NEW ALBANY — Jurors deliberated for nearly seven hours to find Christopher Baxter guilty in the 1990 murder of his wife Robin Baxter. The verdict was returned around 10:30 Friday night, following a speedy two and one-half day trial.

Floyd County Prosecutor Keith Henderson and defense attorney William Gray rested their closing arguments soon after 3 p.m. in Floyd County Superior Court No. 3 before presiding Judge Maria Granger.

Defendant Christopher Baxter, 54, faces up to 65 years in prison for killing 31-year-old Robin Baxter, whose remains were found in the Ohio River four days after she was killed on June 19, 1990.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m., Aug. 7, in Floyd County Superior Court No. 3.

The couple resided in a New Albany home in the 1800 block of Troy Street at the time of Robin Baxter’s death.

During the three-day trial, the prosecution argued that Robin Baxter was killed following an alcohol-fueled dispute between the couple around 11 p.m., which was spurred by Christopher Baxter’s disapproval of a spaghetti dinner prepared by his wife.

Gray countered that Robin Baxter was killed when she became extremely intoxicated following the dispute and walked from the home never to be seen alive again by her husband or friends.

Christopher Baxter was questioned by New Albany police on two occasions after Robin Baxter’s body was found, but police were not able to build the probable cause to file a charge against him until February 2012.

During interrogation, Baxter told police he remembered getting in a fight with his wife, punching out a kitchen door window, but then blacked out, only to wake up around 3:30 a.m. with his wife missing.

Throughout the trial the prosecution called to the witness stand many of Robin Baxter’s friends, all of whom endearingly spoke of their late friend as a happy-go-lucky person who was liked by everyone and had no enemies.

During Thursday’s proceedings, Henderson brought a medical examiner to the stand to provide expertise of the photographs taken of Robin Baxter’s remains after they were pulled from the warm, June waters of the Ohio River.

The blood alcohol content of Robin Baxter’s body at the time of her death was .31, according to state examiners.

The highly-graphic photographs of the decomposed body were displayed on a large projection screen to the entire court causing some observing the trial to leave the courtroom and others to turn their heads.

The photos, which were taken by medical examiners, included close-up images of Robin Baxter’s head and face showing lacerations and a deep impression on the back of her skull.

The medical examiner testified the injuries were fatal and could not have been received by a fall, but by multiple blows by a blunt object.

The investigation leading to the trial could not confirm the instrument that delivered the blows, but Henderson spent time during each day of the trial connecting a nonexistent, 3-feet long aluminum rod as the weapon used by Christopher Baxter to kill his wife.

The location of the metal rod is unknown to authorities, who misplaced the possible murder weapon at some point after the initial investigation more than 20 years ago.

Although the original rod was not available for Henderson to submit as evidence, a recreation was accepted by the court Tuesday for demonstrative purposes.

Henderson often grasped the imitation metal instrument in his hand as he spoke to the jurors and made the rod a central figure in his prosecution.

A photograph with the actual rod was shown often during the trial, however.

In the background of the photograph, believed to have been taken in the late 1980s, the metal rod is leaning against a closet door of the Troy Street home. 

The actual metal rod in the photograph was seized by New Albany police in 1990 and examined by the Indiana State Police Lab the same year. The results of the laboratory found no trace evidence on the rod.

The photograph of Christopher Baxter and the rod, which he kept as protection, according to testimony, was provided to a New Albany police detective in October 1990, by Robin Baxter’s mother in hopes it would assist in the investigation four months after her daughter’s death.

The photograph provided a fresh lead to the small team of detectives after dead ends left the case stale earlier in the year.

With the photograph in hand, the detective and a crime scene investigator went to the Troy Street home where they were met by the tenant who moved into the home after Christopher Baxter moved out.

The tenant was shown the photograph by the detective, who had plans only to visit the home to take measurements and photographs, and told him he had found the metal rod in a wall of the home while he was taken residence only weeks before.

He told the detective that a section of paneling inside the closet had buckled out after he bumped the wall with a piece of furniture.

The metal rod was leaning upright between two wooden wall joists, the tenant told the officers. The detective searched the inside of the wall further and discovered a fingerless glove and a white cloth where the tenant said the rod was found.

Henderson called Robin Baxter’s close friend Wilma Carlisle to the witness stand Friday and questioned her about the condition of the wall in a living area of the home, opposite the wall of the closet where the subsequent tenant would later find the metal rod.

Carlisle told the court that she was at the Baxters’ home on June 18 to visit Robin Baxter and that there was no sign of a hole in a wall. Two days later, after Robin Baxter was believed to be missing, Carlisle returned to the home to find only Christopher Baxter, a hole in the wall and no information on the whereabouts of her friend.

Carlisle said Christopher Baxter told her he punched a hole in the wall, behavior he described as a better alternative to striking his wife.

She also testified that the metal pipe, which had a designated spot near the closet was not in sight.

Earlier in the trial, Robin Baxter’s friend, Suzanne Lance, testified being in the home later in the day to find the hole had been freshly patched by Christopher Baxter.

Gray presented no defense to the jurors before closing arguments, but moved the judge to instruct the jury to find Baxter not guilty for lack of evidence.

During his closing arguments, Gray referred to the prosecution as “a trip to Mars,” adding there was not enough evidence in 1990 and not enough evidence today to find a guilty verdict.

“There are so many doubts in this case.” he said. “So many.”

Moments before the jurors broke for deliberation, Henderson asked them to use common sense while making their decisions.

“Robin Baxter was killed by her husband Christopher Baxter,” he said. “The evidence is there.”