Tristaney Baker is a killer from Ohio who was convicted of the murder of Jayla Wyatt
According to court documents Tristaney Baker and Jayla Wyatt were having a feud over a man. Baker would be driven to Jayla Wyatt apartment building where she would stalk her door for hours. When someone came out of the door Tristaney Baker would go in and shoot Jayla Wyatt multiple times causing her death
Tristaney Baker would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole
Tristaney Baker Now
Number W107628
DOB 08/03/2000
Gender Female
Race White
Admission Date 07/13/2021
Institution Ohio Reformatory for Women
Status INCARCERATED
Aggregate Sentence Life without Parole
Expected Release Date/Parole Eligibility Date LIFE
Tristaney Baker Case
The demeanor of a 20-year-old woman who walked into the courtroom to be sentenced for murder with a smile on her face quickly changed as soon as the prosecution made arguments for a life sentence Monday morning.
Tristaney Baker soon began sobbing as Assistant Prosecutor John Litle detailed the events that took place on April 27 — the day 23-year-old Jayla Wyatt was shot to death.
“This is a person who calculatedly murdered a person in cold blood,” Litle said.
He told the judge that Baker’s acts have demonstrated that she is a bad human being. He explained that Baker became upset with Wyatt for “no apparent good reason” and planned to kill her.
Bringing a gun she obtained from her co-defendant, Devin McKnelly, the on-again-off-again couple drove to Wyatt’s apartment on Sixth Street in downtown Zanesville.
According to Litle, Baker stalked Wyatt and crept around the building for hours until the time was right to move forward with her plan.
When the man who lived in the apartment where Wyatt was staying left to purchase a lottery ticket, Baker acted.
“She snuck up to the apartment, opened the door and executed Jayla,” Litle said.
He explained that Baker shot her in the hip and continued to fire until she was on the ground, then she shot Wyatt in the face.
She then escaped to Columbus with McKnelly, not before first hiding the gun.
In less than 24 hours, detectives were able to locate the pair and make an arrest.
While in jail, Litle said Baker has found entertainment in picking on a person with mental health problems and was heard on a jail call asking where she could get a “Justice for Jayla” shirt that the victim’s family wore in court.
He added that she was also heard saying that she would do the crime again and just not get caught.
The only thing that Litle said spared Baker from the possibility of the death penalty was her upbringing.
Her defense attorney, Keith Edwards, would add that Baker was sexually, physically and emotionally abused from a young age and never got justice for the trauma.
“She’s very immature and wishes she wasn’t that way,” Edwards said. “She hasn’t chosen to be that way, she was made that way.”
He explained that she was in and out of foster homes her whole life without any stability.
By the time she was out of foster care and had some potential for success, she met the victim and the man she lived with.
She became hooked on drugs and entered into a relationship with that man to feed her habit, Prosecutor Ron Welch said.
Wyatt was also in a similar relationship with him, which caused jealousy for Baker and led to the shooting, he explained.
“This crime was a senseless crime that didn’t need to happen,” Welch said.
Wyatt left behind two children and a grieving family when she was killed.
Tristaney Baker turned to Wyatt’s mother moments before learning her sentence to apologize.
“I’m sorry,” Baker said. “I’m sorry I took her life. She didn’t deserve it. I take full responsibility. I’m so sorry.”
Baker was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
“She’s a horrible person, and she’s a horrible person who none of us will ever have to deal with ever being on the street again,” Litle said. “Her behavior is repellant to commit these acts and then be laughing about them and then making fun of the victim’s family, it shows that you’re not a redeemable human being.”
He commended the work of the Zanesville Police Department and other agencies that worked together to get justice for the family in a matter of 62 days.
McKnelly was also sentenced Wednesday to life with the possibility of parole after 20 years.
