Man pleads guilty to killing woman who stole money for her father-in-law from a Charlotte ATM

The man accused of robbing and killing 48-year-old Karen Lynn Gaskill Baker near an ATM in the University City neighborhood in 2022 was sentenced to more than 26 years in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree murder, court records show.

Baker was killed at a mall across from UNC Charlotte after she withdrew money to help her father-in-law pay a bill. Police said at the time it was a random robbery.

J'Wuan Marquise Horton, 26, of Charlotte, also pleaded guilty on August 22 to two counts of possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and was sentenced by Judge Karen Eady-Williams to 26 to 32 years in prison.

“So generosity and selflessness is the most important thing I would say about my mother,” William McClure, Baker's son, told the Charlotte Observer in 2022. “She spent most of her life helping other people.”

Baker had three sons, a daughter and two stepchildren. She also had three grandchildren. In 2011, she married Justin Baker, with whom she moved to Charlotte to help care for his father.

Baker was born in New Jersey but grew up in North Carolina. On July 13, 2022, she was withdrawing money from a Bank of America ATM on University City Boulevard when Horton robbed and shot her, police said.

According to court documents, nearby witnesses said they heard gunshots and then saw a black Dodge Charger flee the scene. Surveillance footage from the scene confirmed what the witnesses saw, court documents say. Police also said photos of Horton matched the footage.

According to the records, someone tipped off Crime Stoppers. The informant said he overheard a conversation in which Horton talked about hiding the murder weapon.

According to court records, Horton was on probation for armed robbery at the time of Baker's death and had previously been arrested for fleeing a traffic stop.

“My mother would have given money to the people who robbed her,” McClure said in 2022.

Prosecutor announces latest verdicts

The Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office last week announced recent death-related convictions, including:

• Cristhian Diaz Castillo, who struck and killed bicyclist Christopher Ryan Starr in southwest Charlotte in February, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and hit-and-run. He was sentenced to 16 to 29 months in prison, but the sentence was suspended if he completes 36 months of probation supervision.

  He was given a 180-day jail sentence as a condition of probation, but he would receive credit for the 179 days he served in jail prior to his Aug. 22 hearing, according to court documents.

• Noe Chinchilla, 28, who was accused of shooting 16-year-old Jeferson Josue Landaverde-Cantareno in 2022, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and two counts of discharging a weapon into an occupied vehicle. He was sentenced to 10 to 14 years in prison.

• Monterius Johnson, 26, who was arrested in connection with the 2021 murder of 21-year-old Tahajie Howard, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting premeditated murder and was sentenced to nearly four to eight years in prison.

• Shikeem Sands, 24, who was accused of fatally shooting Keia Javon Garnett in northeast Charlotte last November, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and possession of a firearm as a convicted felon. He was sentenced to 16 to 21 years in prison.