On the evening of November 16, 2015, a young Black/African American man named Devante T. Baker, age 21, was found fatally shot in New Haven, Connecticut. Though originally from New York, Baker had family connections in Connecticut, including ties to Bridgeport. The shooting is believed to have occurred near 1447 Chapel Street. After being shot, Baker managed to walk to Sherman Court, where he was discovered by police officers shortly before 9 p.m.
Despite efforts to save him, he was pronounced dead at the scene.
In the early stages of the investigation, detectives explored the possibility that an argument may have preceded the fatal shooting. To aid in identifying him and gathering information, police released a surveillance image of Baker taken from a city bus. For years, the case remained under investigation with no publicly named suspect. The New Haven Police Department, along with other law enforcement agencies, continued to work on the homicide.
A significant breakthrough came in December 2019, when authorities charged Edward Michael Parks, a 33-year-old from Raleigh, North Carolina, with Baker's murder. The investigation revealed a chilling motive. Parks was indicted for the kidnapping and murder of two other individuals, Damian Connor and Tamar Lawrence, in the nearby town of Hamden. The indictment alleged that Parks killed them during an illegal firearms sale and then murdered Baker in New Haven to prevent him from reporting the other crimes to the police.
In January 2023, a federal jury found Edward Michael Parks guilty on all counts, which included two counts of kidnapping resulting in death and one count of witness tampering by killing Devante Baker. As a result of his conviction, Parks was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The resolution of the case was the culmination of a collaborative effort between the FBI, the Hamden Police Department, the New Haven Police Department, and the New Haven State's Attorney's Office.
