Sue and Mark Baker were met with a surprise last Saturday when they opened the door of their Stafford County home.
Waiting on the doorstep with a birthday cake and a gold balloon were Stafford County Sheriff David Decatur Jr. and Capt. Steven Carey. The men had stopped by the Bakers’ home to mark the birthday of their daughter Amy Baker, who would have turned 53 that day.
Amy went missing 35 years ago in Fairfax County, just 13 days after her 18th birthday.
She was returning home to Stafford when her car ran out of gas. Her body was later found in the woods, not far from where her vehicle had been abandoned.
Not a birthday nor anniversary has gone by that Sue Baker hasn’t thought about her daughter. Honoring this birthday with two of the law enforcement professionals who are bringing her daughter’s case to a close was a special occasion for the Baker family.
“One of the things that we really try to focus on are the victims,” Decatur said. “We absolutely love our community—and we actually use the ‘love’ word around here.”
In 1989, when Amy Baker was murdered, both men were road deputies with the sheriff’s office. The case had an impact on Carey, who was not much older than Amy at the time.
“I remember she had just turned 18,” he said. “They lived in Hartwood and so me, being in my early twenties I just remember trying to wrap my mind around that. At 18, you’re looking down the road, you’ve got the rest of your life ahead of you and thinking ‘I’m going to grab the world by the tail.'”
Sue Baker said the deputies came prepared with all the essentials for an impromptu party—including a cake inscribed with “Happy Birthday, Amy, WE GOT HIM” in purple frosting, Amy’s favorite color. Decatur and Carey joined the family in singing Happy Birthday and said a prayer.
On March 4, Stafford law enforcement arrested Elroy Neal Harrison, 65, for the 1986 murder of Jacqueline Lard. DNA evidence linked him to Amy’s murder as well. Charges in Amy’s case are still pending in Fairfax County.
Judge Victoria Willis set Harrison’s arraignment in the Lard case for April 5 and appointed attorney Jim Ilijevich to represent him.
Although Amy’s murder was in Fairfax County, the Stafford deputies were vigilant in finding a suspect for both killings. Sue Baker says she “nagged Fairfax on a regular basis, and Detective Jon Long always responded.”
Through conversations with Long, the Bakers knew that the Stafford authorities had remained diligent.
“Fairfax told us about the DNA testing,” Sue Baker said. “And then Stafford would contact us from time to time. It was Detective Dave Wood [of the Stafford Sheriff’s Office] who was the first to talk to us 35 years ago. He hasn’t retired and never gave up.”
“These are precious people,” Carey said. “The more I talk to them, the more I just fall in love with them. And it’s been 35 years since their daughter was brutally murdered and they’ve had to live with this every single day.”
Sue Baker said the sheriff’s office’s commitment to seeing Amy’s case through demonstrated integrity, compassion, fairness and professionalism.
“This department never gave up,” Baker said. “They celebrated with us like any family, which is what they are [to me].”
Sheriff Decatur says he can’t remember ever being moved by a case so much that he decided to visit the family to honor a victim’s birthday.
“But my prayer is that we’ll never have to do this again,” he said. “That’s our hope.”
