The homicide victim, whose body was found in Warren County, was from Coatesville, Pennsylvania.
www.lehighvalleylive.com
Authorities on Friday morning
identified the Coatesville, Pennsylvania, teenager whose remains were found 30 years ago at a rest stop off Interstate 80 in Knowlton Township.
Wendy Louise Baker, 16, who became know as “Tiger Lady” due to the tattoo of a Bengal tiger on her left calf, was discovered by hunters on Oct. 26, 1991, in a wooded area near mile marker 0.6, not far from the Pennsylvania border. Her death was ruled a homicide.
Relatives of Baker, both her cousin Cindy Baker and uncle Desi Baker, came up from Chester County where Coatesville is located to attend Friday’s news conference. Both thanked investigators for never giving up on the case and bringing some closure to the family. Desi Baker said he believed his niece was living in Ohio until investigators relayed the identification of the remains to the family in July.
“I always thought she was in Ohio, I thought at some point she’s going to come back, and we have a big family, and she’s going to say hi and bring her children or whatever and obviously that never happened,” he said, describing news of the homicide as a shock. “No one thought she was dead. We always thought she was alive. It’s not something that happens, people to me don’t just get murdered, you see it on TV, I don’t see it in my life. Now I do. It’s just shocking, and even today it’s upsetting.”
Cindy Baker described her cousin as “I don’t want to say a lost soul but she seemed like she was kind of bounced here, bounced there, you know.”
She said hopes investigators are able to find Wendy Baker’s killer.
“She was missing and not to be able to find her or hear anything was kind of bizarre so I am so grateful. You know if you lose a child, life’s never the same but if you don’t know where your child is, I think it’s worse,” said Cindy Baker, who lost her daughter eight years ago. “When you have somebody like Wendy, you don’t know where they are, what happened, you just every day wonder and think the worst things and now it can at least bring some peace to the family that we at least know where she is. Now it’s just coming to find out who did this to her.”
