In the suburbs of DC, a woman fails to show up for work and is found brutally murdered.
911, which emergency?
We just walked in the door and there's blood in the foyer.
For the next 2 decades, the case remained unsolved until new technology allowed investigators to do what had once been impossible. A new series from ABC Audio in 2020, Blood and Water. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.
Security video captures a little girl running around by herself, clutching a pillow.
Hair is just sticking up on my arms. It's giving me chills.
So we have this little girl in a parking lot, a little 3-year-old, and she has blood all over her feet.
That's your mommy's car? Where's mommy? There's blood on the front seat of the car. Are you hurting, sweetheart?
The car belongs to a woman named Lintell Washington.
Everybody was concerned, certainly, for this teacher, this Teacher of the Year that just vanished.
It's just a huge area to cover.
Pretty remote, too.
Very remote.
Lintell did not have any luck with men. Hers was just jaw-dropping.
The thing is, it's a secret relationship.
She asked, "Well, should I meet him face to face?" And I told her yes. I said yes, and I should have said no.
Lintell's daughter is in the backseat of the car while all of this is going on.
Solving this crime comes down to a 3-year-old child, the only witness. Is she in danger too?
I think the best way to describe Baton Rouge is that it's a smaller version of New Orleans.
It's the capital of Louisiana. It gets that city vibe, but mostly it's just a very small town.
It has the flavor, the culture, the people and the history of a New Orleans, but it's on a much smaller scale. Baton Rouge is right on the Mississippi River and it is a working port, one of the busiest in the country.
If you think of Baton Rouge, you think of Garth Brooks, "Callin' Baton Rouge." It's the motto of that city.
Garth Brooks even posted about it on Facebook.
Garth Brooks played at Tiger Stadium to about 102,000 people.
Putting on a booming of a show.
Crowd got so loud, literally set off a seismograph.
Called it a Garthquake.
I love this Baton Rouge!
But behind that good time vibe is a troubling problem for Baton Rouge. The man's body dumped. Killing was brutal. A murder rate rivaling that of much larger cities.
Oh yeah, they have definitely have a murder problem in Baton Rouge.
Security video captures a little girl running around by herself, clutching a pillow.
And she's just walking around, a little 3-year-old.
And no one knows who she is and why is she alone. I mean, this is a little child.
Someplace you wouldn't expect a little child walking around by themselves.
My name is Leslie Palms. In 2016, I was driving for a company called Family Care, which is medical transportation.
This Good Samaritan sees her.
I noticed a young lady, little girl, probably about 3 years old. She was standing in the parking lot about right here.
He comes up to this child and he starts to converse with her.
And he had asked that girl where her parents were.
And she just kind of had this puzzled look on her face, and she was kind of teary-eyed and distraught. And I actually said, where's your mom? And she just kind of looked around, and I didn't see any adults out here with her, so I immediately called 911.
This is Leslie Holmes. I'm over on Newcastle Boulevard here, right off of Sherwood. I have a child. How old are you, sweetheart? 3. She's 3 years old. She's in the parking lot fending it by herself with a pillow. No one's around. Can't find anyone. I need an officer.
My passion is helping, and this child needed help, and I couldn't just pass by and feel comfortable not helping.
There was a lot of chatter in the newsroom. This police scanner picked up this call.
Yeah, I don't feel comfortable.
My name is Brett Buffington. I was a crime and breaking news reporter in Baton Rouge. There was a toddler walking around in the parking lot in South Baton Rouge. It sounded frantic. Then you hear, "And she's got blood on her." You hurt your foot?
That's why you're bleeding? You have blood on your foot because you hurt it?
So I asked her, was she hurt? She said no.
She said she was bleeding. Do I need to send medical attention that way? An ambulance? I don't think so.
I started to ask her questions and we're relaying it to the 911 operator, but she actually could hear the little girl in the background speaking to me because she's very articulate, very well-spoken little girl.
She got here by herself. I'm talking about 3 years old, no one around, holding a pillow.
She was barefoot. It's kind of a concern as well because you're out there and no shoes on in the parking lot.
She's a Black female. She has on peach shorts and a peach shirt with "Cute" on it. Okay. We're gonna send someone over there immediately.
I was like, "You slept in the car all night?" She said yes.
She's cute. She has a little shirt that says "Cute" on it, but she's dirty, and she hasn't been taken care of, and she's by herself.
And I started asking her, well, where's Mommy? Where's Mommy's car? And she pointed to her mom's car, which her mom's car was on the other end of the parking lot, closer to the fire hydrant.
Oh my gosh. There's blood on the front seat of the car. OK. Stay on the phone with me, OK? What kind of vehicle is it? It's a Toyota Corolla. There's a lot of blood? It's a sizable amount of blood. Looks like somebody— something happened.
That's the point when I walked to the car and saw the blood. Something was really, really, really wrong for that much blood to be in the car.
God, I hope this is not bad. You want me to stay on the phone with you? Okay, I'll stay on the phone because this baby here, she's terrified.
I remember that 911 call vividly.
Come on, come on, guys. Where y'all at? I'm checking for you. Hang on, okay?
I told her something bad has happened at this location, so they need to get some officers to speed up and get over here.
The woman's keys and her purse are in the car. Okay. There's blood on both sides of the seat, a lot of blood, like somebody got hit with something. Yeah. I don't know if she's in trouble somewhere.
My name is Brittany Weiss. I am the 2 On Your Side reporter at WBUR-Z. I remember that day we got a phone call. It was from someone who said that they found a little girl wandering alone by herself in a parking lot. We went out there. There, and we interviewed Leslie Parms that day, and he told us what he had found.
Just looking at the blood pool, I knew someone— something happened really bad to someone.
It wasn't going to be good at all.
It was hot. It was steamy, the type of heat that you would not want, you know, to leave a child in a car or abandoned.
Did Mommy bleed? Mommy was bleeding? Yeah. Did you see where the blood was coming from? Where was it coming from? From my mommy's car.
Dashcam video, what's important in this particular thing is the audio.
You know where your mommy went? Yeah.
Where?
Can you point the direction she went? Yeah, my mommy is— Don't you touch her birthday balloon.
And you're hearing the same story from the 3-year-old given to Mr. Parms and then given to the police officers who respond.
The car's got a lot of blood in it. That little girl got blood on her feet.
Police check the registration on the car, and they find out that the car belongs to a woman named Lintell Washington. And she is the mother of the little girl that they have found.
Until Washington, teacher at a middle school, and no one heard from her. She didn't call in. She just didn't show up to teach your class.
And I knew instantly something is wrong.
She would never allow her daughter to be alone. Never.
We're not using the name or showing the face of Lintel's daughter to protect her privacy.
Yeah, you got a little blood on your foot. That's, that's gonna get— they're gonna get it.
They're gonna take care of that, okay?
