findcarrie
Former Member
Culberson case takes grisly turn
By Michael Rutledge, Post staff reporter
The wall of silence around what happened to Clarissa Ann ''Carrie'' Culberson's body is slowly crumbling, say prosecutors who on Wednesday filed documents which revealed new details about they believe happened to the 22-year-old Blanchester woman in the early morning hours of Aug. 29, 1996.
''There's some people in the public who know the truth,'' Clinton County Assistant Prosecutor Rick Moyer told The Post. ''And I think their conscience is beginning to wear on them.''
Those documents quote Tracey Baker, 33-year-old half-brother of Vincent Doan, who was convicted of his girlfriend's death despite the fact that neither her body nor her car have ever been found.
Baker, according to court documents obtained by Channel 9 (WCPO-TV), said:
Garbage bags were used to dispose of her body - ''one for the head, one for the arms, one for the legs.''
He ''enjoyed shooting'' Ms. Culberson's corpse.
He once told his ex-wife, Lori Baker, ''that if she wanted to know "...what it smelled like and what it felt like ...' he would cut off her sister's head ... and send it to her.''
Red paint on the sideboards of his semi-truck was from Ms. Culberson's red 1989 Honda CRX. Moyer said the sideboards were missing from the truck when Florence, Ky., police picked him up in September, a year after her death.
Baker also called a grand jury witness and attempted to influence their testimony, say the documents.
With Doan sentenced in November to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 22-year-old Blanchester woman's murder, the perception is fading that Doan's family, known as the ''Baker family,'' runs Blanchester, he said.
Recent indictments of four people have helped tear down the Baker family's powerful image, said Moyer, adding that people other than Baker's ex-wife, Lori Baker, provided details that were in the court documents.
''I believe there are peripheral people around the Baker family who have a working knowledge of what happened,'' Moyer said.
Several of those close to Doan now face charges in connection with the investigation into Ms. Culberson's disappearance.
Baker faces two charges of obstructing justice and single charges of tampering with evidence and gross abuse of a corpse. His trial is scheduled for late January, but likely will be postponed because he recently changed lawyers.
Doan's father, Lawrence Baker, faces two charges of obstructing justice and a charge of tampering with evidence. His trial is scheduled for early April.
Blanchester's Police Chief Richard Payton faces three felony charges of obstructing justice and a misdemeanor charge of dereliction of duty in the murder's cover-up. He has a February trial date.
A girlfriend of Doan's, Shannon Hodson, 20, of Wilmington, was indicted this month on two counts of obstructing justice. She was dating Tracey Baker at the time of his arrest.
Baker's new attorney, Scott Frederick of Hamilton, downplayed the significance of the information in the documents. ''They still have, basically, a missing person, and they're trying to do everything to resolve this,'' said Frederick. ''I just think if these statements were true, there'd be some physical evidence.''
''If Lori Baker was as involved as (Wednesday's filing) says she was, she should have been charged,'' Frederick added. ''This is her story,'' Frederick said.
Prosecutors filed the documents in response to a defense request for details about the case, outlining many details already discussed during Doan's trial.
Doan appeared at Tracey Baker's Blanchester residence at approximately 3:15 a.m. the morning of the murder without a shirt, shoes or socks and covered with blood. Doan entered through the rear door and went into the bedroom where his brother was.
When Tracey Baker exited the bedroom, fully clothed, he asked for garbage bags.
After showering, Doan change into clothes he kept at his half-brother's residence. When the two of them left the house, they were carrying garbage bags, and Baker had a handgun in the waist of his pants. Once outside, they had a brief conversation, and Baker said ''OK'' to Doan.
Within two hours, the two returned to the residence, and Doan again went into the shower, and Baker asked his ex-wife, who lived with him at the time, to wash the blood from his pants and shirt, which he was removing. He also wiped blood from his boot, which the Miami Valley Regional Crime Lab determined was human blood that was too degraded for further testing.
When Lori Baker asked Tracey whether they had cut Ms. Culberson's body into pieces, she ''was told among other things to never make such a statement again,'' court records state.
