ROULETTE TRAGEDY: MANY PONDER 'WHY?'

Residents in the village of Roulette are still coming to grips with a tragedy that claimed two lives sometime late Sunday afternoon.

Investigating state police from the Denton Hill barracks report that evidence collected at the scene and interviews with survivors has led them to believe that the episode was a murder-suicide.

Dead are 29-year-old Cheri Shalkowski Baker and her estranged husband, Matthew Baker, 32. The couple's twoyear old son was not at the home on Fourth Street at the time.

According to police, Cheri Baker went to the home, apparently to discuss custody arrangements. Matthew Baker then shot her in the head with a .22 caliber rifle, attempted to set the home on fire, and fatally wounded himself with the same weapon.

The fire, which caused minor damage, was evidently intended to be an explosion. Police say Baker had opened up natural gas pipes and he apparently believed the fire would ignite the gas.

"There are no words to describe the feeling of losing a child," said Cheri Baker's father,Alan Shalkowski of North Java, N.Y., formerly of Coudersport. "It seemed like only yesterday that I was giving her away in marriage."

Today would have been the couple's fourth wedding anniversary.

Roulette is a tight-knit community where townspeople had been concerned about the Bakers' well-being during years of turmoil leading up to Sunday's tragedy.

Many villagers remain shaken by the deaths, regretting that they did not intervene when they had the chance and feeling helpless as they attempt to comfort the survivors and search for answers to the lingering question: why?

Court records show previous marital discord and conflict over child custody issues. As recently as June 16, Cheri Baker had filed for an emergency protection from abuse order.

The Bakers were pronounced dead at the scene by Potter County Coroner Kevin Dusenbury at 8:10 pm.