Suspect pleads guilty in Travis Baker murder case

NEWTON, N.C.,None — John Lee Mitchell pleaded guilty Tuesday morning in the murder of Travis Baker.

Baker, 19, disappeared on April 16, 2007, from the Bunker Hill community. His parents were active in keeping his disappearance in the public eye, posting fliers with his photo and his candy apple red Camaro throughout Catawba County.

Mitchell pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, robbery with a dangerous weapon and concealment of a body. He was sentenced to 12 years to 15 years and two months in prison.

In court Tuesday, Baker's father, Dwayne, spoke to Mitchell.

"In the courtroom is a handful of people left to suffer the emptiness caused by you and you alone," he said. "But what grieves me more is to watch my wife, his mother, and her heart being ripped apart, each day knowing she is robbed of any future of enjoying the memories that would have been built."

Mitchell also spoke to the Bakers.

"I truly am sorry," he said, looking right at the Bakers as he spoke. "Truly."

Although the tips poured in to the Catawba County Sheriff's Office, and the Bakers conducted dozens of searches for Travis, there was little sign of what may have happened to him until June 2009.

A tip led them to a property in Catawba. There, investigators found Travis' body, buried in a shallow grave on a property Mitchell had previously hunted on. The grave was covered by wood. In addition to Travis' body, a few car parts from Travis' car were also in the grave.

Mitchell, who lived in Florida in 2009, was arrested and extridicted to Catawba County that same month.

WSOC