Clovis man sentenced for girlfriend's killing

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A mother once convinced her daughter committed suicide gave a piece of her mind Thursday to the man who actually shot her, and lied about it.

"I wanted everyone to see and hear that he shot my daughter, Christine Baker, point blank in the forehead with his 4-year-old grandson in the next room and that he told the police she shot herself," Susan Johnson said. "How dare he?"

Baker was killed in April 2011 during a fight with her boyfriend, Charles Rector.

When someone is shot to death in the Valley, Action News cameras are often at the scene within minutes. We were a day late to Baker's Clovis apartment complex. Rector had shot Baker in the head, but he told police she'd committed suicide.

For 18 hours, that's what we believed had happened, and that's what Baker's family was dealing with until police got Rector to admit he pulled the trigger.

"He had 18 hours to take care of his business that needed taking care of before he turned himself in," Johnson said. "I spent 18 hours of pure hell wondering why my daughter would ever kill herself."

Johnson got that answer, but she still has a lot of questions about her daughter's last moments.

"There was time between when he shot her in the forehead and she died," Johnson said. "Did she feel pain? Did she cry out? I didn't get to tell her goodbye. I didn't get to tell her 'I love you Christine.'"

Johnson says Christine was a loving person and mother. But Rector pulled her into his web and away from those who loved her. He still insists it was an accident, but apologized to her family Thursday, never looking at them until the very end.

"I'd just like to tell the family there's no excuse for my actions," he said. "I chose to drink the amount of alcohol I did that day and I chose to grab that gun and act reckless with that and I cost Christine's life and I'm extremely sorry."

Despite the apology, Baker's family says they can never forgive.

"There's nothing he could say or do to make that place in my heart feel better," said Whitney Baker, Christine's daughter.

The family agreed to a deal where Rector pleaded guilty to manslaughter instead of facing trial on murder charges. Johnson says she didn't want his then 4-year-old grandson to have to testify and relive the horror of that night.

The deal calls for the 56-year-old Rector to serve 21 years in prison, a sentence the judge equated to a life term.