Patrick Baxter

Overview

Patrick Baxter was convicted of 12 counts of murder in the second degree in connection with the deaths of three young women in Westchester County between 1987 and 1990. All three victims were sexually assaulted, and two of them, Michelle Walker and Lisa Gibbens, were robbed by Baxter before her death. Baxter denied having anything to do with the deaths of 14-year-old Michelle Walker, 19-year-old Patricia England, and 25-year-old Lisa Gibbens.

Timeline

• June 6, 1987 — Michelle Walker, 14, was sexually assaulted and died of asphyxiation; her body was found behind 21 Greystone Terrace in Yonkers.
• February 6, 1988 — Patricia England, 19, was sexually assaulted and died; her body was found off Sprain Road in Greenburgh.
• July 17, 1990 — Lisa Gibbens, 25, was sexually assaulted and shot once in the head; her body was found behind 4 Consulate Drive in Tuckahoe.
• November 15, 2000 — Investigators expected prosecutors to announce charges linking Baxter to the three slayings using DNA technology; Baxter was serving a prison sentence.
• November 16, 2000 — A White Plains, New York, man was charged with three sex murders going back to 1987; investigators used cutting-edge DNA technology to link him to the crimes.
• June — A court order compelled Baxter to supply a blood sample for DNA testing.
• July 2002 — Baxter was convicted on 12 counts of murder in the second degree and sentenced to 75 years to life in prison.
• March 3, 2005 — The Appellate Division of State Supreme Court affirmed Baxter’s conviction and sentence.

The offence

Patrick Baxter was convicted in July 2002 on 12 counts of murder in the second degree relating to three murders in Westchester County.

Michelle Walker (14)

Michelle Walker was 14 years old. Her body was found on June 6, 1987 behind 21 Greystone Terrace in Yonkers. She had been sexually assaulted and died of asphyxiation. Investigators stated that someone had covered her nose and mouth. Her jewelry and cash were gone.

Patricia England (19)

Patricia England was 19 years old. Her body was found on February 6, 1988 off Sprain Road in Greenburgh. Investigators said she had been sexually assaulted and had died, possibly of asphyxiation, somewhere around Jan. 1, and that she had been killed elsewhere and her body left where it was found. Investigators at first focused on a former boyfriend of England; his blood did not match the semen found at the crime scene.

Lisa Gibbens (25)

Lisa Gibbens was 25 years old. Her body was found on July 17, 1990 behind 4 Consulate Drive in Tuckahoe. Investigators stated that she had been sexually assaulted and shot once in the head. Her purse was missing, as was her jewelry. A pair of pantyhose was found nearby. Investigators stated the shooting appeared to have involved a sawed-off shotgun.

Investigation

Investigators did not initially think the killings were committed by the same person because the victims were different ages and races and the deaths occurred in different locations over three years. Investigators also said that at the time of the killings they were unable to test DNA evidence from semen recovered at each crime scene because the samples were too small.

Longtime suspect Patrick Baxter became the subject of DNA testing after advances in DNA analysis tools. The DNA analysis linked Baxter to the crimes:

• Investigators said the DNA linked Baxter to two of the killings in June, but he was not charged at that time.
• Investigators later obtained a match to the 1988 killing, leading to the triple indictment.

Investigators also stated that Baxter was already serving a prison term when the DNA process advanced. A judge ordered DNA testing after Baxter’s name came up in all three incidents. Investigators said a positive match was later made to the 1988 killing.

During the early phases of the investigation, investigators declined to offer specifics of the indictment or a motive for the killings.

Arrest / charging

Patrick Baxter was charged with three sex murders going back to 1987 after investigators used DNA technology to link him to the crimes. At the time of the charging, Baxter was in state prison.

Trial

Baxter was convicted in July 2002 on 12 counts of murder in the second degree.

Baxter denied having anything to do with the deaths of Michelle Walker, Patricia England, and Lisa Gibbens.

Sentencing

In July 2002, Baxter was sentenced to 75 years to life in prison.

At the time of charging, the maximum penalty he could face was stated as 25 years to life in prison because the state’s death penalty statute was not enacted until 1995, five years after the last killing.

Appeals

The Appellate Division of State Supreme Court affirmed Baxter’s conviction and sentence.

Outcome

Baxter remained behind bars for the rest of his life after the affirmance of his conviction and sentence.

Other details

• District Attorney Jeanine Pirro said on March 3, 2005 that Baxter was convicted in July 2002 on 12 counts of murder in the second degree.
• Pirro also said that Baxter would “definitely” be considered responsible for the crimes as “a sexual serial murderer and one of the most dangerous that this county has ever seen.”
• Pirro stated that “In a span of 13 years, you have three unsolved homicides, three grieving families, and without DNA technology, we wouldn't have necessarily considered these crimes to be connected.”
• Pirro also stated that “he was eligible for parole in 2001.”
• Baxter was said to have been a former automobile mechanic and a former Yonkers resident.
• Baxter was described as serving time for car theft and later described as serving a prison sentence of 3 1/2 to 7 years at Downstate Correctional Facility in Fishkill, New York, for criminal possession of stolen property and reckless endangerment in an auto-theft case in the Bronx.
• Investigators stated that Baxter had been in and out of prison since 1990 for a variety of felonies and misdemeanors.
• Investigators stated Baxter used to hang out with some friends at the Crestwood station.
• It was said that Baxter did not have a lawyer in the new cases and that “his version of events has yet to be heard.”
• For Michelle Walker’s death, it was stated that she walked along a path near her family’s home on Warburton Avenue in Yonkers to buy pizza and a carton of milk for her family.
• For Patricia England’s death, it was stated she borrowed a pair of shoes from a family friend staying overnight, and she said she was going to see a friend on her 19th birthday.
• For Lisa Gibbens’s death, it was stated she left her apartment about 8 or 9 a.m. en route to her new job as a receptionist at a medical office in Hartsdale, and her body was found shortly after 9 a.m., 50 feet off a regularly traveled path to the Crestwood train station.
• The police questioned Lisa Gibbens’s boyfriend, but his alibi held up.
• Investigators later suspected Douglas Steadman, a carpenter who had just begun secretly dating Ms. Gibbens and was a cousin of Anthony Mosca, Westchester’s police commissioner at the time; DNA testing failed to link Steadman to the killing.
• The police commissioner mentioned was Anthony Mosca.
• Investigators stated that Patrick Baxter’s name popped up several times as Yonkers Police Department began looking at unsolved homicides.
• A court order compelled Baxter to supply a blood sample in June.