After finding her parents dead at their home in Essex, daughter Ellie Baxter’s nightmare began as she became the main suspect for the double murder – but the truth was so much worse
A woman who was accused of murdering her parents has spoken out about their deaths – and revealed that, despite the fact the killer is now being behind bars, people still think she had something to do with it. Ellie Baxter found her parents Carol, 64, and Stephen, 61, dead in their armchairs at their home in Essex in 2023, and has she been living in a nightmare ever since.
After a police probe into the double murder, investigators unravelled the tale of the true killer, who turned out to be a close family friend that had been playing cruel mind games on the family for a number of years. Luke D’Wit was seen as a ‘nice’ and ‘helpful’ man in the community, and it sent shockwaves through the town when it was revealed he was the killer.
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After finding her parents dead on Easter Sunday in 2023 in Mersea Island, Essex, Ellie, her partner Marcus, Ellie’s brother Harry, and close family friend Luke were all at the scene. At the time, Ellie praised Luke for being there and being calm enough to speak to the police.
D’Wit had told police Carol took a lot of medication, which he helped her with, and sometimes she would forget how many times she had taken it. But as the investigation went on, it was found that the kind and helpful family friend had actually been playing mind games with the family, inventing fake online personas including doctors, giving dangerous medical diagnoses, and secretly filming the couple in their home before murdering them – all for his own sadistic pleasure, as reported by The Sun.
Ellie’s story is told tonight in a two-part ITV documentary, Essex Millionaire Murders, which includes footage from the front door security camera as Ellie makes the harrowing discovery, and her heartbreaking screams as she’s arrested for the crime. She revealed she’s since had to move from ‘cliquey’ Mersea as people still think she’s got something to do with it.
«We were his little pieces to play with. Even now, after Luke is serving a life sentence, there are those who say, ‘Oh, it couldn’t have been nice Luke.’ I know that a lot of people think I had something to do with it. We would go into a shop and people would look away from us. They have made up their own stories that Luke was my mum’s love child or that I had a relationship with him,» she told The Sun.
Ellie recalled how D’Wit played a lot of computer simulation games at home and she thinks her family were a «real-life version» for him. He held the remote control and «we were his little pieces to play with».
Even her family have assumed she was in a relationship with Luke and that she had «something to do» with the murder, with Ellie saying not only has she lost her mum and dad, but she’s also lost the rest of her loved ones, too.
Ellie, a mother herself, feels like the documentary is a way she can clear her name and get the truth out there, while also speaking about her much-loved parents. Describing her mum as «bubbly and loved a laugh», she confirmed that Carol had Hashimoto’s disease, a thyroid condition, which turned out to become a «big thing» when they had moved from London to Mersea.
While Carol would previously be able to wake up at 6am and swim 50 to 60 lengths in the pool, she suddenly wasn’t able to, and would also nap in the afternoon. Carol would also experience fatigue, memory less and confusion – putting bleach in the kettle and food on an iPad. Her family knew something was seriously wrong and she sought medical advice.
The only diagnosis doctors could give was anxiety – but Carol was convinced there was something physically wrong. At that point, D’Wit quickly started acting as Carol’s carer, keeping an eye on her medication – for which Ellie said they were all «very grateful». He also suggested she should get in touch with an American Hashimoto expert he had found online named Dr Andrea Bowden. Soon Carol and Dr Andrew were exchanging hundreds of emails.
Andrea further instructed Stephen to send twice-daily videos of Carol so she could observe how she deteriorated through the day. And she sent strict rules to follow, which she said would cure Carol. They included rest, exercise, and medicinal remedies «that your good friend Luke can make up».
When Dr Andrea got involved, Ellie said her mum saw it giving «some hope» – and the doctor even suggested talking to other women in the UK she was treating. Dr Andrea made a WhatsApp group, where Carol met «Linda» and «Cheryl». But as Easter approached, her health declined.
Ellie became concerned when her parents stopped answering any calls, prompting her and and Marcus to turn up at their house where they made the horrific discovery.
Detective Inspector Lydia George of Essex Police, the senior investigative officer of the case, noted that people «don’t die like that», especially at the same time, and initially thought it may have been carbon monoxide poisoning. But that was quickly ruled out.
DI George tried to get in touch with Dr Andrea but got no reply. Meanwhile, while going through paperwork, Ellie found a typed note, supposedly from her parents. It said in the event of their deaths, she should be sole shareholder and owner of Cazsplash, Carol’s company, and that the directorship must be split 50-50 between her and «our dear friend, Luke D’Wit».
DI George said: «It was strange that there was nobody else mentioned because Carol had two children from a previous relationship. The original solicitor who handled Carol and Stephen’s formal will said it was not a document from his company. And it wasn’t legally valid.»
During police investigations, they did house-to-house enquiries, and found many people who saw Ellie in an unfavourable light. Police had been called to the family home on several occasions after fiery arguments between her and older brother Harry, and sometimes the pair of them against their parents. But neighbours had no bad words to say about D’Wit, who was always caring, helping out at Scouts, fetes, and the soup kitchen.
After 12 weeks, toxicology results on the bodies of Carol and Stephen revealed both had been poisoned with the powerful opioid Fentanyl. Carol also had a double dose of the sedative drug Promethazine. The case was now a double murder, and with Ellie and Luke set to gain most from their deaths, they were both arrested.
Ellie admitted she was shocked Luke was also being questioned and thought it was a «mistake». But in a carrier bag he had with him at the time, police discovered pills and medication, including Fentanyl and Promethazine, which he first said was his grandad’s and later his dad’s. Both had recently died and he was going to hand them in to the pharmacist to dispose of.
With no evidence or reason to suspect Ellie, she was released. Meanwhile, at D’Wit’s house, where he lived with his mum, police found copious amounts of drugs scattered around, including empty capsules that were split in half, syringes, a makeshift pestle and mortar which had remnants of crushed tablets, and Fentanyl patches.
They also discovered that a mobile phone had been set up in the late couple’s kitchen to record and monitor them. As such, it was suspected he had watched them die. And that wasn’t all. Police found 18 mobile phones and ten laptops that showed the emails and texts from Dr Andrea and the women in the WhatsApp group – all of which were being sent by D’Wit.
D’Wit further used another online persona, Dr Alan Mandell, to fool Carol into signing up to a liver-cleansing programme – and that Stephen, who had a problem with his liver, agreed to do it, too.
DI George said: «Luke D’Wit visited Carol and Stephen on Easter Friday and was messaging them as this fake doctor while he was in the house with them, helping to make a ‘medicinal drink’ using a fatal dose of Fentanyl, before leaving at 8pm. A mobile phone had been set up in the kitchen to record and monitor them. He had watched them die.»
In March last year, D’Wit, 34, was sentenced to life for the murders, with a minimum of 37 years.