You're going to take a bath. We're going to get you cleaned up, okay? Okay, just be patient, all right?
I drove into that parking lot. They stopped me and they said, "Ma'am, you can't go over that way. It is a crime scene." I said, "Where is Lantell?" The hair is just sticking up on my arms.
It's giving me chills hearing this.
Immediately, it was clear that something sinister had occurred.
You're obviously thinking the worst-case scenarios. What happened to this woman?
And then to just find out what actually happened was extraordinary, shocking to the senses. The investigation started Thursday when Washington's 3-year-old daughter was found wandering around a parking lot. When we showed up at that scene, we quickly realized, okay, this mother of this child is missing.
Police have figured out a few things. They figured out who the little girl is, who the car belongs to, but Lintell Washington herself is still missing.
Foul play is not ruled out.
So where is she?
Lintell Washington and her daughter lived in a one-bedroom apartment very close to where Lintell's car was found.
Detectives want to know why Lintell's daughter and car wound up in that parking lot when her home is just down the street.
Security cameras in the area are able to fill in the holes of what happened.
Detectives rewind that parking lot security video back to 11:30 the night before. And bingo, there's a car consistent with Lintell's Toyota Corolla heading toward her apartment. Now watch, it stops, turns around, and pulls into the lot, parking off camera. Is that Lintell, or is it somebody else behind the wheel? It's just too dark to see.
So here's Lintell Washington. She's missing. We've got her little girl walking around, and there's blood everywhere. So the police want to find out what's going on in her life.
This friend tells me Lintell Washington is passionate, knowledgeable, and trusting.
Lintell Washington, she was a teacher at a middle school. You talk to her friends, she was well respected in the community.
Lantel Washington's nickname is Puffy. That was a name she had since her childhood.
She was loyal, dedicated, and hardworking.
Very funny, very passionate, very kind person. We didn't call ourselves friends. We called ourselves sisters.
Her name was very, very important to her. She didn't want anything attached to her name that was negative. Life that was bad, and she wanted to be a great mother.
Lintell Washington has a twin sister named Sintell.
She had a twin sister? Yes, identical twin.
I can tell them apart, but yeah, they're identical.
Lintell's friends share that she has been married and divorced and eventually meets Darren Glasper.
But she meets Darren at a barbecue, and then he sees Sentell. And so he says, "Oh, there are two of them." But he wanted Lintell.
What was it about Lintell that grabbed your attention?
Her presence just, like, lit up the whole neighborhood.
Were they a solid couple?
They were solid, yes. Yes, in the beginning, yes.
Did she talk about family and wanting to have children?
When we first began dating, she told me she had surgery and that they told her she was unable to conceive.
And so she didn't think that she could have kids.
And lo and behold, maybe a year after that, She found out she was pregnant. She didn't believe it. I didn't believe it.
Girl, I will be married. During this time, I was planning my wedding. And so when she found out she was pregnant, even though I knew I would be down one bridesmaid, I couldn't even be upset because we were so busy celebrating that you're about to be a mother.
Was she happy? Was he happy?
Was she happy? Remember, she thought she couldn't have kids. And so she is ecstatic.
So it's kind of a miracle pregnancy.
It's a miracle pregnancy, yes.
Was there talk of marriage and really making this permanent?
Yeah, it really was, but I also had some issues and some demons I was dealing with.
When you say demons—
Yeah, I was still influenced by alcohol and drugs. It was wise that we decided to go separate ways until I got myself together. We actually broke up when she became 8 months pregnant.
Clintell Washington's been recognized as Teacher of the Year in East Baton Rouge. This school year, she worked as the instructional specialist at Brookstown Middle.
Ms. Washington. I called her Ms. Washington. She was my 8th grade social studies teacher.
Lintell Washington. She moved to Baton Rouge to start a new life. She had come from New Orleans and everything is actually looking great.
She was a really good teacher. She always had a bright smile every time we walked into the classroom.
What made her a good teacher?
Her heart. You know, Lintell had a loving, caring heart, and no matter what those children did, no matter where they came from, she gave them everything she had.
She used to listen to this one song that I couldn't stand this song. Oh, my goodness. It's the one where the lady says, "I need a refill."
Did you get the impression that she was looking for love, Jamisha?
Sure, but that she didn't really, you know, connect with anybody.
Lintell did not have any luck with men. I mean, probably none of us, but hers was just jaw-dropping, like crazy stuff.
But then Lintell meets somebody new.
A relationship develops. The thing is, it's secret relationship.
Somebody at school.
She tells me that she's seeing him and she's not supposed to say anything.
Our team coverage continues.
A 3-year-old girl was found by a man, teary-eyed, carrying a pillow. The girl led Parms to a car.
So we have this little girl in a parking lot, a little 3-year-old, and she has blood all over her feet.
That's your mommy's car? Where's mommy? You just stick with me, we're gonna be fine. Can I get the police over here? Is that okay? Yeah.
We're live tonight in downtown.
Brad Buffington, WBRZ News 2.
I remember going home and I called my mom and I just said, hey, I just want to tell you I love you. It's a tough story today. A little 3-year-old girl, and it's not going to be good.
When we unfortunately, you know, had to bring her back to the house and bathe her, when we washed her, the color of the water changed a bit because of the fact that she had blood on her. And she kept making comments about her mom and what had happened to her mother.
Lentell has this identical twin named Sintell. She rushes to Baton Rouge to come get her niece.
When she walked through that door, I thought I was looking at a ghost.
Did she look that much like her sister?
So much like her sister that her daughter ran to her.
Instantaneously, this girl's like, "My mommy's back. My mommy's back." Mommy.
She said, "Are you okay, Mommy?" And she was looking. You could tell she was checking to see if her mother— like, physically checking to see if her mother was okay.
She thinks Sintell is her mom. And wow.
She, um— she had a good mama. She had a great mother.
That little girl's mother is nowhere to be found. Lentell is gone to no one knows where. So now the attention begins to turn to the people in her life.
I had a dream the night before, and I called and I left a voicemail on the phone, and I said, uh, Puffy, I just had the craziest dream that you was pregnant with a little girl. From there, I don't believe she ever even received that message. And I'm like, Lord, I left this message on phone. I hope these people don't think I have nothing to do with this.
You don't know where she is. Hopefully she's alive. So you want to find out who's in her world, what's happening in her world that's different.
His name was Dr. Robert Marks. He was the assistant principal at Brookstown.
I'm assistant principal. Robert Marks is the other assistant principal.
Lentell Washington and Robert Marks start work at this middle school at about the same time.
Every time I see him in the hallway, he will always be like smiling and waving and saying hi.
He was a very nice, kind man.
This is a guy from the north side of Baton Rouge who was successful. He had a PhD in education.
Just a good guy. Highly educated, making good money.
