The Baxter Murders

On Easter Sunday 2023, retired couple Stephen and Carol Baxter
were found dead in the conservatory of their home on Mersea
Island, off the Essex coast. Initially their deaths were - until
toxicology revealed both had been poisoned with the powerful
opioid fentanyl. Suspicion fell on Luke D’Wit, the unassuming IT
consultant who had spent a decade quietly embedding himself in
the Baxters’ lives as friend, employee and unofficial carer. In
this episode, forensic psychologist Kerry Daynes profiles a
real-life puppet master — a man who built twenty fake online
identities to control his victims, forged a will to inherit their
business, and watched on a hidden phone feed as they died. Listen
now to The Profiler, with Kerry Daynes.


 


Key psychological themes


This episode explores: psychopathy and the urge for control • the
long con — grooming adults over a decade • catfishing and the use
of fake online identities • performative care and the "surrogate
son" persona • power, patience and the puppet-master mindset


 


Contributors featured in this episode


Kerry Daynes — Forensic psychologist, presenter, and author of
Dark Side of the Mind and What Lies Buried.


Ellis Whitehouse — Chief Reporter, Essex Live; covered the case
from the day the bodies were discovered.


Hannah Pettifer — ITV News reporter; reported on the
investigation and trial at Chelmsford Crown Court.


Gary Cunningham — Former homicide detective.


Professor Atholl Johnston — Professor of Clinical Pharmacology;
expert on fentanyl and overdose.


Detective Superintendent Rob Kirby — Senior investigating
officer, Essex Police 


 


What you'll learn in this episode


How Luke D’Wit spent ten years embedding himself in the Baxters’
lives as IT consultant, friend and carer for Carol


Why fentanyl — fifty times stronger than heroin and a hundred
times stronger than morphine — was the near-perfect murder weapon


How D’Wit created twenty fake online identities, including a
Florida-based doctor and a confidante called "Jenny", to control
Carol Baxter’s medical treatment


What a metal tack found inside Carol’s body, more than a year
before the murders, revealed about D’Wit’s earlier intentions


Why a hidden phone live-streaming the Baxters’ final hours back
to D’Wit’s home was the "silver bullet" piece of evidence


What Kerry Daynes identifies as the true motive — power and
control, not money — once D’Wit’s plan to inherit a failing
business unravelled


 


Relevant links and further reading


Kerry Daynes — Dark Side of the Mind (Endeavour, 2019)


Kerry Daynes — What Lies Buried (Endeavour, 2021)


https://www.essexlive.news/news/essex-news/listen-999-call-between-accused-9100011
— Essex Live: the harrowing 999 call from the scene


Essex Police — DI Rob Kirby on convicted killer Luke D’Wit
(court-steps statement, available on Essex Police’s YouTube
channel)


BBC News and The Guardian — contemporary coverage of the Mersea
Island murders and the Chelmsford Crown Court trial


Support for those affected by sudden bereavement, poisoning and
coercive control — Cruse Bereavement Support • Victim Support •
Hourglass (for older victims of abuse)


 


Subscribe & follow


If you’re gripped by The Profiler, with Kerry Daynes, follow the
show in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your
podcasts. A rating or review takes thirty seconds and genuinely
helps new listeners find us.


 


Visit theprofiler.co.uk


For an exclusive filmed interview with Kerry Daynes on the cases
behind the series — including untold detail on the Luke D’Wit
investigation — visit theprofiler.co.uk. Subscribe to the
newsletter for case updates, parole-hearing alerts, and early
access to new episodes.


 


Content note


This episode contains an emergency-services recording made at the
scene of two sudden deaths, and descriptions of poisoning,
coercive control and the deliberate killing of vulnerable adults.
Listener discretion is strongly advised. If you have been
affected by the issues raised, support is available from Cruse
Bereavement Support (0808 808 1677) and Victim Support (0808 168
9111).


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