Background: News footage of the scene where Frezja Baker was found dead on Dec. 11 (WSOC). Insets (left to right): Frezja Baker and Lorenza Inman Jr. (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department).
A North Carolina man is behind bars after police said he murdered his girlfriend and abandoned her body in her car.
Lorenza Inman Jr., 38, was arrested on Dec. 12, one day after police found the body of 31-year-old Frezja Baker in her car behind a church in Charlotte. According to an affidavit reviewed by Law&Crime, Baker was reported missing after she was last seen by her family on Dec. 4, the same day her family heard Inman's voice in the background during a phone call with her.
Inman's probation officer contacted police after a witness told her, "Lorenza told me that they got into an argument, the gun went off, and [Baker] was shot in the head."
Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.
According to the affidavit, police started investigating Baker's phone and financial records after she was reported missing on Dec. 6. Police tracked her activity to a Mobil gas station on Dec. 4, where she was seen on surveillance video with Inman just before 10 p.m. Inman was allegedly seen shoving Baker several times into a display case and into the coolers, then throwing an item at Baker "hard" and hitting her in the back.
Inman and Baker were seen on the video getting into her car, with Inman behind the wheel, and leaving the Mobil station. Police said they investigated two phone numbers registered to Baker; one of them stopped activity at 10:30 p.m. on Dec. 4, the other stopped at 8 a.m. on Dec. 5.
Police received a tip through Crime Stoppers on Dec. 9 that Baker was dead, and her body was on the passenger side of her car. Baker was found on Dec. 11. After the discovery, Inman's probation officer told police that she received a tip on Dec. 9 from a "known witness." The witness told the probation officer, "Ya'll looking for Frezja Baker, and that girl is dead. Don't know where her body is at, but her car is parked somewhere near my house. Lorenza told me that they got into an argument, the gun went off, and she was shot in the head."
When police spoke to the witness in person, they said that Inman made the admission on Dec. 7. The witness stated that Inman told them about specific details that "would only be known by someone with intimate knowledge of the scene."
Inman, who has a history of domestic violence arrests, was arrested on Dec. 12 and charged with murder, assault on a female, and domestic violence. During a hearing on Monday, Inman was denied bond and ordered to remain behind bars. His next court date is scheduled for Jan. 2, 2026.
Members of Baker's family were at the hearing and spoke to local ABC affiliate WSOC. Her aunt told the outlet that her niece was "just a good person who met a monster. And she trusted a monster."
Baker is survived by a 2-year-old son.