When Lantell started working, after she got the job, she didn't like Robert Marks. She was not attracted to him. Mm-mm.
No.
She was like, "Oh, no.
Girl, he this tall." At what point did you know that she was interested in Robert Marks?
She started speaking a little softer about this guy who— reminded me of George Jefferson. She shows me a picture of him, and so I say, okay, he's nice looking. And she just started beaming, like she started smiling.
Nobody at the school knows about the affair between the teacher and the assistant principal. Did you have any inkling that they had a relationship?
Not at all. Now, she did kind of say, I think he's so cute. Do you think he's cute? You know, uh, and I'm like, who? And she said, you know, him, you know, Dr. Marks. I said, girl, no, not at all.
The thing is, it's a secret relationship because Robert Marks is married, had a wife, beautiful wife, beautiful kids.
We knew that he was married but never saw the wife, and he didn't wear his wedding dinner.
He wanted to take her out, and she asked him, she said, aren't you married?
He has told Lintell Washington that he's very unhappy, that he is divorcing his wife, and that he's in love with her and wants to have a life with her.
He assured her that it's a divorce, they're separated. Um, he did say that there was this two-story house and the wife was upstairs and he was downstairs.
They do live together, but they live on separate floors.
He would go to her house, they would cook, um, her daughter was there, so she knew that it was one of these complicated situations, but she can only go by what he was showing her. She calls, he answers, he's available, so he's not moving like a married man.
Was she in love?
Yes, she was. I think she had her disappointments. And so now finally she gets someone who's Dr. Robert Marks, and he wants her. He's pursuing her.
With her mom missing, that little girl, as you can hear on this police dashcam video, she soon begins to innocently reveal family secrets.
She was like, "I got something to tell y'all." And I was like, "What is it?" She was like, "I'm pregnant." Who learns that she's pregnant first?
Did she reveal it to you?
Oh, yes, she did.
I'm 2 months pregnant. My baby looks so beautiful in my womb.
And I'm like, "Oh, my goodness. What is he saying?" And she tells me he's happy.
In Lintell's apartment, detectives will later find sonograms tracking her pregnancy. Including one with an announcement on it.
"I'm a girl." She says, "Darlin', that's the name." She said, "Oh, I love it." Then she tells it to Robert Marks. She texts me back and she says, "Girl, he loves the name." So he was excited about the name, and he was excited about the pregnancy. So she was getting her family.
The week before she goes missing, Lentell finally reveals the relationship to her boss and friend, Jamesha.
She said, "This baby is for Robert Marks." She's pregnant with Robert Marks' baby. Right. I said, "Girl, stop playing," you know?
And she said, "No, I'm serious." Jamesha Payne knew what was going on. Lentell Washington had apparently told her everything. She knew all the secrets.
The pieces of the puzzle start to become very clear.
She was saying, I'mma let his wife know what's going on.
Sunday nights on ABC.
What happens when the person you love the most turns out not to be who you think they are?
Everything he told me was a lie.
I was betrayed.
From the number one true crime podcast, Betrayal.
He's been living a secret double life.
My marriage ended with a 911 call.
The tape is blood-curdling betrayal, secrets and lies.
So many people are living with their own betrayal.
Sunday nights at 10/9c on ABC and stream on Disney+ and Hulu.
No!
Oh no!
Welcome to Get Real.
I got something to say.
A weekly talk show for the reality TV obsessed. Oh my God, it's got to be deliciously desperate.
Why do these girls forgive him?
Well, she has a soft spot for troubled men.
Boo, bloody boo!
This is your show. Find Get Real wherever you get your podcasts.
Love runs deeper than we know.
And stream new episodes Thursdays on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+.
The community Everybody was baffled. Everybody was concerned, certainly, you know, for this teacher, this Teacher of the Year that just vanished out of nowhere.
For 20-plus years, Melissa Mason has been spending time with her best friend. They're like sisters. She says Washington has been in a relationship with Robert Marks since early last year.
He sounded like he was going to be someone that was a part of her life and the baby's life.
Robert tells Lintell that he's going on a trip for a few days. He's going to Panama City to go to a family reunion.
A family reunion like his mama, his daddy, you know, his sister.
In fact, he's on a cruise with his wife. She saw a picture of Robert and his wife on a cruise. She saw it on social media.
She says, "Does this look like a couple that's going through a divorce?" And I said, "No." She spent the whole weekend trying to get in contact with him, and he was away on his trip. And so she was getting more and more upset, angry, mad, upset, She was saying, I'm going to his house. I'mma go over there, and I'mma let his wife know what's going on.
Lintel gets to Robert's house, and there's a huge revelation. Remember how she believed that they lived on separate floors because they were getting a divorce?
She says, girl, I went to the house. It's a trailer.
She said, "Girl, that boy told me he stayed in this two-story house.
He lives in a damn trailer, girl." And she says, "He thinks he's gonna ruin my life and go on with his life? He's not gonna ruin my life. He's gonna pay child support, and I'mma tell his wife." She said, "Oh, I'mma tell the wife." She was upset.
By the time Robert returns from his cruise on June 6th, he has got one angry Lintell Washington waiting for him, and he knows he's got a problem.
She said, are you lying to me? Just tell me the truth. And so she texted that.
Lintell sends a blunt text message to Marks. Questioning whether he is committed to her and to their unborn baby girl.
Just keep it 100 with me. Do you really want me, or are you quitting to run away from your responsibilities with me and our unborn daughter? It was like, you know, are you trying to skip town to avoid taking care of the baby? Are you trying to leave EBR? And so forth and so on.
At some point, he suggests that they get together or somebody wants to meet face to face.
She says, do you think I should meet him face to face? And I said, yes. Say, this way you'll know if he's lying. I said, look him in his face and see if he's lying.
It was pretty clear-cut that the last person who was with her was Robert Marks. And the last person who had seen her was Robert Marks.
We have to find him, find out where she was the night before, and talk to him and figure out where this young lady is right now.
All right, Mr. Marks, I'm Detective Munoz. This is my sergeant.
Baton Rouge police take Robert Marks in for questioning.
Robert, we're looking for Lintell. We believe you know where she's at. I don't know where she is. I tried to call her this morning and I sent her a text. She never replied.
He tells police that he saw Lintel Washington last night, the night before, for about a half hour.
She alone?
They were in her car?
Yes. What car were you in? I was riding a motorcycle.
I see he holds his hands a lot towards his face, a clear sign he's lying.
And he explains that they just talked.
He immediately admits to the affair.
Does your wife know about her?
Uh-uh.
And his wife did not know about the affair.
I think she does now.
Did she ever threaten to talk to your wife?
Never? Never.
So that would be news to you that she had planned on talking to your wife?
It would be.
Robert Marks, originally, when he's questioned by detectives, he says, yes, I was with Lintell. And then afterwards, she went her separate ways and I went and hung out at a restaurant.
