A PREDATOR art-teacher lured a student into her car for multiple sordid back-seat trysts after using hand-writtern love letters to groom him for years.
Nicole Hernandez – also known as Nikki Baird – is set to face a trial by jury after a judge determined there to be enough evidence in the case on Tuesday.
She was arrested in May on four felony counts for unlawful relations with a 17-year-old.
The 30-year-old former teacher from Kansas allegedly began abusing the teenager when he was a sophomore in high school, according to KSNW News.
Police documents say Baird groomed, manipulated and “isolated” the student from friends and family over a number of months before turning the relationship sexual in early 2024.
Suspicions began to surface during the prior academic year (2023 – 2024) when another teacher at the Wichita High School alerted Principal Kristina Murray that Baird had been spending “excessive time” with the student.
KILLER MOTHER
Evil mum throws baby to his death from 11th floor moments after giving birth
VILLAIN’S WELCOME
Watch as Putin is hailed like a GOD in India before state visit
In court documents obtained by The Wichita Eagle, another administrator took control of the report, however no investigation was carried out.
The complaints lay unnoticed for more than 12 months.
A probe into Baird began on May 19, after an officer from the Exploited and Missing Child Unit was tipped off by a social media post.
When made aware of the police investigation, Principal Murray admitted to cops that Baird had “gotten too close” to the student.
Court documents show the sick teacher admitted to “crossing boundaries”.
She allegedly told Murray nothing more than an emotional relationship had taken place, claiming the continued contact began after the student had graduated.
Baird later walked back this claim, allegedly clarifying the relationship began when he was still a senior.
Court records have since alleged the sickening abuse occurred before the teen’s final school day.
The student – who is now an adult – told police Baird had been his middle school art teacher before again teaching him at high school.
Baird allegedly groomed the student during his sophomore, junior and senior years, starting with interactions in the classroom, according to the police report.
“He described how she befriended him, then isolated him from others,” the documents read.
Alleged private meetings in the classroom began in before and after school hours and eventually evolved into physical contact by the student’s junior year.
Baird allegedly began touching or rubbing the teen’s back and shoulders, and in some instances asked or insisted on hugging.
The victim told police he began spending significant time with Baird both during the day and after the final bell, where the pair were often alone in her classroom or office.
Contact between the two allegedly moved off campus when Baird gave the teenager her number, leading to text conversations.
Initially beginning around school related topics, the messages turned personal, with the teacher allegedly confiding in the student about her marital issues, according to court documents.
The texts progressed into written notes, where many allegedly reveal the art teacher’s romantic interest in the student.
In one letter, she allegedly wrote: “I hope and pray one day I get the chance to be with you”, and in another “I know that I love you”.
Baird allegedly took the relationship off school grounds in the student’s senior year, for face-to-face meetings.
Mid-year she allegedly asked him to go with her to run errands.
After the student’s mother gave her permission for him to join her, Baird allegedly held him hand for the first time, according to police documents.
The physical contact escalated at school, when Baird allegedly kissed the teen on the neck during hugs and attempted to plan meetings off school grounds.
She would allegedly repeatedly ask him if “he wanted to kiss her”.
The affidavit read that the student was “nervous and eventually said yes”.
The teen told cops that Baird insisted their interactions be kept secret and told him to “act normal”.
As his graduation grew closer, the teen alleged Baird had both touched him inappropriately and told him to touch her following an art show.
In his final week of school, she allegedly invited him into her office three times, where she again ordered him to touch her, while “saying things to encourage him to continue touching her”.
The contact reached its peak on the teen’s graduation night, when Baird allegedly told the victim to meet her in an unsuspecting neighbourhood.
According to the affidavit, she allegedly asked him if he wanted to have sex with her in her car, where he said he was “nervous and felt pressured”.
Baird is accused of making manipulative remarks saying “It’s ok” and saying they “won’t get in trouble because he graudated”.
Following the encounter, she allegedly offered him alcohol, pulling it from under her car seat.
The victim refused to drink.
Following the student finishing the school year, Baird allegedly met the teenager multiple times a week to have sex in the back seat of her Jeep.
When he’d officially graduated, Baird allegedly began sending the teen nude photos of herself.
He also told the investigators they had continued to have sexual encounters during that time.
The victim saved some of the images, saying he knew “he could use them as evidence of what she did”, according to The Wichita Eagle.
He cut communication with his former art teacher when he “understood the relationship he had with her was inappropriate and that he had been manipulated”.
Despite the break up, Baird allegedly repeatedly went to his workplace and left candy on his car when it was parked in the driveway of his home.
Court documents show the now former student confided in his familyshowing them Baird’s nude photos and handwritten notes.
All the alleged evidence has since been handed over to investigators.
The former teacher was arrested on May 22 and fronted court for the first time within days.
She was later released on bail, posting a $50,000 bond.
Baird will return to court on December 19.