St Louis Longtime Major Case Squad investigator dies from infection
ST LOUIS MO Sept 8 2018 William “Bill” Baker once appeared headed for a career as a professional baseball catcher, but instead of catching fast balls, friends and family say Lt. Baker will be remembered for catching some of the area’s biggest homicide cases.
Lt. Baker died Monday (Sept. 3, 2018) after suffering a bacterial infection following what his family believed would be a routine bypass procedure at Mercy Hospital St. Louis in Creve Coeur. He turned 63 on Aug. 31.
“He was up and talking to us eating cake, and 24 hours later they were trying to get him back to life,” said his son, Chris Baker, 39.
Lt. Baker played baseball for Vianney High School, and paid his own tuition. He also went to St. Louis Community College at Meramec and the University of South Alabama on a baseball scholarship. But when it appeared that he wouldn’t make a career of it, he turned to law enforcement, his son said.
Lt. Baker joined the Ladue Police Department in September 1980. In 1988, he became a member of the St. Louis Area Major Case Squad, a conglomerate of detectives from larger departments that work homicide cases in smaller jurisdictions that lack their own investigative units.
He worked his way through the ranks, becoming the squad’s commander from 2004 to 2012.
One of his fellow squad investigators, St. Louis police Sgt. Kevin Ahlbrand, said Lt. Baker had an unwavering determination to solve cases and leave no stone uncovered. He recalled the homicide of 49-year-old Tim Welch in Clayton, which Lt. Baker helped solve based on a tip from a soldier who found Welch’s wallet in another state.
“He was one of the best investigators I’ve ever worked with,” Ahlbrand said. “He always stood up for his people. And at the end of the day, he would take everyone’s opinion on case strategies. He treated all investigators as his peers.”
In an interview with the Suburban Journals in 2007, Lt. Baker said: “One of the things you learn in this business is that you don’t work for the money and you don’t work for the agency,” quoting a plaque he received from retired New York police Lt. Cmd. Vernon Geberth. “You work for the person who has died. You work for God.”
Despite the number of investigations Lt. Baker led, one case stuck with him — the murder of Angie Houseman, a fourth-grader whose body was found in 1993, nine days after she disappeared from a school bus in St. Ann. Investigators determined the 9-year-old girl had been tortured and died just hours before deer hunters found her remains.
Lt. Baker would have been happy to know his obituary served as another way to get news of the unsolved case some publicity, his friends said. The case might have resonated with him because he had two daughters of his own.
Lt. Baker retired from Ladue in 2012. He then became the executive director of the Major Case Squad and an investigator for St. Louis Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch.
“Bill was an outstanding investigator and a close friend,” McCulloch said in a statement. “His death is an enormous loss to the people of the St. Louis area. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, and family, especially his grandchildren and his extended family here in the Prosecutor’s Office.”
Lt. Baker’s younger daughter, Alexandra “Ali” Baker, died in January 2014 at age 25 from complications of a lung disease. At the time of her death, she had moved into her parents’ Crestwood home with her 3-year-old son.
Lt. Baker and his wife, Bonnie, 59, then fought for custody of their grandson. But, in recent years, the child’s father, Brandon Mitchell, made amends with the Bakers — so much so that on his deathbed, Bill Baker made sure to tell Mitchell how proud he was of him, Chris Baker said.
The gesture reminded Chris Baker and his sister, Nicole “Nikki” Kastanas, 36, of how fiercely their father protected his home base even in his final moments.
“He always taught us to do what’s right, even when nobody’s looking,” Chris Baker said.
Mitchell is expected to be a pallbearer.
In addition to his wife of 38 years and two children, Lt. Baker is survived by four grandchildren.
Visitation will be from 3 to 9 p.m. Sunday at Kutis Funeral Home, 10151 Gravois in Affton. A memorial Mass will be at 10 a.m. Monday at Mary Queen of Peace Church, 676 West Lockwood in Webster Groves.