Where did you go after you saw her? Just went around a little bit. Played with my twin peeps.
And when Robert Marks was talking to investigators, we find out that he's got an alibi.
He tells police that the night before, he was watching the basketball game.
With 1 minute left to go in the game, the score remains—
He tells them that he's at a local bar called Twin Peaks.
Twin Peaks is the equivalent to Hooters. She's not just Miss—
She's not just missing.
Just what I said, she's not just missing. We have evidence that she's hurt bad, and we got enough blood in the car to assume that she's dead.
So the last person, the last adult to see her alive was Marks. That is a big, big deal in investigation.
But first, an even bigger deal— finding Lintell Washington. At this point, she's not just a missing piece, she's the entire puzzle.
Active scene is unfolding as detectives search for Lintell Washington. So literally everybody was glued to the TV, everybody was glued to news coverage trying to figure out, okay, where is this woman?
One of our reporters Reporters got a tip. There was a large police presence on the other side of the river.
There's a massive 50-plus law enforcement officers in the air, on ATVs, with K-9s. There's this huge search effort.
We've learned that they have searched a 6-mile radius from that command post.
Iffleville Parish is 575 square miles. You want to get rid of a body, this is a good place to go.
Washington didn't show up to work, something she's never done before.
You have a woman who is 5 months pregnant, she's missing.
Washington's 3-year-old daughter was found wandering around a parking lot.
Her little girl is alone and abandoned. We're told blood was around the woman's The immediate concern is something horrible has happened to Lintell Washington, and where is she?
It was something that I was just in shock about because this was really happening, and it was really my friend that was missing.
Police say Washington lives in this area off Sherwood Forest. Tonight, they're searching for her.
They were quick with putting clues together. Within a day, they knew where they needed to be searching.
Police are being guided in their search by by cell phone records where Lintell appeared to have been that night. One of the areas is across the Mississippi from Baton Rouge.
One of our reporters got a tip that there was a large police presence on the other side of the river.
Friday around 10 AM, Chief Investigator Chris Nakamoto got a tip. BRPD's dive team was heading to Rayma to search waterways.
We're here in Iberville Parish where an active scene is unfolding as detectives search for Lintell Washington. Were people just scouring the scene about 25 miles west of Baton Rouge in an area called Iberville Parish, right adjacent to the Atchafalaya Basin.
We have detailed information that directed us to this location. We have detailed information that pointed us to the Baker, Zachary, and St. Francisville areas.
If you leave Baton Rouge and drive west, you're 30 miles. Here in Iberville Parish.
It was a massive search effort. In the air, on ATVs, and on foot.
It's remote, it's rural, it's farmland, it's sugarcane fields. You're not around civilization out there.
I still was telling myself, she's okay, but then I was thinking she's been eaten by alligators because I started hearing these crazy stories about maybe he dropped in the bayou. It was a lot of crazy thoughts going through my head.
The water, the bayous, the cane fields, and these different things, it was a massive area for them to end up having to search to try to find her.
We've learned that they have searched a 6-mile radius from that command post that you're now looking at live from Sky Eye 2.
Now there are members from State Police, the Iberville Parish Sheriff's Office, the Baton Rouge Police Department, along with the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office all behind me.
Police believe the former Teacher of the Year could be in the waters of this bayou near Raymond.
We had got a call from the Baton Rouge Police Department saying that— and we had seen in the local news that they were looking for this young lady.
Chief Criminal Deputy Ronnie Hébert took me to that rural area where his department conducted a massive search for Lintell Washington in June of 2016. You had heard there was a woman missing and a little child that was found, right? She had blood on her feet. What did that tell you? You about this case?
Well, it tells me that the person that was responsible for it was very callous.
Did your gut instinct tell you anything?
I was hoping and praying that they would find her alive, but my gut instinct told me that she would probably be deceased.
Considering that there was foul play suspected, I don't think that hopes were high that they were going to find Lintell alive.
In order to find out who hurt that 3-year-old little girl's mommy. In order to take that person and give them the justice for this family, they had to find Luntell Washington.
How big is the search?
This is a massive area. Cane fields, a lot of water. It's just a— it's just a huge area to cover.
Pretty remote, too.
Very remote. When you get off that interstate, you know, it's a different world.
The twin span here is I-10. I-10 West, I-10 East coming this way to Baton Rouge. This is the main corridor between Baton Rouge, Lake Charles, and further on into to Texas.
Sheriff Brett Stacy launched a couple of boats to show us one of the first places he and his deputies thought to look. It's a place called Whiskey Bay.
It's actually beautiful back there. Pretty treacherous place.
We had received some information from a cell phone tower. Immediately we thought about potential places to dump the body right here. So that's one of the first places we looked.
When we heard this is where they were searching, nobody was surprised.
We were drawn here because of this place's history. You want to get rid of a body, this is a good place to go.
And look, all investigators, coroners, they, you know, look, we want to find the body fairly quickly, preserve evidence, things like that.
In South Louisiana, with this heat and this humidity, a body will decompose very rapidly. That makes timing of finding the body, get it to the autopsy quick, and determine cause of death, especially in a homicide case. Time is important.
Tonight, News 2's Brett Palfington is above in Sky Eye 2.
Brett, as I understand it, you've got some information you're just learning.
Sylvia, just within the last 10 minutes, confirming with the Iberville Parish Sheriff and the Baton Rouge Police Department spokesperson that this search is in the phases of wrapping up.
Sun starts going down, no luck.
An unsuccessful search here in Iberville Parish. as they look for the body of Lintell Washington.
They did not locate her.
Police suspended the search, and I think people were initially really upset about that because they knew that time was of the essence and it was fleeting.
Now police are hopeful someone will come forward with information as they work leads, an attempt to figure out exactly what happened to Lintell Lentell Washington.
This was the lead story in Baton Rouge. 3 reporters some days covering this from the morning through the day and into the evening. Lentell Washington's face was on the news.
Lentell Washington's been—
The police were asking for people to call in and give tips.
If anybody saw anything that seems to be out of place, please give us a call.
They had to be in the right area. They had the cell phone data. They searched. They searched. They searched, and finally, on the 5th day, they got a break.
Washington's cell phone was traced— in Rosedale. That's in Abreville Parish.
If it were not for this 3-year-old, they would not have had a firsthand account of who was in the car and who did this to Lintell without that girl.
Who made the blood in the car?
Solving the crime comes down to a child.
What did you hear when Mommy got hurt? What did you hear with your ears? I hear the thud. Is Mommy in the lake? Yeah.
What you mean she was found? Found where? I just couldn't process she was found dead. Like, what?
Was there any doubt in your mind once they found her body?
There was no doubt in my mind from day one. Now that I understood that it was murder.
