Two charged in fatal Antioch Township stabbing

It took a week, maybe a little more, for Jason Baker to cook up his plan.

Having just rented a room in David Queen's house, Baker saw Queen not only as his landlord, but also as a ticket out of town.

His girlfriend, Kimberly Caldwell, last week told her boss at the Antioch restaurant where she waitressed that she was quitting because she was moving back home to Kentucky, police said Monday. Baker told someone he knew, police said, that he was going to rob Queen.

And less than 12 hours after the body of the 70-year-old Queen was found on the floor of his Antioch Township home, Baker and Caldwell were in police custody in Knox County, Ky.

Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran said Baker, 37, stabbed Queen repeatedly in the early morning hours of Feb. 4, then grabbed his girlfriend and headed south.

"There is a lesson in this and that is to be careful who you rent to," Curran said. "Mr. Queen did nothing wrong and he did not deserve this."

A third renter in Queen's house in the 40200 block of Deep Lake Road called police when he was unable to enter the house, but saw Queen's body on the floor through a window.

Detectives quickly learned Baker and Caldwell, 38, were new to the household and nowhere to be found, Curran said, although they had left clues as to where they were going.

Once police discovered Caldwell had ties to Knox County in southeastern Kentucky, Curran said, they used the information they received from the restaurant owner to find her and Baker and charge them with obstruction of justice.

Both had left the state with information crucial to a homicide investigation, Curran said, and Baker's comment about planning a robbery made him a person of particular interest to detectives.

Knox County sheriff's police were alerted, Curran said, and had the couple in custody by the early morning hours of Feb. 5.

Lake County detectives were dispatched to Kentucky to interview the pair, Curran said, and the charge against Baker was upgraded to first-degree murder on Sunday.

Baker had been acquainted with Queen for more than a year before the killing, Curran said, and the two are believed to have gotten into an argument sometime after midnight Feb. 4.

Baker stabbed Queen multiple times with at least one large kitchen knife, Curran said, and one such knife with a large amount of what is believed to be Queen's blood was found inside the house.

Investigators are examining a second knife that also appears to be bloodstained, he said, and it is still unknown if Baker or Caldwell actually stole anything from the victim.

An empty safe was found inside the house, but Curran said detectives do not know if there was anything inside of it before the murder.

Baker and Caldwell appeared before a judge in Kentucky on Monday and waived their rights to fight extradition, Sgt. Christopher Thompson said. They are expected to be returned to Lake County this week.

Baker will be held on $4 million bond, Curran said, and Caldwell's bond is $40,000.

If convicted of first-degree murder, Baker could face a prison sentence of 20 to 60 years, while Caldwell faces a maximum sentence of three years for obstruction of justice.

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