TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — State Attorney Susan Lopez announced Monday that the state of Florida will be seeking the death penalty for a man accused of murdering his girlfriend in May.
On May 28, 2022, deputies found the body of math teacher Kay Baker, 43, on Kiteridge Drive in Lithia with severe trauma to her upper body.
Deputies said they later found the suspect, 47-year-old Matthew Terry, hiding in a wooded area of Lithia Pinecrest Road.
“Deputies who arrived at this horrific scene overnight were able to identify the suspect and worked quickly to detain him,” Sheriff Chad Chronister said at the time.
The sheriff’s office said Terry had gotten into an argument with the victim at The Landing Bar & Grill in Valrico — around three miles from where she was found dead. Prosecutors said Baker was stabbed to death while trying to flee Terry.
A release from the state attorney’s office said Terry had previously been convicted in Michigan for stabbing another woman he had a relationship with multiple times.
He was released from prison five months before Baker’s murder, the release said.
“Every capital murder case must be evaluated on its own facts to determine if a reasonable jury made up of Hillsborough County citizens could unanimously sentence a defendant to death,” Lopez said. “It is the most serious penalty available under Florida law, and I approach this responsibility with humility and a sense of duty to the rule of law. Defendant Matthew Terry’s actions were especially heinous, cruel, and atrocious. He was merciless in his brutal killing of Ms. Baker, and given his history of violent behavior, we will ask a jury to sentence him to death.“
