Murder trial for 2001 killing of Tara Baker rescheduled for January

The body of University of Georgia law student Tara Baker was found inside a burned out apartment in Athens in 2001. Her suspected killer was arrested in May 2024. (Photo courtesy The Red & Black)

The murder trial of a man accused of killing a UGA student 24 years ago has been rescheduled from October to January.

Edrick Lamont Faust is charged in a 12-count indictment with the murder, rape, and assault on Tara Baker at her home in East Athens on Jan. 19, 2001. She was a first-year law school student.

Tara Baker’s mother, Virginia Baker, speaks during a press conference at GBI headquarters in Decatur on Monday, May 13, 2024. Her daughter Meredith Baker Schroeder stands at her side. (GBI livestream image)

The case was a cold case for more than two decades until DNA evidence led authorities to file charges in May 2024 against Faust, who once lived in the same neighborhood as Baker, but was never identified as a possible suspect.

The prosecution and the defense did not oppose the continuance, both citing the massive amount of case files, totaling more than 25,000.

Edric Faust has been in custody at the Clarke County Jail without bond, facing charges that include murder and arson, since his arrest in May 2024.

This article comes to Now Habersham in partnership with WUGA News