Suspect In 1989 Belton Murder Case Sentenced To 55 Years In Prison

Samuel Baker, convicted in July of the 1989 murder of Shelley Latham, has been sentenced to 55 years in prison.

Latham was 74 when she was stabbed three times in the chest inside her Belton home on September 10, 1989. Blood evidence found in the home could not be linked to any suspects, but a cigarette butt found in Latham’s backyard provided DNA evidence that would eventually link Baker, 45, to the crime.

According to testimony from Patricia McKelvy, a woman who lived with Baker in the 1990’s, Baker confessed to having murdered Latham after he began having nightmares about the crime. McKelvy led police to a location near Latham’s house where Baker buried the clothes he’d worn in order to hide the evidence.