You want to get rid of a body, this is a good place to go.
Would anything have led you back here just searching?
It's obvious that this child sat there and watched this entire ordeal happen right in front of her.
She's the key witness. She can identify him.
Everything he's doing in the dark is now coming to light.
He played all these grown women, but he couldn't play this 3-year-old.
I have a child. How old are you, sweetheart? She's 3 years old. She's in the In the parking lot, standing here by herself with a pillow.
When I heard that Lantell's daughter was found wandering the parking lot and she had blood on her feet, I knew this is not right. I knew something else was wrong. Lantell Washington had been missing for about a week. And in this whole week, Jamiesha and I, we would be on the phone with each other, like 3 in the morning, we just waking up crying.
I was still praying that she wasn't dead, but at that point, as the days went on, you know, you're getting more and more of the likelihood of her not being alive. So, yeah.
Yeah, to over a swamp where police are searching for a missing teacher.
This was a huge story. It made headlines every day. It led the top of our newscast every day. Everybody wanted to know where Lintell was.
They searched, they searched, they searched. And finally, on the 5th day, they got a break.
I received a call from the guy that owns the land here in Rosedale, and he said, "Monnie, look, I'm in Grand Isle. One of my workers located a body in our drainage ditch." I called Major A. Bear. He said, "Hey, look, Monnie, I think this is probably going to be the schoolteacher. We need to get on up there and secure the scene." scene.
Straight down here, that this little— it's called a headland. This road will end where her body was located at.
Well, this is certainly off the beaten path.
It is, really. It's— you see all the cane they got, right?
Right.
And it's, it's, it's miles and miles of cane. The only people that The only people that would come here would be the workers that raised this cane.
So you got the call, and where had they found a body?
Right up in this area right here. That time they had some water in this ditch, because it was a watery— to me, it was a watery grave.
And there was no question in your mind she had been dumped there?
Absolutely. She was a transfer dump.
It's very humid. We have a lot of flies, bring maggots. And a body can deteriorate in such a rapid pace. She was so badly decomposed.
What I can say is that we know it to be a female. And that's all we can say at this particular time. Indications are that it's probably the person that we've been missing.
Physical evidence also indicates that the unidentified female is likely Lintell.
The police had asked me what she was wearing, and I was able to go through the school's camera system and identify what she had on.
The clothes match the clothes that Lintell wore to school on the last day she was seen.
On that security camera footage, police zero in on Lintell's sandals.
When we discovered the body, we noticed that the left sandal was there. When we found the car with the blood in it, on the passenger side, we found the right foot sandal, and it was only one.
Two sandals match, which is actually pretty significant given the facts of the, of the case.
These investigators were very confident at that point that they'd found the body of Lynn Tow Washington. They still had to confirm it.
We were notified initially by the Iberville Parish Coroner's Office. They had come across the decedent in a field. In this case, the manner of death was homicide, and the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head.
A distinguished teacher, a mom, a mom who was pregnant has been found dead, shot in the head, found dead in a ditch? I mean, what kind of person would do this?
Melissa and I kept in touch. We were texting throughout. She was asking me, "Do you think that this is Lintell?" And I said, "Well, I think we just have to wait and see." I think it was a few days later, the coroner had said, "We were able to identify him." identified the body as Lintell Washington with dental records. Friends of Lintell have remained hopeful, but tonight they gather to remember the person she was.
I remember I just dropped to the floor and then my husband caught me. I couldn't even stand up because I'm like, What you mean she was found? Found where? I just couldn't process. She was found dead. Like, what?
My main concern at that point was her daughter and keeping her away from the television because they were constantly running the pictures and the, you know, you know, slain teacher and, you know, all of these different things on the news.
I knew her. Like, this is something I feel like if you was reading on the news and you'd be like, oh wow, I feel so bad for her students, and then you realize I am one of her students. That story was connected to the school forever.
Her daughter staying with family members now without a mom.
That was one of the hardest things I had to deal with, just to hear those words. We found her, and that That changed my life forever.
In what ways?
That I knew I had to do better. I knew that enough was enough of the life I was living, the choices I've made. This child's gonna need a father in her life.
As if Lintell's murder wasn't devastating enough, there's a second victim: her unborn child. Child.
We took a measurement of the fetus's femur. When the femur becomes a certain length, it equates to a certain gestational age. It was about 22 weeks gestation.
Even after the trauma of Lintell Washington being shot in the head, the coroner believed that that child in there was— would have been able to be saved.
Through DNA testing, police determined that Lintell Washington was indeed carrying Robert Marks' baby.
The DNA of Robert Marks matched the DNA of that baby. That was his baby. Jamisha has told us that there was some bickering going back and forth between the two of them.
He was the father of the child, and that Lentell was threatening to tell his wife. So we figured we had a motive. That was a huge piece of— of evidence to support what we had been hearing and thinking.
Was there any doubt in your mind once they found her body?
There was no doubt in my mind from day one. Now that I understood that it was murder, I knew that he had done it.
But police need proof. They've got a witness, Lintell's 3-year-old daughter. What will she say?
Star Wars is back on the big screen with The Mandalorian and Grogu. Gangsters, war criminals, I'll take out every bad guy in your deck of cards. Now feel the Force on the biggest screen possible. The old protect the young, and the young protect the old. This This is the way. Fuck a lot.
Always wear your seatbelt.
Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu, rated PG-13, may be inappropriate for children under 13. Now playing in theaters.
Hey, it's Lisa Ann Walter. My new comedy special, It Was an Accident, is now streaming on Hulu.
I'm pissed off so often lately.
If I had known we were headed toward The Handmaid's Tale and I was going to be wearing that big red cape, I wouldn't have cut out carbs.
Oops.
I mean, I know what mindfulness is because my kids told me, but I've seen the way I eat and I'm pretty sure I don't practice it. I don't know why I can't find a fella. Don't miss It Was an Accident, now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ for bundle subscribers. Terms apply.
Authorities now know that Lintell was indeed killed with a single bullet to her head. But what they don't know is who pulled the trigger. While they're searching for clues, and they are looking everywhere, investigators go back to that statement that Lentell's daughter made the day they found her in that parking lot.
Well, here I am. See, I'm not gone. I'm not gonna leave you, I promise. Okay? I'm gonna stay here with you till somebody comes, all right?
Once she became comfortable with talking with me and realized that I was there to help, you know, she opened up more.
So we have a copy of the 911 call.
Okay.
And when you're ready, just push play.
Okay.
Are you hurting, sweetheart? You hurting? What's wrong? Tell me. Mr. Robbie gone? What happened to Mr. Robbie?
That's the— that's the first time she mentioned Mr. Robbie. At that point, she said, Mr. Robbie's gone. She knew who left her in the parking lot.
The little girl is very verbal, and she's very aware of the blood in the car. She says Mr. Robbie put the blood there.
