January 10, 1950
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Edward Lester Gibbs kills Marian Baker on a “sudden impulse”

On January 10, Gibbs (25) offered Baker (21) a ride. She accepted as she was rushed that day, needing to finish work at the Treasurer’s Office and had an appointment to have her hair done. Instead of bringing her to her destination, Gibbs drove to a park where a “sudden impulse” took him, compelling him to strangle Baker and bludgeon her with a lug wrench. Her body was not violated after death but he did steal her rings and purse before hiding her body under a cottage and covered it with pieces of corrugated metal.

Baker’s body was discovered 4 days later and Gibbs confessed. He never offered a motive behind the brutal attack aside from receiving an urge to kill her though many, including his own counsel, believed there was an underlining cause to the savagery that Gibbs wouldn’t admit to. Gibbs was tried and convicted in mid-March of 1951 and executed in the electric chair on April 23, 1951.

Photo credit: http://murderinlancastercounty.blogspot.com/2009/12/marian-louise-bakers-roots-love-and.html