My Thoughts on Traci Rhode

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Traci Rhode, a convicted murderer, talked to 48 Hours this past weekend. The show was titled Point Blank. She sobbed her eyes out, yet oddly, a tear never fell from her face. Did you notice?

Furthermore, her voice whined in a high-pitched tone instead of sinking down with sorrow and pain. And every now and then, Traci would smirk or smile when talking about the events surrounding her husband’s death. I saw nothing in her behaviors or demeanor that supported honesty.

Add to that, Traci tells us her husband was über jealous, moving her across the country five times to keep her away from friends and family in thirteen years. I think everyone would agree by that statement that her husband was exceptionally jealous.

Read moreBut when you think about it, does a move like that make sense? Does a move like that help guarantee one will have no affairs? Would it give you peace if you were jealous? I don’t see much sense in that when I give it thought, do you? Each new move would bring new opportunities for new love interests. Is that what Scott really thought? While we will never know, it makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

What makes even less sense is that if Traci’s husband, Scott, was the exceptionally jealous type, why would she confess to him that there was someone else in her life?? This flat out doesn’t sit right with me.

Women who are married to very jealous men are usually victim beans about a new interest in their life who is male–friend or lover. They just wouldn’t do it, because they would fear for their life, or at the very minimum, they would fear the ridicule and sleuthing that would likely follow for years afterwards. That ridicule, after all, is what Traci tells us she had to endure for years. So why would she bring more of it on herself? Does it make any sense?

Yet, oddly, Traci doesn’t seem to have any fear about telling her husband about this new guy. It’s illogical. It’s a contradiction. When someone makes your life hell, you don’t add more fuel to the fire, unless of course, you have plans to eliminate the inferno. Or, there was no inferno at all.

Furthermore, if Scott was that jealous, Traci’s friends and family would have likely seen bouts of jealousy and perhaps controlling behavior, but instead Traci’s friend only tells us what Traci told her. She doesn’t seem to have any firsthand accounts herself. I find that odd as well. There should have been more clues. More people should have picked up on it, but we didn’t hear any supporting evidence outside of what Traci says.

I also found it odd what Traci said about her new “friend” with whom she shared a passionate kiss. She said it was “…good to have somebody pay attention to me.” This is another red flag.

Jealous men usually pay way too much attention to their wife. They never give them a minute of peace, so this, too, is a contradiction. A jealous husband is usually very demanding, and hands- on. If anything, the wife of a jealous husband would likely just want some free time alone without anyone bothering her. She certainly wouldn’t be clamoring for more attention — risky attention— that would just inflame the troubles she already has, would she? It defies logic.

Also, who commits suicide and puts a pillow over their face? Have you ever heard of this before? It’s even more strange for a guy to do this! It seems like an act of someone who is sanitary, who wants things clean. Who would have this motive? Scott or Traci? Wasn’t Traci a nurse? A nurse who says she is sensitive to the smell of blood?

I also find it very strange that Traci says she didn’t help Scott because she was in shock. She was a nurse.

There is also an unidentified palm print on the gun Scott supposedly used to kill himself. They say it doesn’t match Traci, the police or Scott. Have they ever tried to match it to Traci’s new love interest, Shawn? Whose palm print is this? I think this is important.

I also wonder was if anyone ever saw Traci that morning to verify that she took a walk? Or could she have been elsewhere? With someone else? Did she always take a morning walk, or did she only do it on this day?

What are the odds that within 10 days of husband’s death, Traci would be ready to sleep with Shawn, if she was a grieving wife who just wanted to work things out with her husband? And why would she hide it by going to The Red Roof Inn? She says they were only going there to talk–to talk about what? What would she have to talk to Shawn about?

What are the odds that her husband who supposedly committed suicide would even bother talking to a divorce attorney, and ask for full custody of the kids within 24 hours of his death? Why would he waste his time if he felt his time on this earth was over? Why would he bother bringing his wife to his attorney’s office? None of this makes any sense.

Traci’s last public account of her, and her husband together on 48 Hours wasn’t of them at odds at each other either. She says, “…I laid my head on his chest. It wasn’t anger anymore…it was just a loving couple just trying to work out our problems.”

So why would Scott feel so despondent? Traci gave into him that night.

What are the odds Traci would then date Shawn on and off for two and a half years after Scott’s death?

Did Scott break the camel’s back when he took Traci to his attorney that day? Did he infuriate her when he threatened to take the children away fairly and squarely with the legal system? Did he blindside her? Did she then play nice, go home and snap?

You sure do wonder.

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I hate to moderate comments but when trolls come along and decide to act like children, I am forced to do so. I will not tolerate personal attacks, foul language and and abusive behavior. If you have a dissenting opinion, you are welcome to share it here, but if you can’t state it with respect and dignity, your comments will not be published. In that event, please find another outlet for your frustration.

