ECRU, Miss. — A brutal double murder in Pontotoc County had the Sheriff’s Department scrambling for a motive and suspects.
It happened at the victim’s home on Highway-346, West of Ecru in the Hortontown Community.
The bodies of 57-year-old Evelyn Baker and 70-year-old Donald Baker were discovered Sunday morning.
People were understandably on edge and wanted to know why such a terrible thing happened.
“I’m the oldest brother of the lady that lived here. That was my sister,” said Edward Chesteen.
Chesteen couldn’t think of a reason someone would kill his sister and her husband.
“I got a lot of questions but there’s no answers right now,” he said.
Pontotoc County Sheriff Leo Mask told WREG the Bakers were last seen alive Saturday night while having dinner out.
Their bodies were found Sunday morning by a family member who called the Sheriff’s Department.
A small army of investigators including the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, searched the house looking into the brutal crime.
Chesteen hoped they have some answers soon.
“I’m just waiting and let the investigation proceed and let them do their job. And maybe we’ll find out when they’re finished, know what happened and why,” he said.
Sheriff Mask said there were indications the Bakers were killed in one room of their house, but then Evelyn Baker was dragged into the kitchen.
He refused to say how the couple died, but described their injures as very traumatic.
“You just can’t imagine why someone would do this to them,” he said.
The couples’ injuries were so brutal, he said, investigators at first had difficulty positively identifying the man and woman.
Sheriff Mask said this kind of the violent crime was unheard of in this part of Pontotoc County and understandably had people in the area on edge.
“The victims were good people. They were good family people and everyone in the community here thought a lot of them,” said Mask.
Monday a number of toys were placed on the front porch and car port of the home.
We’re told they belonged to the couples’ grandchildren.
“Nothing has ever happened in this community. I’m 55-years old, lived here all my life and we’ve never had anything like this,” said Pat Mounce.
She told WREG she has been a friend of the Bakers for years.
News of their murders took her breath away.
“And I just felt like someone had hit me in the stomach. It was just shocking and just so sad,” said Mounce.
The sheriff told us no gun was found near the bodies of the victims and wouldn’t say if there was any sign of a break-in or if anything was stolen.