DID A POPULAR BAPTIST MINISTER MURDER HIS WIFE? JIM AVILA'S REPORT AIRS ON "20/20," FRIDAY, MARCH 7 AT 10:00 P.M. ET
Plus: Actress Tori Spelling Speaks Exclusively to Elizabeth Vargas;
Brian Ross Probes Claims of Man Who Says He May Be JFK's Love Child;
John Stossel Previews Upcoming "Age of Consent" Report
Was the untimely death of a Baptist preacher's wife really a suicide, as the justice of the peace first ruled, or was the perfectly healthy mother of two murdered� by her husband? In an exclusive television interview, ABC News Senior Law and Justice Correspondent Jim Avila asks Matt Baker, the popular Baptist minister from Waco, Texas, why Kari, his seemingly fine wife, would commit suicide, leaving behind two daughters. He says that she was depressed and "could never let go of Kassidy," their daughter who died from a brain tumor when she was 16 months old, almost a decade ago. But Kari's family suspected foul play and the police took another look into the private lives of the Baker family. Will the secrets revealed lead to a murder charge for Matt Baker? The report airs FRIDAY, MARCH 7 from 10:00-11:00 p.m., ET on the ABC Television Network.
And: In her first television interview since writing her tell-all autobiography, sTORI TELLING, actress Tori Spelling speaks candidly to ABC News' Elizabeth Vargas about her childhood, how her famous father spoiled her, and the lifelong strained relationship with her once-estranged mother, Candy Spelling. She says: "I love my mom. My mom loves me. We don't have an easy relationship. I don't think we ever will� But I'd rather have a complicated, misunderstood relationship than have no relationship at all." She also discusses how her financial troubles led to almost filing for bankruptcy, the assumptions that some people make about her, and about being a mom for a second time.
Also: ABC News Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross probes the claim of the man who says he may be former President John F. Kennedy's "love child." To some, 46-year old Jack Worthington, Jr. might resemble former President John F. Kennedy. But could Worthington possibly be his son? Worthington says his mother told him four years ago that JFK is his biological father. In his first television interview, Worthington tells Ross that he first brought his story to the magazine Vanity Fair with hopes that they would facilitate DNA testing to prove his lineage. In a statement to ABC News, his family calls his claims "unequivocally false" and "fabricated."
Ross also speaks with David Friend, the editor at Vanity Fair who spent a year and a half investigating Worthington's claim and whose story posted online this week. He tells Ross that the magazine pursued the story because "there was this notion that what sort of person would out their own parent unless there was something to back up? And secondly, it seemed sort of this holy grail of journalism that, you know, Kennedy did have a number of affairs." This is also Friend's first interview about the case.
Plus: John Stossel previews his upcoming hour, "20/20: Age of Consent," scheduled to air next Friday, March 14 (10:00 p.m., ET), with a report on the predator laws. In order to protect children from sexual predators, states have passed laws to try to keep molesters far away. But as Stossel reports, as so often happens with many laws, there are unintended consequences, as the predator laws cast a wide net. Take Frank Rodriguez, whose consensual sexual relationship with his high school sweetheart when he was 19 and she was 15 has branded him a sex offender for life � even though the two ended up marrying and having four children.
"20/20" is anchored by Elizabeth Vargas and John Stossel. David Sloan is executive producer.
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