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Matt Baker on 48 Hours: What Are The Odds?

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The Matt and Kari Baker story was on 48 Hours this past Saturday. The show was titled The Preacher’s Wife. If you aren’t familiar with the story, you can read my first post on the case here. You can also watch the show online here.

I think most people see clearly that what Matt says compared to what others say just doesn’t add up. It doesn’t take eyes for lies to see this.

Unfortunately, 48 Hours gives us a fair amount of talk time with Matt, but they don’t show his face through a lot of it, which I find very unfortunate. If he makes any good expressions, we don’t get to see them. What we do see of Matt emotionally is not consistent with a man who supposedly loved his wife. Matt shows a faint, subtle smile from time to time that I find absolutely eerie and inappropriate.

Read moreThe first time he does it is at the end of the intro to the show. Matt says “My name is Matt Baker, and I have been accused of murdering my wife. It’s so unprobable [sic]. It’s not who I am. I loved my wife. I never hurt her a day in my life.” At the end, he is grinning. Did you see it?

The second time I see this subtle grin is when he talked about Kari having almost two personalities. There is absolutely no reason for Matt to be feeling any positive emotions at this time. It’s a complete contradiction to his circumstances. I am only part way through the video at this time, so there may be more examples of this that I have yet to document. I also find the word “almost” interesting as well. You either believe something or you don’t. You don’t almost believe.

Matt wants people to believe Kari acted one way around him because she was grieving, but another way around everyone else. People who are unstable or depressed don’t pick and choose when to display it. They are either unstable and depressed across the board, or they are not.

Matt even tries to tell us that she lost it, and flipped out while he was driving with her in the car one day. He says that she opened the car door because she needed to “get air” when they were moving, and that he had to rescue her by grabbing her waistband. Isn’t it ironic that Kari only flipped out around him, and no one else?

I think on ABC’s 20/20, Matt said they were going around 35 miles an hour, if I remember right. I think he said “not that fast”. Now on 48 Hours, he says they were going 45-50 mph. That’s an interesting change of facts. Wouldn’t Kari be even more insane to open the car door at faster speeds?

I wonder if the doctor will testify that Kari truly was hyperventilating, as Matt says prior her trying to “get air” on the way home in the car. I suspect it is unlikely.

I personally believe Matt is coming up with stories to make us think Kari was unstable. But if she was truly unstable, it would have spilled out in front of her parents, friends, and co-workers, but none of these people ever speak of being witness to any such behavior. In fact, they seem to report a totally different person than what Matt reports.

I also find it extremely strange that Kari wanted to drink on a queasy stomach. Who does this? I personally think this is absolute nonsense. I wonder if they tested her blood for alcohol?

I also don’t buy Matt’s story that Kari wasn’t feeling well, and yet she wanted him to go gas up the car and rent a movie. If you don’t feel well, you don’t send your husband out at 11 pm, and you don’t stay up until 3 a.m. watching movies. Did Matt just need an excuse to leave the house?

Also, Matt told two different stories of what he did when he last saw Kari alive. The last time you see your spouse alive is usually burned into your memory. Obviously, it is not burned into Matt’s memory. One time, Matt told Erin Moriarty of 48 Hours that when he left Kari to rent the movies, Kari was sleeping. “She had rolled back over and gone to sleep. So when I left, she was asleep.”

Two months prior, he had told Moriarty that he kissed her on the cheek. Which story is it? Why does Matt keep getting his facts confused over and over, if he is telling the truth?

Matt also says something very strange when he says, “…as I am calling 911, I’m deciding I don’t want them to see her naked. So I put her clothes on.”

This is exceptionally bizarre.

Most people only have one concern when a loved one is near death, dying, or has just died. It is hope to try to revive them. In a time of crisis, we don’t have room for any other thoughts! But Matt doesn’t even think about this when he is on the phone with 911 from what we hear. Instead, he worries about his naked wife. It’s absolute rubbish.

Also, was he trying to put her clothes on when he was on the phone with 911? Is there support of this on the audio tape? Does he breathe heavy or labored?

He also says when he was on the phone, he was moving Kari to the floor to do CPR. Does this make any sense? I don’t believe you have to have to be on the floor to do CPR, do you? I also wonder if there is any sounds of exertion on the 911 call to support Matt’s story of moving Kari while on the phone? Or did Kari end up on the floor another way?

Also, the police find a bottle of Unisom next to Kari’s bed, which is completely empty outside of two pills on the dresser. On autopsy, wouldn’t you expect they would find pill remnants in Kari’s stomach? Yet oddly, there is no mention of pill remnants in her stomach or GI tract, just traces in her muscle tissue. Would that trace in her muscle tissue be enough to be considered lethal?

