Police charged a 68-year-old Highlands woman Monday with murdering her 89-year-old father in their home and killing two family dogs.
“She made a statement she went crazy and stabbed him while he slept. He woke up and she smothered him,” said Assistant District Attorney Lisa Core, reading from a police report.
Judge Albert Conlon arraigned Nancy A. Baker in her Union Hospital bed and ordered her held without bail without prejudice. Baker is scheduled to appear in District Court for a probable cause hearing on May 22.
Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett’s office, in a statement, noted Nancy Baker “is presumed innocent until proven guilty.”
District Attorney’s spokeswoman Carrie Kimball-Monahan said Baker was taken to Union Hospital Sunday afternoon with “minor injuries” after police conducting a well-being check at 109 Jefferson St. found Nancy Baker, Donald R. Baker Sr. and the animals inside the home.
Core, reading from a police report, said a neighbor of Baker’s noticed mail piling up by Baker’s front door and called police after checking the house and observing “a mess in the kitchen.”
Investigating officers found what Core described as “a significant amount of blood” in the residence and found Nancy Baker lying on a bed with her father on the floor next to her.
Police also found two dead dogs in the house and charges filed against Baker included two counts of animal cruelty.
Jefferson Street residents said police cruisers and other emergency vehicles arrived on the street at 4 p.m. Sunday and did not leave Jefferson until about 1 a.m. Monday. State Police detectives sought a warrant in District Court outlining the charges against Baker late Monday morning.
Donald R. Baker Jr., the victim’s son, declined to comment on his father’s death or sister’s arrest when asked to do so Monday by an Item reporter.
Kimball-Monahan on Monday said police determined Donald Baker Sr. had been dead “for a number of days.” She declined to describe the nature of Nancy Baker’s injuries.
Jefferson Street residents described Nancy Baker as an avid walker who at some point in her adult life moved into her parents’ home to care for them.
Richard Watson, a 45-year Highlands resident, said Donald R. Baker Sr. and his late wife lived in their single-family home on Jefferson since Watson was a child. He said Nancy Baker kept 109 Jefferson and its side and backyard clean and well tended.
“She was very fastidious. She would pick up every leaf,” Watson said.
He said the Bakers hosted what appeared to be a family event last summer, but said visitors to the family’s home were, for the most part, rare. Watson said he asked Nancy Baker, on occasions when he saw her outside, how her father was doing.
“She’d say, ‘He’s doing the best that can be expected,’” he recalled.
Other neighbors described Baker picking up trash on Jefferson Street and sweeping the sidewalk in front of her family’s home.
Neighbor Prince Weah-Weah said Nancy Baker “minded her own business” but spoke to him whenever they ran into each other, including last week.
“She was polite — really nice,” he said.
Postal worker Matthew Morrill said he “got a bad feeling” Monday when he saw mail piled up in Baker’s mailbox. Morrill said he never saw the elder Baker but saw Nancy Baker gardening when he delivered mail on Jefferson, a Highlands street within sight of the Ford School.
“She was very nice, very pleasant,” he said.
Watson said Nancy Baker walked frequently and ranged across Lynn on foot. Neighbor Abdelkabir Baskou said Baker walked with an umbrella to keep sunlight off of her and often carried a water bottle.
Baskou, a 13-year Jefferson Street resident, said he understood Baker gave up a job to care for her parents.
Nancy Baker’s attorney, John Apruzzese of Salem, declined on Monday to comment on the charges filed against her or the reason for her hospitalization. Donald Baker’s death is the city’s first homicide for 2013. Two murders were committed in the city last year.
Thor Jourgensen can be reached at [email protected]. Cyrus Moulton contributed to this report.
