Authorities make arrest in 2001 killing of law student discovered 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 slaying.

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

Investigators determined Baker had been killed and the fire intentionally set, and police had been trying to find Baker’s killer since then. The GBI’s cold case unit partnered with AthensClarke County police in September to do 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 whether he and Baker knew each other. He was booked into the Athens-Clarke County

Jail late Thursday on charges including malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, aggravated sodomy, tampering with evidence and arson.

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

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