A retired police sergeant whose career ended in a near-fatal on-duty motorcycle crash was shot and killed by his wife at the couple’s South Florida home, where both were found dead just after 7 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 21, 2026, the Broward Sheriff’s Office said.
Joanne Baker, 59, and John Baker, 62, were discovered inside their home in the 8300 block of Pine Drive in Pembroke Pines, Fla. Officers were sent to the address after a 911 caller reported two people who were unresponsive, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.
Investigators are treating the deaths as an apparent murder-suicide. “The preliminary investigation has revealed that Joanne shot and killed John, before turning the gun on herself,” the sheriff’s office said.
The Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office will determine the cause and manner of death, according to the sheriff’s office.
The Crash That Ended His Career
John Baker retired from the Pembroke Pines Police Department after a car turned in front of him while he was riding on duty in 2019, according to a Facebook post from the department. The wreck nearly killed him. It left him critically injured, damaging both his speech and his ability to move.
He fought his way back. With the support of his family and his medical team, the department said, Baker regained limited motor skills and kept showing up for the community that had rallied around him, taking part in several charity races through Special Compass, a local nonprofit that assists children and families with disabilities, and in the Special Olympics Torch Run.
Chronicling a Long Recovery
Joanne Baker documented her husband’s recovery for supporters in a Facebook group called “John’s Prayer Army” and on a GoFundMe page. On the fundraising page, she wrote that he thanked her and their care aides each day for everything they did for him, and that he apologized to her regularly for the accident. She always told him he was not to blame, she wrote, but she valued knowing that he understood their circumstances and recognized what she was carrying.
His answer, as she recorded it on the page: he knew it was not his fault, but he was sorry all the same.
The couple had celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary weeks before they died.
Nearly 28 Years on the Force
Baker spent nearly 28 years with the Pembroke Pines Police Department, moving through a long list of assignments: road patrol officer, field training officer, master patrol officer, public information officer, traffic homicide investigator and traffic unit sergeant.
He was also a founding member of the department’s crisis response team, the unit that steps in to support first responders after tragedies. His commitment to traffic safety, the department said, led him to work regularly with Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and to volunteer at the organization’s events.
The department described him as devoted to his three children and said he loved traveling and music. “Even with the challenges he faced from his work-related injury, his joyful and positive personality always persisted,” the department wrote on Facebook.