GWEN TIETGEN / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Sunday, August 27, 2006 7:00 pm
Ten years to the month that someone last saw Anne True alive, a man will go on trial for her slaying. The trial, expected to last about two weeks, starts today and will bring out what is known about why her body was left face up, hidden in a clump of grass in a field north of Lincoln.
For about two months, it lay less than a mile from Interstate 80 near 40th Street and Arbor Road. On Sept. 29, 1996, a dog trainer and his five black Labrador retrievers happened upon the skeletal remains. The land was part of an 80-acre dog training ground.
The remains wouldn’t be identified as True’s until October.
For the next eight years, the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office would follow countless leads to figure out what happened to the 38-year-old homeless woman, originally from Fremont, who collected and sold cans around Lincoln.
A break in the case came in late 2004. The ex-wife of Todd Baker talked with a York police officer and incriminated him.
According to court documents, the ex-wife claims to have been with Baker the night he grabbed a woman from the street, beat her, carried her to the car and then drove to a field.
The ex-wife couldn’t see what was happening but heard noises and moaning. About 20 minutes later, she said, Baker came back alone, and they drove to a car wash.
A couple of days later, the woman said, she found a photo ID in the car with the name Anne True on it.
The ex-wife claims she was scared of Baker and that he threatened to do the same to her if she didn’t do what he asked. The two divorced in 2004.
Baker, now 43, was arrested in March 2005 at his father’s home north of Orlando. He is charged with first-degree murder and faces a sentence of life in prison if convicted.
Opening statements in Baker’s trial are expected to start sometime Tuesday. Lancaster County Attorney Jeff Mathers along with Chief Deputy County Attorney Joe Kelly will try the case.
Lancaster County Sheriff’s Sgt. Jeff Bliemeister, one of those who traveled to Florida to apprehend Baker, said True’s case had been reassigned to a number of investigators over the years.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Police Chief Owen Yardley, a sergeant with the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office at the time, was one of several investigators who worked the crime scene. He left the sheriff’s office in 2001 but said True’s case sticks out because, “It’s one we weren’t able to solve at the time.”
“You’d think about it on a fairly regular basis,” he said. They wondered what happened and looked at things that may have been involved, “to make sure everything was done that could possibly be done.”
When Baker was identified as a suspect, Bliemeister said, they learned all they could about the man and his life.
“I think we have a very strong case to show Todd Baker killed Anne True,” Bliemeister said.
The Lancaster County Public Defender’s Office will represent Baker through attorneys Kristi Egger-Brown and Scott Helvie.
Attempts to reach True’s and Baker’s families were unsuccessful.
Reach Gwen Tietgen at 473-7242 or gtietgen@journalstar.com.