I also find the typed suicide note exceptionally unusual as well. Why would one type it and not sign it? Why would it only be a few sentences ? Women are word warriors! Most women would also be very conscious not to commit suicide naked. Women are self-conscious of their bodies. I don’t know of one women who would choose to go this way, if they had a choice. I will review the suicide note in an upcoming posting.

Kari’s former grief counselor’s account doesn’t support Matt’s story, either. She said Kari wasn’t upset about Kassidy’s death as Matt says. Three days before she died, the counselor says Kari was worried that Matt was having an affair, and she was afraid he was trying to kill her.

What are the odds?

Kari also told her friend Jill that she was worried about an affair, and Jill corroborates this on 48 Hours as well.

Who is corroborating Matt’ story?

What are the odds that Kari would find “crushed pills” in Matt’s briefcase, and then die shortly thereafter with an empty bottle of pills, yet with no remnants in her stomach?

What are the odds that Matt would have an unusual relationship with a young single woman named Vanessa at the same time Kari was afraid he was having an affair?

What are the odds that Matt would talk to Vanessa within days after Kari’s death for 28 hours in ten days, if she was only a friend?

What are the odds he would give Vanessa Kari’s cell phone to use after her death, if she was only a friend?

What are the odds he would also be seen in a jewelry store looking at jewelry with Vanessa within days of Kari’s death, if she was only a friend?

The odds are one-in-a-million, and certainly don’t support the story that Matt wants us to believe.

Also, take Matt’s computers. Amazingly, his office computer was switched with his secretary and his just vanished. And even more perfect in timing, his hard drive on his home computer just went kaput, and is no longer working. The odds are getting ridiculous, if you ask me.

Furthermore, Matt wants us to believe he is the perfect husband and dad, doting on his children while Kari was lost in her abyss, and mourning over Kassidy–seven years after Kassidy’s death. It’s just over-the-top.

Matt talks of bathing the children, reading to them, putting them to bed, but when he is confronted about allegations that he inappropriately came on to young girls and women, he flat out denies it. Kari’s aunt Kay corroborates this with a story of her daughter, as does a woman from Matt’s college days on 48 Hours. Lora Wilson says 17 years ago Matt grabbed her, and made inappropriate sexual advances on her.

Matt’s story? He simply turned off the lights and scared Lora. Does that seem logical? He admits to knowing Lora as well as to scaring her, but of course, in Matt’s version of events, he was totally innocent again. He says, according to 20/20, it was just a ” fantasy of a hysterical coed.”

What are the odds?

ABC News show 20/20 say they documented six other complaints against Matt.

“20/20” documented six other complaints against Matt: from a female custodian from the First Baptist Church of Waco, who says he grabbed her sexually; a teenage girl from the same church who claimed he spoke to her in a sexually provocative manner; and at the YMCA where he supervised the day camp, four young women complained to management of improper sexual conduct (source).

Are these people all crazy like Kari was?

What are the odds?

Matt also gets caught up in another lie. He says he never blamed Kari for Kassidy’s death, but an e-mail which has surfaced from Matt to Kari that says the following “I know deep down I hold a grudge against God and you for Him answering your prayer and not mine. In some ways, I do hold you…to blame for her death.”

At Kari’s funeral, the grief counselor confronted Matt about the fact that Kari thought he was going to kill her, and Matt’s response on 48 Hours as he tells the story is interesting. He says “And I said, ‘What? Well, wait, wait, wait. ‘ And I’m like, what is going on here?”

Is that how you would respond to something like this? Why would you ever say “wait, wait, wait”? Most people would say that’s ridiculous and would just walk away. It would be adding insult to a serious injury. They wouldn’t even entertain the thought or dignify a response because it would be so far-fetched. It would be a ridiculous slap in the face!

But Matt does entertain it, and he seems to want to defend it when he says “wait, wait, wait.” You usually say “wait”, or “wait a minute” to people when you have something to explain or justify. It’s a notable response that is out of the ordinary if he was blind-sided by something he knew he had nothing to do with. I find his response hair-raising, to say the least.

Another contradiction in Matt’s story is when he talks about how Kari’s outlook about her new job. He doesn’t say she was excited. He says she was “nervous” and feeling sick. But Kari’s friend, Todd, says when he talked to her the day she died, she was “excited”. Someone who is going to commit suicide isn’t excited about a job prospect if they have no intention of taking it, are they?

Matt also got his facts mixed up about the first time he saw the suicide note. “The police officer brings me the note, and that was the first thought at the point in time, she took her own life.”

But on the 911 call, Matt says, “I think my wife just committed suicide….and her lips are blue, her hands are cold, and there’s a note that says, “I’m sorry, ‘basically.”

This is not a case where you need eyes for lies to decipher the truth. You need good old common sense.

What are the odds?

Article: Facing Up to Lies

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Here is an interesting article from Nova Scotia News. I found it today which searching for news on Karissa Boudreau, but it appears there is no news at this time.