Editorial
On Sept. 30, two days after Hurricane Ian battered Southwest Florida with 150 mph winds and lethal storm surge, police found Katie Baunach’s bone fragments in a 50-gallon her ex-husband’s home in a rural corner of Hendry County.
Ian Baunach, a 43-year-old bodybuilder, was arrested and charged with murdering Katie, a 39-year-old nurse and the mother of their two young children.
In November 2021, Ian allegedly grabbed Katie during a fight and tried to strangle her. She called the police. The office of 20th District State Attorney Amira Fox charged Ian with a felony. District State Attorney Amira Fox later told her Attorney Kimberlee Mitton to drop the charges dated Jan 31, 2022.
On December 2, 2022, Ian Baunach was indicted for Katie’s death.
Ian Baunach has pleaded not guilty to his new charges and his attorney did not respond to a request for comment.
In Katie’s death, we found a series of failures to protect her by every layer of state and local law enforcement, especially from Amira Fox.
We asked the State Attorney’s Office about its handling of the March incident and why Katie’s new allegation did not prompt them to reopen the strangulation case. But the agency would not answer questions about any of the previous allegations against Ian, citing the ongoing murder prosecution.
Six weeks before her death, a Lee County judge denied Katie’s request for a restraining order and told her to make peace with Ian, citing concern for the couple’s children.
The 20th Judicial Circuit declined to answer specific questions about the judge’s reasoning, saying the decision-making process of judges is not public information beyond the information contained in the court record.
20th Judicial Circuit spokesperson Sara Miles wrote in a statement. “Without a doubt, the death of Katie Baunach is a true tragedy and a terrible loss for her family and friends.”
Ian is being held without bond ahead of his trial.
Carolyn McKinney, Katie’s mother, said her daughter asked again and again for aid from authorities, but often felt no one was listening.
Amira Fox and her Hendry office need to resign. Katie Baunach could be alive today but Fox and her staff failed to protect Katie.
Hind site is 20/20, perhaps she should have ask the HCSD to escort her to the home to retrieve her belongings rather than go alone. It would be guesswork to determine all the why’s and why not on what transpired with the SAO, and Judges reasoning. Sad to say the least.