Authorities make arrest in 2001 killing of Georgia law student who was found dead in a burning home

ATHENS, Ga. — More than two decades after a University of Georgia law student was found dead in her burning home, authorities have arrested a man and charged him with murder in her death.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Athens-Clarke County Police Department announced Thursday the arrest of Edrick Lamont Faust, 48, for the January 2001 murder of Tara Louise Baker. Firefighters responding to a fire at Baker’s apartment in Athens, found the body of the 23-year-old first-year law student.

Investigators determined that Baker had been murdered and that the fire had been deliberately set, and police have been trying to find Baker’s killer ever since. The GBI’s cold case unit worked with the Athens-Clarke County Police Department in September to conduct an “in-depth review and analysis” of the investigation, the GBI said in a news release.

The release did not indicate what led investigators to Faust or explain how or if he and Baker knew each other. He was booked into the Athens-Clarke County Jail late Thursday on charges including malice murder, criminal mischief, aggravated assault, aggravated sodomy, tampering with evidence and arson.

It was not immediately clear whether Faust had an attorney who could comment on the allegations.

Athens-Clarke County Police Chief Jerry Saulters, who was an officer at the crime scene on Jan. 19, 2001, said in the news release that he had hoped for years that Baker’s family would find justice.

“I remember being there during that horrific time,” he said. “As this case has come full circle, I appreciate the hard work of investigators, then and now. Knowing that the evidence collected at that time contributed to today’s arrest gives me immense pride in all the officers who worked on this case over the years. .”

GBI Director Chris Hosey called Faust’s arrest “the first step in finding justice for Tara.”