Mr. Robbie did that blood? She said Mr. Robbie did that blood. Mr. Robbie made that blood happen? Did he hit your mommy? He hit your mommy? Oh, okay. Tell them they might want to step it up if they can.
Yeah, I'll let At this point, I mean, it's obvious that this child sat there and watched this entire ordeal happen right in front of her. But now I'm pissed because whatever happened happened in front of this child, and this child was left and abandoned in the parking lot by Mr. Robinson.
And then he has to wait quite a while for a response from the police. All the while getting more information, finding out more what's happening.
Okay, they're about 5 minutes away. Okay. Oh yeah, tell them that's about good. Okay. They need to step it up a little bit. Okay, he's gonna send somebody out there.
When police finally get there, the little girl keeps talking.
The audio is captured on a police dashboard camera, and of course the police are trying to figure out, well, Who's Mr. Robbie? Like, no one knows who Mr. Robbie is.
So who made the blood? Who made the blood in the car?
Mr. Robbie.
Okay, who is Mr. Robbie? Is he your daddy?
We've got a 3-year-old who said, Mr. Robbie hurt my mom. Well, the police have no idea at that point who that person is until the friend and coworker, Jamisha, shows up at the scene But she called me the lady.
So she said, "Lady, Mr.
Robbie hurt my mommy." The 3-year-old says this to you?
Yeah. And so I'm like, "What? Mr. Robbie?" And I'm still trying to process who Mr. Robbie is. You know, Mr. Robbie, Mr. Robbie. I said, "Wait." I said, "Mr. Robbie from the school? Mr. Robbie?" And she was shaking her head.
Mr. Robbie is the name Lintell's daughter called Robert Marks. Jamesha tells police that Marks is an assistant principal at the school where she and Lintell work.
Then I said, okay, I said, so to the police officer, I said, they were in a relationship. I said he would be the first place that I would start. I was also responsible for taking her to the counseling center. For them to get her testimony.
They do these forensic interviews of children with people who are specifically skilled in this area to interview a child without further traumatizing them.
You have to protect her because you don't know what's, what's down the line for her psychologically, but understand that, that she's vital to your case, so she's a valuable asset in the investigation.
As counselors are coloring with this child, they're asking her about her favorite food, they're asking her about what her hobbies are, they're asking her about what she likes. And in the midst of those questions, they're also asking her, what happened to Mommy? What happened to your mom?
You're about to hear the actual audio from the interview that authorities conducted with Lintell's 3-year-old daughter.
Who put blood in the car?
Mr. Rodney.
During the forensic interview, a little bit more information comes out that's really important.
What did you hear when Mommy got hurt? What did you hear with your ears? My ears. Did you say Mr. Rodney hurt Mommy? Yes, ma'am.
Awesome evidence. When we found the body, we did find that she was shot in the head. So that corroborated what the little girl said.
You hear the little girl in her own voice saying, Mr. Robbie put the blood in my car. I heard a bang. My mama started shaking. My mama's asleep by a lake.
Mommy in the lake? Yeah.
The irrigation ditch is where she was in the sugar cane field. Was that filled with water at the time? Could that be the water that the daughter was talking about.
That means she must have—
that this ditch was full of water, right? She must have been here. She must have been here.
He played all these grown women, but he couldn't play this 3-year-old. Let's just say that.
But Marks insists that he has no idea what the 3-year-old girl is talking about.
You know, our daughter's pretty intelligent.
Absolutely.
Okay, we've spoken with her daughter. Why would her daughter say you hurt her?
Hurt me?
That's it? Hurt her feelings? No, no, physically harmed her. Why would she say that?
Investigators are unwilling to pin their entire case on a 3-year-old, but But it turns out there is another witness, a silent witness, that was with Lintell and Marks the entire time.
Everything he's doing in the dark is now coming to light.
Melissa Mason says she will would forever be haunted by the advice she gave Lintell just days before her friend disappeared.
When we got off the phone, the only thing she asked was, "Should I meet him face to face?" And I told her yes. I said, "That way you'll know if he's telling the truth." And so— That was hard for me because I said yes.
Yes.
And I should have said no.
Now Lintell is dead, and police are hoping that that very phone she used in her last conversation with Melissa might help solve her murder.
So Robert Marks, originally, when he's questioned by detectives, he says, yes, I was with Lintell.
When's the last time you saw her? Yesterday. About a Walmart.
What car were you in?
I was riding a motorcycle.
Motorcycle?
Yeah.
He said afterwards she went her separate ways and I went and hung out with the guys at a restaurant. It's not what happened according to cell phone records.
He made a lot of mistakes. And your job as an investigator is find the perpetrator's mistakes. And turn them into evidence.
My name is Sy Ray. My role in investigations like this as a subject matter expert in geolocation is to analyze data that is captured by the cell phone carriers.
Investigators pull cell phone records for both Marks and Lintell from the hours before and after she went missing.
When we get these records back from the phone company, they're real monotonous. They're hard to interpret. It's just a bunch of data, and they're hard to read. We have a system that we can map those and visualize that. That's what we're looking at here. And when we look at this data, we can actually see travel patterns, how people are driving around town. A lot of people wonder, what is it that I do with my cell phone that creates some type of record that I could be tracked by? And it's really anything and everything. Sometimes doing nothing, just having my phone set on a counter completely in idle mode but powered on, it is generating a digital exhaust, if you will, or a trail.
You don't have to be on that phone. So if you got Spotify, Pandora, if you got any app or anything running at any time on your phone, it's rolling, it's pinging. You don't have to be on that phone. One of those apps is receiving some data.
Red icons are Lintell's device. Blue icons are Robert's device. Where I'm starting here is we're looking at when both of them were at home before Lintell leaves her house that night.
We know that Robert Marks texted Lintell Washington, said he wanted to meet up. She drove from her house up to Baker.
The data confirms at least part of Robert Marks' statement to police. He and Lintell did meet up near the Baker Walmart a little after 8 o'clock the night that Lintell disappeared.
She comes up there in car with her baby in the back seat. She meets Robert Marks. He pulls up on a motorcycle. He gets into the car.
We tried to find cameras that would pick up that area, but the parking lot where the motorcycle was left had no video, so we relied on the phone records.
He says he left her at Baker, Louisiana, at a Walmart, but he got into a call with her.
If you remember, red icons are Lintell's device. Blue icons are Robert's device. But you can see here briefly, we're starting to get a purple icon. And of course, what we're seeing with the purple is that when red and blue are overlaid directly on top of each other, we're getting this purple color. This is just a really good indication that these two devices are traveling together.
The phone ends up in the north end of the parish above Southern University. Bannerman's Police Department and Sheriff's Office has a pistol range out in that area, and it's really kind of a secluded area. Not a lot of reason for the phone to go there.
