WARNING, GRAPHIC CONTENT: Matthew Robertson Terry’s attempted murder charge was reduced to simple assault in 2017 after character witness Kay Baker testified on his behalf — five years later, Terry murdered Baker in a fatal knife attack.
Michael Moran and Brigid Brown Reporter
08:00 ET, 26 Jul 2026
When Matthew Terry was released on bond after stabbing Michelle Rogers, he reached out to Kay Baker, his high school ex-girlfriend(Image: Facebook)
A witness who testified in defense of a man accused of a vicious knife attack was later brutally killed by the same individual she had supported in court.
In 2017, Michelle Rogers was savagely stabbed by her then-partner, Matthew Robertson Terry. “Matt Terry had attacked me that night when he returned from a bar,” she told a court.
“He had stabbed me seven times, beaten me quite badly, broken my nose, and given me a concussion. I said to him ‘Why are you doing this? I love you,’ and he said, “No, you don’t. F*** you, I’m going to kill you, reports Daily Star.
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Rogers disclosed to a Channel 4 documentary team that Terry’s family had secured a “very expensive” attorney to defend him in court.
The lawyer successfully presented multiple character witnesses who helped reduce Terry’s charge from attempted murder to simple assault.
Though Kay Baker’s testimony helped Terry secure a reduced sentence, she was tragically murdered by him only five months after his release(Image: Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office)
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Among those key witnesses was a teacher named Kay Baker. Five years later, Kay would be savagely murdered, practically beheaded by Terry in a violent attack that chillingly mirrored his assault on Rogers.
Baker was found just after midnight on May 28, 2022 by a neighbor in Lithia, Florida. The 43-year-old mother of two was barely alive, having sustained multiple stab wounds to her neck and shoulder.
Police later revealed that the “deep and large” wounds to her throat suggested someone had tried to decapitate her entirely.
Baker acted as a character witness for Terry
Florida prosecutor Justin Diaz described the harrowing scene: “Kay Baker is lying face down on the ground in the yard of her neighbor. With every beat of her heart, her life is ending.”
Hours before, Kay had been sharing drinks with Terry at a neighborhood bar.
Security footage from the establishment showed she nearly bumped into another customer while returning from the restroom, and had playfully “danced” with the stranger for a brief moment as they worked out how to pass each other.
That brief encounter was sufficient to trigger Terry’s jealousy.
In November 2022, a Florida jury deliberated for just over an hour before finding him guilty as charged for first-degree premeditated murder with a weapon enhancement (Image: Court TV)
Once they returned home, he seized a carving knife from a block and plunged it repeatedly into Kay’s neck.
Though hemorrhaging severely, she succeeded in breaking through a window and stumbling a short distance from Terry before falling in a neighbor’s yard. She perished before emergency services could reach her..
Upon arrival, officers found a second blood trail extending from the residence into adjacent woods.
Mirroring his actions five years prior after his attack on Rogers, Terry had also inflicted numerous cuts on himself. When discovered by authorities, he insisted that he had stabbed Kay “in self defence.”
They began dating during the trial
In a haunting parallel to the 2017 court proceedings, Rogers took the stand at Terry’s later trial.
Despite attempts by Terry’s legal team to block her testimony, the judge permitted her to appear before the jury. She described how she and Terry had been living together in March 2017..
Following a St. Patrick’s Day outing at a local bar, Terry’s demeanor turned violent.
“He was taking both of his hands and grabbing my head and slamming it into the floor, so every time he would do that, my vision would go black,” Rogers recounted through tears
Michelle Rogers took the stand for the prosecution at Baker’s murder trial, recounting how Terry had previously tried to kill her in 2017(Image: CHANNEL 4)
Terry briefly stopped his attack to retrieve a knife from the kitchen.
“The next thing you know, Mr. Terry comes around behind me and stabs me in the neck,” she said..
Rogers fled the residence and was discovered by neighbors, severely bleeding, who immediately contacted authorities.
Though initially facing an attempted murder charge, Terry’s “expensive” attorney successfully had it dropped, leading to just a three-year prison term for Terry..
At the 2022 trial, Justin Diaz reflected on how Kay’s earlier testimony had worked in Terry’s favor
Their relationship lasted his three-year prison sentence
“It was a hard thing to hear to think that the woman who had died at the hands of Matthew Terry had previously gone to court, raised her right hand, had promised to tell the truth, and had defended him in a courtroom to say that ultimately he was a good guy and he would never do what he was accused of doing in Michigan,” he said.
Despite this, the jury was not swayed during the trial that followed, ultimately convicting Terry of murder.
While prosecutors had initially soulty, Kay’s ntervened and pushed for a life sentence instea”We’re not really people who are hugely in favor of the death penalty,” Kristine Empey, Baker’s stepmother, shared with the Tampa Bay Times. “We just don’t want him to get out.”
