Police: Man accused of fatally shooting wife, stepdaughter was served divorce papers

By Marcus K. Garner

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Friends and loved ones of a slain Griffin mother and daughter mourned their loss Monday night, as police continued to search for the husband and stepfather believed to have killed them.

The double shooting Monday afternoon marked the third and fourth murders this month in Griffin, where last year there was only one homicide, police said.

While police hunting Monday night for 49-year-old Kenneth Baker considered him to be armed and dangerous, those who knew Lynnale Baker, 38, and her 19-year-old daughter ShaeLinda Sanders said they were well-loved.

"She was an angel," Julia Pattillo said of her friend's mother. "She was like a second mother to me. She always made it known that no matter how down you were about yourself, you were beautiful."

Sanders, who was set to graduate this month from Griffin High School, called Pattillo her sister on her FaceBook profile.

Of Sanders, Pattillo said her friend of five years could put a smile on anybody's face.

"She had a very big heart," Pattillo said. "We could go to Wal-Mart and she would make it the funnest place in the world."

Monday afternoon, police say they received a call reporting the shootings.

Just after 1 p.m. Monday, Kenneth Baker phoned in what he had done to a family member.

"He told a relative he had killed his wife and stepdaughter," Griffin police chief Frank Strickland told the AJC.

Officers arrived at the home in the 100 block of Waterford Way and found Lynnale Baker and Sanders both shot to death at their home.

Strickland said Lynnale Baker had served her husband with divorce papers just a week ago. Shaelinda was about to graduate later this month from Griffin High School.

But Pattillo said domestic trouble had been brewing much longer.

"Ms. Lynnale was going to leave him last year, and he promised he would change," Patillo said. "If she had signed the divorce, they might be here."

Police went to retrieve Kenneth Baker's 12-year-old son Ken'Ay from school, and he is currently in protective custody, police told WSB Radio.

Pattillo said Kenneth Baker "was mean to everyone except his own son."

Ruby Acosta, a school mate of Sanders and a neighbor, said she was aware of the troubles between Sanders' mother and Kenneth Baker.

"He and her mother were always fighting," Acosta said. "When they did, [ShaeLinda] would have to find somebody to talk to."

Acosta said she wished she were home when the shooting happened.

"I felt like if I had heard something, I would’ve heard something at the house, I could’ve gotten help," she said.

Kenneth Baker is 5-feet-11-inches tall, 300 pounds, and is said to be driving a black Mazda pickup truck with Georgia license plate ARK-2281.

Strickland said he is considered armed and dangerous, with nothing to lose. Police believe he has fled the Spalding County area, but declined to say where they are focusing their manhunt.

Return to ajc.com for more updates.

-- Staff writer Larry Hartstein contributed to this report.