By Joe Johnson
When 25-year-old Edrick Lamont Faust stabbed a man in the neck on Baxter Street, it was less than a month after he allegedly murdered Tara Baker on the other side of town on January 19, 2001.
Like the earlier victim, Baker had been stabbed, but also beaten, strangled, and sexually assaulted.
Faust would serve a year in prison for the stabbing while investigators began a decades-long investigation trying to find the person who killed the 23-year-old University of Georgia law student.
Authorities have yet to disclose how the Baker case was finally cracked.
Nevertheless, in the ensuing years, Faust went on to compile an extensive criminal record that includes crimes involving drugs, weapons and violence. According to the George Department of Corrections, he served four different prison terms beginning in 2001.
Now 48, Faust stands accused of Baker’s killing, charged with murder, arson, aggravated assault, and aggravated sodomy, among other crimes.
His most recent publicly-listed address was on Summerplace Drive in east Athens, less than two miles from where Baker had lived on Fawn Drive.
Faust was arrested as the result of a reinvigorated investigation launched last year by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Cold Case Unit partnered with the Athens-Clarke County Police Department.
The GBI said a press conference concerning the Baker case wil be held the coming days, with additional information to be released.