Murdering Minister Had Secret Affair

July 9, 2010— -- Matt Baker was once a beloved Baptist minister in the heart of the Bible Belt. But what his doting Waco, Texas, congregation didn't know was that when he preached the Ten Commandments from the pulpit, he was breaking them in private.

Two months before his wife, Kari Baker, was found dead in their bed, apparently from an overdose of sleeping pills, he had secretly started an affair with a woman at church, according to the woman.

His wife's April 2006 death was ruled a suicide by the Hewitt Police Department. But her mother, cousin, and aunts were unconvinced that suicide was in the 31-year-old's nature and launched their own investigation.

As the Kerrville community showered Baker, who would raise their two young daughters alone, with sympathy and compassion, Kari Baker's family made it their mission to find out what really happened. The first crucial clues came when her mom, Linda Dulin, received her daughter's cell phone bill and noticed calls were still being made, even after her death.

"Matt had given Kari's cell phone to someone and what that told me ... was something wasn't right," Dulin said. "Matt's story wasn't right."

That someone was Vanessa Bulls, a recently divorced single mother and church member. Although Baker and Bulls denied having an affair, McLennan County Criminal Investigator Abdon Rodriguez had his suspicions in interviews with Bulls.

"She's telling me, 'No, I never did do this, I never did go here or there or whatever.' And I had already verified that she had," Rodriguez said of Bull's relationship with Baker while his wife was still alive.

It wasn't until Bulls faced a grand jury that she finally admitted to not just the affair, but also to Baker's admission to her that he had killed his wife.

During a January trial, Bulls testified and gave her account of their relationship with jaw-dropping details.

Bulls was a recently divorced, vulnerable, single mother and said Baker saw it as his chance at seduction. At the time, the 24-year-old blonde was younger and, more importantly to Baker, slimmer than his wife.

"He referred to her as a fat b**ch, and said that he couldn't stand how fat she had gotten; said that he wanted her out of his life," Bulls said.

CLICK HERE to see photos of Kari and Matt Baker through the years