Publication date: 12-24-97
http://www.cincypost.com/news/1997/baker122597.html
By Michael Rutledge, Post staff reporter
The wall of silence around what happened to Clarissa Ann ''Carrie'' Culberson's body is slowly crumbling, say prosecutors who on Wednesday filed documents which revealed new details about they believe happened to the 22-year-old Blanchester woman in the early morning hours of Aug. 29, 1996.
''There's some people in the public who know the truth,'' Clinton County Assistant Prosecutor Rick Moyer told The Post. ''And I think their conscience is beginning to wear on them.''
Those documents quote Tracey Baker, 33-year-old half-brother of Vincent Doan, who was convicted of his girlfriend's death despite the fact that neither her body nor her car have ever been found.
Baker, according to court documents obtained by Channel 9 (WCPO-TV), said:
Garbage bags were used to dispose of her body - ''one for the head, one for the arms, one for the legs.''
He ''enjoyed shooting'' Ms. Culberson's corpse.
He once told his ex-wife, Lori Baker, ''that if she wanted to know "...what it smelled like and what it felt like ...' he would cut off her sister's head ... and send it to her.''
Red paint on the sideboards of his semi-truck was from Ms. Culberson's red 1989 Honda CRX. Moyer said the sideboards were missing from the truck when Florence, Ky., police picked him up in September, a year after her death.
Baker also called a grand jury witness and attempted to influence their testimony, say the documents.
With Doan sentenced in November to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 22-year-old Blanchester woman's murder, the perception is fading that Doan's family, known as the ''Baker family,'' runs Blanchester, he said.
Recent indictments of four people have helped tear down the Baker family's powerful image, said Moyer, adding that people other than Baker's ex-wife, Lori Baker, provided details that were in the court documents.
''I believe there are peripheral people around the Baker family who have a working knowledge of what happened,'' Moyer said.
Several of those close to Doan now face charges in connection with the investigation into Ms. Culberson's disappearance.
Baker faces two charges of obstructing justice and single charges of tampering with evidence and gross abuse of a corpse. His trial is scheduled for late January, but likely will be postponed because he recently changed lawyers.
Doan's father, Lawrence Baker, faces two charges of obstructing justice and a charge of tampering with evidence. His trial is scheduled for early April.
Blanchester's Police Chief Richard Payton faces three felony charges of obstructing justice and a misdemeanor charge of dereliction of duty in the murder's cover-up. He has a February trial date.
A girlfriend of Doan's, Shannon Hodson, 20, of Wilmington, was indicted this month on two counts of obstructing justice. She was dating Tracey Baker at the time of his arrest.
Baker's new attorney, Scott Frederick of Hamilton, downplayed the significance of the information in the documents. ''They still have, basically, a missing person, and they're trying to do everything to resolve this,'' said Frederick. ''I just think if these statements were true, there'd be some physical evidence.''
''If Lori Baker was as involved as (Wednesday's filing) says she was, she should have been charged,'' Frederick added. ''This is her story,'' Frederick said.
Prosecutors filed the documents in response to a defense request for details about the case, outlining many details already discussed during Doan's trial.
Doan appeared at Tracey Baker's Blanchester residence at approximately 3:15 a.m. the morning of the murder without a shirt, shoes or socks and covered with blood. Doan entered through the rear door and went into the bedroom where his brother was.
When Tracey Baker exited the bedroom, fully clothed, he asked for garbage bags.
After showering, Doan change into clothes he kept at his half-brother's residence. When the two of them left the house, they were carrying garbage bags, and Baker had a handgun in the waist of his pants. Once outside, they had a brief conversation, and Baker said ''OK'' to Doan.
Within two hours, the two returned to the residence, and Doan again went into the shower, and Baker asked his ex-wife, who lived with him at the time, to wash the blood from his pants and shirt, which he was removing. He also wiped blood from his boot, which the Miami Valley Regional Crime Lab determined was human blood that was too degraded for further testing.
When Lori Baker asked Tracey whether they had cut Ms. Culberson's body into pieces, she ''was told among other things to never make such a statement again,'' court records state.
Publication date: 12-24-97
http://www.cincypost.com/news/1997/baker122597.html