Our evidence shows that she was killed there. It would not have surprised the neighbors because it's a shooting range.
After a time in this sparsely populated area, about 10 minutes, the phones are on the move again.
He takes the Huey P. Long, old Mississippi River Bridge, and he takes Highway 190 and ends up going to Rhema.
We're kind of out in the middle of nowhere now off of I-10, and both devices are going to stop together for a period of about 30 minutes. And there's really nothing out there to stop at. Ultimately, Lintell will be found in this area.
He murders Lintell, drives her to this agricultural area, dumps her body. And this whole time, Lintell's daughter, who is 3 years old, is in the back seat of the car while all of this is going on.
The records then show Mark's and Lintell's phones traveling east, right back into Baton Rouge.
He comes back heading east on Interstate 10, and then her phone goes offline.
You'll notice that we only see blue. We will no longer see the red device because it is now powered off.
The assumption then was that her phone was maybe be tossed into the lake at that point.
So it's 11 o'clock at night. Robert Marks has hidden Lintell's body and gotten rid of her phone. Now he's got to deal with her blood-soaked car and her 3-year-old daughter.
That car was parked over off of Sherwood Forest, and that morning this baby, this 3-year-old child, had gotten out of the car.
This type of evidence you really want. It's irrefutable. He was with her after Walmart. He lied. He lied then. He lied throughout this entire event.
It's important to remember that this is an ongoing affair. They're communicating constantly. And what's interesting about this is she goes missing, and guess who stops calling her phone? And that's because he knows, "Natalie Washington is in a sugarcane field. She's dead, and she's not going to answer her phone." He calls another lady friend.
He's dating another woman. He started texting the other girl, "Come meet me here.
Come meet me by Sherwood Forest." Once police confirm that that is indeed the phone number of the other woman, Lintel Washington, who they found dead in a ditch. Police then charge Robert Marks with her murder. They charge him with feticide, the murder of the unborn baby, and several other charges.
Does it upset you that she's dead?
The outside world is definitely pointing the finger at Robert Marks and saying, oh, he has done a lot of horrible terrible things, but his wife is standing up and defending him and saying he's a good man.
Wife Kayla says she is stunned by the arrest of her husband.
She described to legal commentator Nancy Grace the man she loves is not a man accused of murder.
Did you have any idea that they were having an affair?
I did not.
I did not.
Not one clue.
I can only assume that she did that because her husband told her he was totally innocent. And she was believing what Robert had to say.
Within a couple of days of Robert Marks being arrested, he had two lawyers. They, of course, have to go to work.
They don't have a case. Any DNA evidence, I would challenge that it's been contaminated. The body lay in the field for many, many days.
But police say they've got another witness. Cell phone records show that Robert Marks returns to Baker to get his motorcycle around 11 o'clock on the night that Lintell is murdered. But if he leaves the 3-year-old and Lintell's Toyota in this parking lot, how does he get all the way back to Baker?
I was just watching the news and they were saying about— they showed him arrested and they showed the lady and stuff like that. He said This happened Wednesday night. And I'm like, oh my God, Wednesday night? I was with him.
So another woman emerges in this story, Trameka Jackson. Trameka is also having an affair with Robert. Lintell doesn't know about her. Robert's wife doesn't know about her. But he's been having an affair with Trameka.
So she was the third woman in Robert Mark's life. He had her believing that he was some sort of medical professional in this community.
He actually told her he was a medical doctor. What's going on in your mind that you're creating all of these false images of yourself? What are you doing? You know, you're lying to women. You're making them think it's just them. You're getting them to trust you.
Thanks to phone records, police know that Trameka and Robert Marks are engaged close contact, texting and calling back and forth the night Lintell is murdered.
When you look at Trameka Jackson, you don't know what role she played in— is she involved in this? Does she know what's going on?
At this point, you kind of are an accessory whether you know it or not. You see what I'm saying? I don't have—
I want to give you whatever information.
She's scared. She doesn't want to be involved in this. She comes in voluntarily without an attorney, and she's helpful.
I just didn't— I mean, they put nothing together.
Tremeka provides a lot of important information for detectives. She is able to place Robert at the scene where the car was abandoned with Lintell's little girl.
It had to be 11.
He said, you know what Sheriff Barnes said?
He calls up Tremeeka Jackson and says, hey, can you come pick me up? And there she pulls up.
She picked him up on that street that leads into the apartment complex to the parking lot where the little girl was left. So we go out to a local bank, can pull video, and it's not the greatest of video, but you can clearly see in the background his second girlfriend comes to pick him up.
Trameka has a Dodge with very specific lights. Think of it as a bar of lights. And so even though the video is grainy, the description of her car, the timestamp, all line up with Trameka's version of events.
She picks him up and she drives him back to Baker to get on his motorcycle and go home. I think with Trameka, he sets her up. She's brought into this thing.
She was very forthcoming as far as her piece and taking him away from the scene. No indication that she knew anything about what had gone on.
Police are convinced that Trameka was in the dark. About Lintell's murder and about the abandonment of her daughter the night that she gave Robert Marks a ride.
I think it's safe to say that a lot of people in the community were pretty pleased that he was behind bars considering what he was charged with. So it was really surprising when bail was set and he actually was able to leave jail. Bail was over $800,000.
I actually had the opportunity to interview Robert. He was leaving the East Baton Rouge Parish Courthouse, and he came out, and I said, Robert, is there anything you'd like to say?
Um, first I want to express sympathy to the family of the victim, reassure you that I had nothing to do with this.
He was steadfast that he had nothing to do with it, looked me in the eye and said, I had nothing to do with it.
This man just murdered a pregnant woman with his child in her belly and kidnapped my child to go dump their body, and y'all telling me he's not a danger or a flight risk? Now I have to leave and go to another state, a safe haven, just to protect my child, to cause her harm because they know she's the key witness. She can identify him. She's the one that told the world Who did it?
Mark's lawyers insisting that this man, Robert Marks, is not a murderer.
The fact that crime is committed and all of a sudden this gentleman who has everything to lose is drug into this is— it's about the sensationalism.
As the state prepares to go to trial, the strongest piece of evidence against Robert Marks might be what the video doesn't show. Whoa, we need some water.
I need a martini. Yeah, I love the sound of cooking. It's a lot of music.
It is.
I'm Stanley Tucci, and I want to invite you on a journey through the country that I love, Italy.
Join Stanley Tucci for a new season season.
You are a good cutter.
Of National Geographic's Tucci in Italy.
All right, should we eat?
National Geographic's Tucci in Italy, an all-new season, is now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.
To some, AI chatbots are helpful tools. To others, an existential threat. But what happens when someone falls in love with one?
I can't believe I'm doing this with somebody that's not a human.
What if a chatbot makes you lose your grip on reality?
