Lyntell Washington: The Murder, Barefoot Witness, and Verdict

Lyntell Washington, a 40-year-old Baton Rouge middle school teacher, was murdered on June 8, 2016, by Robert Marks, a married assistant principal at her school who had been carrying on a secret affair with her and had fathered the child she was seven months pregnant with. Marks shot Washington in the head, dumped her body in an irrigation ditch beside a sugar cane field in Iberville Parish, and left her three-year-old daughter alone overnight in a parking lot. The child, found barefoot the next morning with blood on her feet, told rescuers that “Mr. Robbie” had hurt her mother, and that identification set investigators on the path that ended in Marks’ conviction on ten counts and a life sentence without parole.¹

Who Lyntell Washington Was

Washington was a former Teacher of the Year who had joined Brookstown Middle Magnet Academy in East Baton Rouge Parish, where colleagues and students considered her popular and well-liked. She was a single mother raising a young daughter.² At Brookstown she worked with assistant principal Robert Marks and began a relationship with him after he told her he was separated from his wife.³

He was not separated. He had taken a cruise with his wife while still involved with Washington, and he was carrying on a third relationship with a woman named Tramica Jackson. When Washington learned she was pregnant, she pressed Marks by text to support her and their child, and she told a friend, assistant principal Jamicia Pink-Fisher, that she planned to tell Marks’ wife.²

Shortly after a sonogram confirmed she was carrying a girl, Marks began searching the internet from his phone and iPad for large-caliber handguns and a rifle, for “pregnant shot,” for what would happen if bleach were injected into a bloodstream, and for whether a father could avoid child support if his name was not on a birth certificate.¹

The Night of June 8, 2016

Cell phone records placed Washington’s and Marks’ phones traveling together that evening from Baton Rouge into Iberville Parish, pinging the same towers along the way. The two phones sat in the Ramah area for roughly fifteen minutes around 9:45 p.m., and then Marks’ phone traveled back toward Baton Rouge alone.⁴

Later that night, bank surveillance from a Hancock Whitney branch at Newcastle Avenue and Sherwood Forest Boulevard recorded Tramica Jackson picking Marks up at 11:37 p.m., close to where Washington’s daughter would be found the next morning. Jackson said Marks was wearing a dark leather jacket, jeans, boots, gloves, and a helmet, and that she dropped him at his motorcycle near a Walmart in Baker. She came forward on her own after seeing news of Washington’s disappearance and was not charged.¹⁵

The Barefoot Witness

On the morning of June 9, a woman named Leslie Parms found Washington’s three-year-old daughter alone in a Baton Rouge parking lot on Newcastle Avenue. The child was barefoot, her feet flecked with dried blood, and no adult was in sight. “This child needed help and I just couldn’t pass by,” Parms later told ABC News.⁶ The girl led Parms to her mother’s blue Toyota Corolla, which was parked in the same lot with a significant amount of blood on the back seat. Parms called 911.¹

Asked about the blood, the little girl said, “Mr. Robbie put the blood there,” and she repeated the name to the officers who arrived. Pink-Fisher, who knew about the affair, confirmed to investigators that “Mr. Robbie” was Robert Marks.⁷ In a later recorded forensic interview at a Children’s Advocacy Center, the child added more: “Mr. Robbie put the blood in my car. I heard a bang. My mama started shaking. My mama’s asleep by a lake.”²

Washington’s body was found five days later, on June 14, by workers spraying pesticide on a sugar cane field south of Rosedale Road in Iberville Parish. She was in an irrigation ditch between the field and a row of trees.⁴ East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner Dr. William “Beau” Clark determined she had died from a gunshot wound to the head; the shot also killed her unborn daughter. The condition of the body required dental records and DNA to identify her.⁸ Iberville Parish District Attorney Tony Clayton noted that the location matched what the three-year-old had already told investigators: a bang, her mother shaking, her mother “by a lake.”⁷

How Investigators Built the Case

Marks was arrested soon after the child was found. He admitted the affair but claimed he had last seen Washington at a Walmart in Baker, and he refused to cooperate further.⁸

