In the Winter 2004 issue of the Advocate, Tara Baker’s family submitted a note that ended with a somber tag: “Tara’s murder remains unsolved. Those of us who loved her still have no answers and no closure.”

Finally, more than 25 years after her murder, this statement is no longer true.

The School of Law has memorialized the former first-year law student in several ways since the tragic events of January 19, 2001. The Tara Baker Memorial Scholarship was first awarded in the fall of 2005. Graduates in Baker’s class wore white ribbons on their gowns at the 2003 graduation ceremony, where Baker received a posthumous Juris Doctor.

Baker’s death was also one of the inspirations for the state of Georgia’s Coleman-Baker Act in 2023, a law that ultimately helped lead to the arrest of a suspect in her case.

For those who remember Baker, and for those who have been moved by her story, there is some comfort in knowing that the individual responsible for the crime has at last been held responsible through a recent trial and conviction.

Losing this student, classmate and beloved friend forever changed the lives of the members of the Georgia Law community. While nothing can undo the loss that her family and those who knew her felt then and continue to feel to this day, the School of Law honors the answers and closure that have come from the judicial process.

The Law Dawg family will always remember Tara Baker.