension with a knife."

As Kim watched, Kari put her head in her hands and sighed. Without explaining, Matt walked over to Kim and took her youngest daughter and Grace to the vending machines. A short while later, he returned and walked over to Kari. The two girls were running around, and Kim pulled them to the side and told them not to bother Kari.

"Is she all right?" Kim mouthed at Matt, when Kari again put her head in her hands and stared down at her lap.

"No," Matt mouthed. "I'm going to take her out for some air." At that, he bent down, and pulled Kari up by her arm, then walked her outside to the hallway. To Kim, it didn't appear that Kari was ill but rather that she and Matt had been arguing.

In the hallway, Kari sat on a black leather coach. Another mother walked up and began talking. The second mom, too, noticed Kari's red eyes. The woman was upset with the swim coach and wanted Kari's feedback. Matt was off with Grace at the time.

"This is confidential," the woman said.

"Everyone knows you can trust the Bakers," Kari replied, her inflection sarcastic.

Moments later, Matt returned with Grace, and the other woman, too, sensed a "distance" between Matt and Kari.

Practice ended, and the Bakers left the Y that evening. Matt would say later that at 6:45, he and Kari, together with the girls, pulled into a small pizza restaurant, Rosati's, close to the Walmart where just hours earlier Kari had been happy when she saw Shannon Gamble. The plan was to pick up pizza, but the wait was too long, and they left, instead driving through McDonald's, where the girls asked for Happy Meals.

All Kari had to eat that evening, he'd later say, were two french fries, which she threw up after they got home. From that point on, Matt, Kari, and the two girls were alone inside the house on Crested b.u.t.te. The next anyone heard from them was when Matt picked up the telephone just after midnight and dialed 911.

Chapter 22.

"This is 9-1-1. Do you have an emergency?" a dispatcher asked.

"Yes. I think my wife just committed suicide," Matt answered.

"Okay. You're at 803 Crested b.u.t.te? Stay on the line with me. I'm going to connect you to the ambulance. Okay?"

"Okay. Thank you," Matt responded. Moments later, the dispatcher a.s.sured Matt that a unit was on its way.

"Tell me exactly what happened," he then asked.

Kari, Matt said, was on the bed. "Her lips are blue, hands are . . . are . . . are cold, and there's a note that says 'I'm sorry,' basically . . . She's not breathing at all. No pulse or anything."

"Did you see what happened to her?"

"Uh, no. I just tried to push down on her chest, and stuff came out of her nose. No, no, no, no, I do not know. She . . ."

"Listen carefully. I need you to get her on her back flat on the ground, and remove any pillows, okay? Do that and tell me when you're done."

Matt's voice sounded as if it were any other day as he agreed to lower Kari onto the floor. "Hold on. Okay hold on," in the background a brief, low groan was heard. After a long pause, Matt said, "I know how to do CPR."

"Oh, you do."

"Yes. I am certified to do that," Matt answered.

Still, the EMS dispatcher wanted to make sure it was done correctly, and he instructed Matt to check inside Kari's mouth, to be sure her throat wasn't obstructed. Matt responded by saying, "There is fluid all in her nose and in her mouth, it just poured out of her . . . on the floor."

"Put one hand on the floor and one under her neck and tilt her head back," the dispatcher instructed. Once Matt said that was done, he asked Matt to put his ear near Kari's mouth, to make sure that she wasn't breathing.

"There's nothing. There's nothing," Matt responded.

"Okay. We're going to start with compressions first, okay?" Matt agreed, and the dispatcher told him to place his hands on the center of Kari's chest, one hand on top of the other, and push. "You're going to do it fast and hard, four hundred times."

"Four hundred?"

"Four hundred times is the latest we've been instructed to do. Okay? Twice per second," the dispatcher repeated. "It's going to take you about three-and-a-half minutes to do it. So start right now. I'll tell you when to stop."

Matt agreed, as the dispatcher added, "Let the chest come up all the way between the pumps. Okay?"

"Yes, they are." After a pause, Matt added, "I think she urinated on herself, too. It smells like it. There's water everywhere. Something everywhere."

"Okay."

Through it all, as he said he pulled his wife's cold, unresponsive body onto the floor, as he pushed down with his hands on her chest, Matt sounded calm, collected. He asked the dispatcher if he should unlock the door for the ambulance, but the man a.s.sured Matt that wasn't necessary yet and that he'd let Matt know when the ambulance got closer.

Then, it seemed something came to mind, the girls, Kensi and Grace asleep in their beds. "I have two kids. In their bedrooms," Matt said, suddenly deciding that he needed to call Linda and Jim. "I want them to come over here and be with the kids." Matt spelled out the Dulins' last name and gave the dispatcher their phone number.

"You still doing compressions?" the man asked. When Matt said he was, the dispatcher explained, "You do those. I'll get someone else started on this, okay?"