Every part of that story fell apart under the evidence. Cell tower data put his phone with Washington’s on the drive into Iberville Parish. Bank surveillance and Jackson’s account placed him back in Baton Rouge that night, near where the child was found, wearing gear that covered him from head to hands. Search warrants on his phone and iPad produced his pre-murder internet searches for guns, for injecting bleach into a bloodstream, and for evading paternity obligations. DNA testing confirmed he was the father of Washington’s unborn child.⁹¹

Trial and Verdict

A grand jury indicted Marks on December 8, 2020, more than four years after the killing. His trial opened December 13, 2021, in the 18th Judicial District Court in Iberville Parish, with DA Tony Clayton leading the prosecution.¹ Jurors saw the child’s forensic interview video, the cell tower analysis, the surveillance footage, and the internet search history, and they heard from Jackson, Pink-Fisher, and expert witnesses. A blood spatter analyst testified that the gun had not been fired inside Washington’s car. Dr. Clark testified that Washington’s unborn daughter had reached a gestational age at which she could have survived outside the womb with prompt medical attention.¹⁰

Washington’s identical twin sister, Cyntell Washington, testified about taking temporary custody of her niece and arranging counseling for her. The child herself briefly took the stand to identify her mother in a photograph and confirm her own image on the forensic interview video.³ Defense attorney Lionel Burns called the evidence entirely circumstantial and suggested someone else could have been responsible. The defense called no witnesses and gave no closing argument.¹⁰

On December 17, 2021, after roughly 35 minutes of deliberation, the jury convicted Marks on all ten counts: second-degree murder, first-degree feticide, second-degree kidnapping, aggravated kidnapping of a child, obstruction of justice by tampering with evidence, carjacking, and four counts of illegally carrying a weapon during a crime of violence.¹

Sentence and Appeal

On February 10, 2022, Marks was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the second-degree murder conviction, plus a second life sentence for aggravated kidnapping of a child. Concurrent sentences on the remaining counts included 40 years for second-degree kidnapping, 15 years for first-degree feticide, 40 years for obstruction of justice, 20 years for carjacking, and 10 years on each weapons count.¹¹¹

Marks appealed on eleven grounds, including the denial of a continuance, alleged prosecutorial misconduct, and the admission of the child’s forensic interview. On May 17, 2023, the Louisiana Court of Appeal, First Circuit, affirmed every conviction and every sentence except one, vacating and remanding the sentence on the aggravated kidnapping of a child count due to a sentencing error. Because the murder conviction alone carries mandatory life without parole, the practical outcome for Marks did not change.¹

What Happened to Washington’s Daughter

The case was later chronicled in a 2022 episode of ABC’s 20/20 titled “The Barefoot Witness,” which included interviews with family, investigators, and DA Clayton. According to reporting tied to the episode, Washington’s daughter is being raised by her father, Darren Glasper. Marks’ wife filed for divorce after the verdict.¹²

1
Justia. State of Louisiana v. Marks, 2022 KA 0575
2
ABC News. Murder of Beloved Teacher Uncovers Lies, Illicit Affair, Secret
3
WAFB. Opening Statements Begin in Trial of Former School Administrator Accused of Killing Teacher
4
The Advocate. Body Found in Sugar Cane Field Is Missing School Administrator
5
ABC News. Murder of Beloved Teacher Uncovers Lies, Illicit Affair, Secret
6
ABC News. The Barefoot Witness
7
Good Morning America. 3-Year-Old Helped Detectives Crack Her Mother’s Murder Case
8
WAFB. Body Found in Iberville Parish Identified as Missing Pregnant Teacher
9
WAFB. Man Accused of Pregnant Teacher’s Death Back in Court
10
WAFB. Lead Detective Takes the Stand Day 3 of Robert Marks Murder Trial
11
WBRZ. Former Assistant Principal Gets Lifetime Prison Sentence for Killing Teacher Pregnant With His Child
12
ABC7. ABC 20/20 Episode The Barefoot Witness