Elaborate killer poisoned millionaire couple – and watched them die on secret cameras

FOr Stephen and Carol Baxter, whose decades of hard work building a successful company in south-east England have almost paid off.

They discussed dreams of a new house and travel, and both hoped to retire and spend their final decades with loved ones.

One of those aware of their plans was Luke D’Wit, an IT employee hired by Mr Baxter in 2012 or 2013 to help with the technology side of his shower mat business, Cazsplash.

Little did the Baxters realize, however, that their trusting ways would lead to their deaths, as he poisoned them with fentanyl and brutally watched on camera as they deteriorated under the effects of the powerful opioid. .

The dangerous killer has now been jailed for life and will serve at least 37 years in prison for his despicable crimes which tore apart the lives of the Baxter family.

DeWitt is considered honest and reliable, spending most of his time volunteering at soup kitchens and working at the local carnival, with no apparent interest in money or the accumulation of wealth.

Within a few years, he began describing himself as “almost like a son” and was close to their daughter Ellie, who viewed him as a brother.

Although she claimed they found him “weird,” there was no suggestion they suspected his behavior could turn sinister and have fatal consequences for the Baxters.

But on April 9 last year, a 999 operator received a frantic call from her daughter, screaming that she had found her dead parents sitting in armchairs in the conservatory.

As Miss Baxter cried, DeWitt took the phone, called himself a “friend” and spoke calmly to the operator until paramedics arrived.

He was the last person to see the couple alive. He told police he had left their address two days earlier at 7.55pm and they were getting ready for dinner.

Analysis of Mrs Baxter’s pacemaker gave an estimated time of death for the three hours between 11am and 2pm on April 8 and showed “no spontaneous rhythm” by April 9.

Initially considered a witness rather than a suspect, DeWitt gave a statement to police after the investigation began after the fire department ruled out carbon monoxide poisoning.

However, it emerged that the 34-year-old man who helped Mrs Baxter take the medication had been secretly feeding her and her partner a cocktail of drugs that would cause their deaths.

A June 2023 toxicology report found that the powerful opioid painkiller fentanyl was a factor in their deaths, and analysis of their stomach contents showed they had taken the drug orally.

The day after their bodies were found, their wills were rewritten on DeWitt’s phone, making him a “director and person with significant control” of their business. It added that all decisions should be taken by him. One lawyer described it to jurors as a “very strange document.”

Disturbingly, DeWitt also had a “mobile security surveillance app” downloaded on his phone, which allowed him to monitor the cameras at the couple’s greenhouse. In their final moments, he watched on his phone as the Baxters were first incapacitated by drugs and then died.

When he was eventually arrested at work for the murder, fragments of fentanyl were found in his Adidas bag, his house was a “treasure trove of open pills” and a pestle and mortar were also found.

When police downloaded data from his numerous devices, more disturbing discoveries were made that DeWitt had used many false identities to deceive and manipulate his victims.

These included a “doctor” from Florida named Andrea Bowden, who gave Mrs Baxter medical advice that had “no clinical basis”. The fake doctor told her she should reduce frequent contact with her loved ones after seeing her family’s “adrenal glands releasing too many chemicals.”

DeWitt also posed as a false identity support group for people with Hashimoto’s disease (the thyroid disease Mrs. Baxter suffered from); and as a lawyer to convince their families that the will he had made was genuine.

In another cruel twist, he wins his daughter’s trust by pretending to be a theater producer named Jenny, promising to help further her singing career.

“Jenny” requested several songs from Miss Baxter, including “I’d Do Anything” from the musical Oliver!which she recorded with the help of D’Wit.

They exchanged numerous messages every day, with “Jenny” leaving a message after learning of her parents’ deaths: “Oh no my dear sweetheart, I’m so sorry.”

Ms Baxter broke down in court and told jurors: “‘Jenny’ was a trustworthy person, I thought she was there to help and I thought she was a real person.”

While DeWitt claimed the fentanyl found in his bag was to be taken to a pharmacy, pills containing four times the dose of promethazine were also found.

Prosecutor Tracey Ayling said: “Possession of these drugs can only serve one purpose and that is to deceive someone into believing they are taking the correct dose when in fact they are taking four times the dose.”

The barrister said DeWitt “administered an overdose of promethazine to Carol Baxter in the most brutal manner”, causing symptoms including “dementia, Parkinson’s disease and possibly a stroke”.

Despite DeWitt’s denials, a jury convicted him of murder and he now faces life in prison.

Detective Superintendent Rob Kirby, of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Agency, described him as “one of the most dangerous men I have ever experienced”, saying: “I have absolutely no doubt that if he had not been caught , he would escape.” and proceed to commit further murders. “

DS Kirby said “justice has been served today”, adding that D’Wit “deserves to be behind bars”.

He said: “He made friends with people and came across as a very compliant, helpful person, but behind the scenes he was a cool, calculated killer who spent years plotting the murder of Carol and Stephen. Baxter’s death.” DeWitt will be sentenced on Friday.