"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." After a long pause, Matt said, "I dropped the phone . . . Oh, she's got foam or something coming out of her nose."

Then, unexpectedly, "Okay, someone's at the front door. I've got to go."

Somehow, EMS had arrived four minutes and twenty-eight seconds into the 911 call, before the dispatcher alerted Matt that the ambulance was approaching, before he instructed Matt to stop doing CPR and to leave Kari's side in the bedroom to unlock the front door.

"Okay, go ahead," the dispatcher said.

What was even odder, however, was that when those first responders arrived on the scene, they didn't have a siren blaring, one Matt might have heard. Yet they didn't have to pound on the front door or ring the bell to get his attention. Matt had told the dispatcher that he was in the bedroom administering CPR to his wife. In fact, Matt Baker wasn't in the bedroom at all. He wasn't even in the house.

What the first EMT on the scene saw at 803 Crested b.u.t.te just minutes after midnight on Sat.u.r.day, April 8, 2006, was Matt with a cordless telephone to his ear, standing at his open front door.

Chapter 23.

The dispatcher issued the call as a 2A, high priority. EMT Craig Lott was at home in bed just after midnight when his pager went off. The information relayed to him was that there was a possible suicide. Quickly, he threw on clothes and walked out to his truck, then looked at the address. Lott had recently moved, so it didn't strike him at first, but then he realized that the call address was on his block. Another look, and he recognized that it was the house directly next door. It was then that John Gates, Lott's partner, arrived in the ambulance. Still, they weren't allowed to enter the premises until police cleared the scene, so Lott and Gates walked up to the Baker house but waited. There they saw Matt standing on the front porch talking to the dispatcher.

Moments later, a Hewitt PD squad car pulled up with Officer Michael Irving inside. Irving rushed to the front door, where Baker motioned to come inside. Matt pointed to the bedroom, and there Irving saw Kari on the wood floor, her legs and arms splayed out, wearing a Snoopy Santa T-s.h.i.+rt and a pair of off-white nylon panties. Irving called to Gates and Lott, and the two EMTs rushed in carrying a portable defibrillator.

Once in the bedroom, Lott placed a BVM, a bag valve mask, over Kari's nose and mouth. As Gates began compressions, Lott hooked the BVM up to a tank delivering one hundred percent oxygen at fifteen liters a minute. With the oxygen flowing, Lott then attached leads from an AED, an automatic external defibrillator, to Kari's bare chest, and turned it on. What he was looking for were instructions on how to proceed. If the AED's monitor detected the right type of electrical activity, it would instruct the EMTs to administer a shock. But when Lott pressed the b.u.t.ton, the machine's display read NO RHYTHM. That meant that the AED hadn't detected any electrical impulses in Kari's heart, nothing to shock. The only treatment option for Lott and Gates was to continue CPR, which they did as they waited for paramedics to arrive. As they worked, Gates noticed something odd about the scene unfolding around him: The woman's husband showed no emotion, even as the EMTs fought to save his wife.

Instead, Matt stood in the living room calmly answering Officer Irving's questions. The way Matt described what had happened, he'd been gone for about forty-five minutes and returned to find Kari in bed and not breathing. Where had he gone? "My wife asked me to put gas in the SUV and pick up a movie at Hollywood Video. When a Man Loves a Woman, the movie we saw on our first date. I left the house about eleven fifteen," he said. "When I got back, just before midnight, the bedroom door was locked. I had to use a screwdriver to get in. She was nude in the bed. I called 911, and then I dressed her, pulled her off the bed, and started CPR while I was talking to the dispatcher.

"I found a note on the nightstand," he then said. In the bedroom, Irving looked and found a sheet of white printer paper, the note read: Matt, I am so sorry. I am so tired. I just want to sleep for a while. Please forgive me. Tell Kensi and Grace that I love them VERY much. Tell my mom and dad that I love them to (sic). I love you Matt-I am so sorry for the past few weeks. I want to give Ka.s.sidy a hug. I need to feel her again. Please continue to be the great Dad (sic) to our little girls. Love them every day for me.

I am sorry. I love you.

Kari Did it strike the officer as odd that the note, including Kari's name, was typed?

Beside the note was a Unisom container with only two pills remaining. Irving asked about Kari's medications, and Matt told him that Kari was on weight-loss pills and that she took a Unisom every night to sleep, something she'd done ever since their daughter's death.

"Do you know how many were in there?" Irving asked, referring to the pill bottle.

"No, I don't," Matt said. He also mentioned that Kari had been drinking that night; they both had. He estimated that she'd consumed two Bartles & James Fuzzy Navel wine coolers. Two of the empty bottles sat near the Unisom bottle and suicide note on the nightstand.

"Has she ever tried to commit suicide before?"