She said that her life work was advocating for AI rights because they're sentient and they're enslaved.
From CBC Podcasts, this is Understood: Artificial Intimacy, available now.
Nearly 6 years after Lintell Wachi Killed. And after many delays, the stage is now set for a trial.
The opening statements began today in the trial of a former assistant principal.
He's on trial for her murder in Iberville Parish 5 years ago.
The trial of Robert Marks began with high emotion.
Robert Marks is finally facing a jury. For 5.5 years. Waiting for him is prosecutor Tony Clayton.
Tony Clayton is a powerhouse.
People from all over this area sometimes like to go in when he's prosecuting a case just to watch him because it really is a performance.
Speaks in the way that you could only hear in a Louisiana courtroom.
In his colorful opening statements—
this is lento—
Tony Clayton asked this Louisiana jury to serve up what he calls gumbo justice.
In Louisiana, we love gumbo. I told the jury that I'm gonna make a gumbo. I'm gonna pull up his Google records, I'm gonna take his phone records, I'm gonna take his computer. I'm gonna put all that in the pot and cook it up and serve it to him cold, like that ice-cold water that runs through his veins.
The defense argues that there is no murder weapon, no DNA, and no eyewitness tying Marks to the crime.
They don't have a case.
The key witness is the victim's own child.
It is the strongest moment in the trial, and I think that they handled it so well. She seemed very collected.
The evidence presented in court today was a video that showed the little girl being interviewed by a worker at the Children's Advocacy Center in Baton Rouge.
The daughter explained that the mother was grabbing at her head after she had been shot and that Mr. Robbie did it, you know.
The defense pins its case on questioning the reliability of a 3-year-old, suggesting that some of her statements were inaccurate.
Based on their child witness who told them to go to a water body, the body was recovered on land. So they've assisted us by discrediting their own 3-year-old child witness.
It may have been in the context of a mind of a 3-year-old, but everything she said was was accurate and backed up by the physical evidence.
Clayton uses Robert Mark's own words against him. His alibi was that he was at a bar.
Where'd you go after you saw her? He had to run around a little bit. I think it was about Twin Peaks. We went to Twin Peaks and pulled up the cameras on that night. He never showed up to Twin Peaks.
Did he not know that bars have security cameras? That cell phones ping towers? Investigators had no problem poking a hole in everything he said.
Oddly, the defense doesn't offer up a reason as to why we don't see Robert Marks on those Twin Peaks videos. Ultimately, the prosecutor lays out the motive for the whole thing.
Lintell was pregnant by Robert Marks. And they were going through some problems.
At some point, he implied an abortion. He didn't say it directly, but the comment made her upset.
Good morning. Happy Valentine's Day.
I love you.
Happy Valentine to you too. You hurt my feelings yesterday. You really did.
He fixes it by saying, no, I was just saying that I support whatever it is that you want to do. That's what I meant.
We've got one of the oldest motives imaginable. He's having an affair. This woman has become pregnant with his child. And clearly, this is a child that he does not want.
May 24th is a really important date because that's the day that Lintell goes to the doctor, gets a sonogram, and it's revealed that they are having a little girl. Rather than searching for things like, I don't know, baby bassinets online, he starts looking for guns online. He starts researching bizarre stories involving pregnant women who have gone missing missing or were murdered.
Again, the defense doesn't address this evidence at all.
He has a life that he does not want to blow up when Miss Washington has this baby.
Her friends had told us she had texted Robert and basically said, if you don't tell your wife, I will.
He wanted to make sure that his name and his image remain unharmed. And she was a big threat to that at that point because she was going to expose him.
Throughout that whole testimony, he just never moved. He just never— he just sat there completely cold to everything.
Robert Mark's attorney doesn't call any witnesses, and he doesn't do a closing argument.
How can you defend a man who is up on murder charges without presenting one witness?
I don't get that.
This is a circumstantial case, and in order for him to be found guilty of a circumstantial case, the state must exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence.
I kept trying to read the jurors. I couldn't read them. And so part of me started feeling a little nervous.
Also waiting for that verdict is Lintell's daughter, who's not so little anymore. That brave little girl is now 9 years old. You'll meet her when we come back.
They knock on the door and they say, "We have a verdict." "We the people of the state of Louisiana find you Robert Marks." And when she said that, he stood up and started putting his hands behind his back. So he knew before the clerk said guilty. He knew what the verdict was.
It only took the jury about 30 minutes to find Robert Marks guilty of murder and feticide.
All of us were on the same side, same decision.
I don't remember anybody even arguing. It was so ironclad. There was no upset emotions. We knew we were doing the right thing.
And I remember just yelling, "They got it right.
They got it right." After 5 and a half years, finally got our justice served today.
I thought we had raised enough reasonable doubt that the result would have been different.
After the verdict, Marks' wife Kayla divorces him, telling 20/20 she was shocked to learn of his multiple affairs.
Robert Marks was sentenced to life in prison, and he is actually in one of the worst prisons in this country.
And there are things worse than the death penalty. In Louisiana they call it Angola.
And he deserves every bit of what's gonna happen to him up there. I hate to come across that tough, but this was just so unjustifiable.
I spent some time with Lintell's daughter. Really? She's a little shy, but like most kids, she tells me she likes making those TikTok videos. If you get that, that's gonna be impressive. Do you remember anything about your mom?
Yeah?
You look at pictures, he says, sometimes. Yeah? What do you see in Lintell in your mom?
I see that, uh, she's smart, educated. She's focused when she puts her mind to stuff.
I hope that somewhere inside of her, that strong little girl realizes that she stood up for her mom.
My heart breaks for her. She's got to go to, to middle school for her first day. She has to go to senior prom. Mom's not going to be there to take a picture, to give her a hug. And it's so sad because Robert Marks made sure that her mom wouldn't be there with her.
We have our good days, we have our bad days. Sometimes she said, "I miss Mommy.
I wish Mommy was here." I said, "I do too, but Mommy's in heaven with the angels now." That little girl that I sat with once, David, is now a teenager, Lintell's daughter, and she is living with relatives and they tell us she's enjoying life, loves to dance.
We love hearing that. We should also point out tonight that Robert Mark's appeal was denied, and he declined to speak with ABC News. That is our program for tonight. Thank you for watching.
I'm David Muir.
And I'm Deborah Roberts. From all of us here at ABC News and 20/20, good night.
Road to the NBA Finals is happening now on ESPN and ABC. It's make or break now. Best on best now. Watch him sit with his chest now. Greatness is up for grabs, and the world is watching.
Just wait.
On the home of the NBA Finals, all the work, all the sacrifice.
The NBA Playoffs presented by Google continue on ESPN and ABC.
A workplace romance turns fatal for a Baton Rouge teacher-of-the-year mom. Could a three-year-old eyewitness help crack the case?
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices