Taranaki teen Kaitlyn Baker dies in sleep, leaving shocked family devastated

Kaitlyn Baker passed away in her sleep on August 5, 2023, aged 17, leaving her Taranaki family devastated. Photo / Supplied

Todd and Nicky Baker’s life plunged from joy to despair in just a few hours.

On the way home from their grandson’s festive second birthday last month, the Taranaki couple from Patea received the police call no parent ever wants to receive.

Their youngest daughter - 17-year-old Kaitlyn - had been found dead in Christchurch.

She simply did not wake up on the morning of August 5.

Believed to have no underlying health issues beforehand, Kaitlyn’s cause of death is a mystery and the family may have to wait until the end of a coroner’s investigation before they get an answer.

Dad Todd Baker said the sudden passing of a life full of promise was “devastating” and crushing.

Talking and messaging every day, his relationship with Kaitlyn was “really close”.

It’s a reminder “how precious our loved ones are,” he said.

Kaitlyn Baker passed away in her sleep on August 5, 2023, aged 17, leaving her Taranaki family devastated. Photo / Supplied

The family had thought they were relatively alone in coming to terms with the devastating loss of a vibrant 17-year-old in their sleep.

So Baker was struck to yesterday read a Herald story about a New Zealand-born 17-year-old, Melody Southon, who passed in her bed in Melbourne, Australia, last week.

Kaitlyn’s step-sister Hannah Turner said the article came as a “shock”.

“It could be happening more, but maybe no one is speaking out about it,” she said, explaining why her family wanted to honour Kaitlyn’s memory by talking about her.

Baker said that - as with Southon - doctors here could find no immediate cause why Kaitlyn passed.

“She had been feeling a little unwell, and complaining a little bit about an earache,” he said, but otherwise there were no known health issues.

Kaitlyn and her 'blended' family at the wedding of dad Todd to step mum Nicky. Photo / Supplied

A coroner is now looking into the cause of Kaitlyn’s death.

Baker said it takes an average of 400 days for a coroner to conclude an investigation in New Zealand, but he hoped medical teams would share their results with the family as they become available.

A bright spark and “amazing personality”, Baker had in March moved from Taranaki - where dad Todd and step mum Nicky live - to start her own adventure in Christchurch.

She then enrolled in a horticulture course in June and had been taking to it like a duck to water, the family said.

“She was so good with animals, so good with children - she had so much to live for,” Turner said.

Kaitlyn’s passion was animals and she dreamed of living somewhere she could keep chickens, cows, and horses among a menagerie of creatures great and small, she said.

In Christchurch, Kaitlyn had been visiting a stable where she could spend time with horses.

She was also an incredible aunt, Turner said.

“She’s really good with my oldest boy, Archie.”

“She was the best auntie to him and absolutely adored him - and he adored her like crazy.”

“That’s hard knowing she won’t watch him grow up.”

It had been Archie’s second birthday that the family was celebrating on the day Kaitlyn died.

Baker and his wife had not long left the celebrations at Turner’s house when they phoned her back.

“Mum called me ... she was so upset, like you couldn’t even understand her,” Turner said.

“It was so sudden, I just didn’t believe it.”

“You never think your youngest sibling is gonna pass before you.”