Pregnant "Teacher of the Year" murdered; asst. principal charged
BATON ROUGE, La. - The body of a pregnant former Teacher of the Year was discovered in a ditch Tuesday and an administrator at the school where the victim worked has been arrested for her murder, reports CBS affiliate WAFB.
Police identified Lyntell Washington's badly decomposed body on Wednesday, several days after she was reported missing and her 3-year-old daughter was found in Baton Rouge alone near her vehicle, which had blood inside it.
Robert Marks, 39, faces charges of first-degree murder and first-degree feticide now that 40-year-old's body has been found. A first-degree murder conviction in Louisiana carries the possibility of the death penalty.
Marks, the assistant principal of the Baton Rouge middle school where Washington worked, is married. A co-worker told police Washington was pregnant with Marks' child and had threatened to tell his wife about their affair.
Police said cell phone records show Marks' phone as well as a phone belonging to Washington were in the Ramah area, about 25 miles from Baton Rouge, around 9:45 p.m. Wednesday, June 8. Both phones were in that area for about 15 minutes before returning to Baton Rouge, according to police documents.
WAFB reports that Marks was initially arrested on aggravated kidnapping and child desertion charges because Washington's child was left abandoned in a parking lot.
According to the probable cause report, the child told investigators that "'Mr. Robbie' hurt her mother and was now sleeping." It also revealed the child was with her mother and Marks "when she heard a 'bang' and after the bang her mom was 'shaking.' She also stated that her mom's in the lake and that it was dark outside when her mom got hurt."
Officials with the East Baton Rouge Parish School System confirmed Washington was the 2014-2015 Teacher of the Year. They also confirmed that Marks is the assistant principal at the same school and has been placed on administrative leave.