Inside the brutal murder of pregnant teacher Lyntell Washington in front of 3-year-old daughter who helped crack case
A PREGNANT mother was brutally murdered in front of her three-year-old daughter, who became a key witness in putting a killer behind bars.
The tragedy surrounding Lyntell Washington's death and the traumatic events that unfolded after are at the center of an episode of 20/20 on Friday.
Washington, a Baton Rouge teacher, was killed by her boyfriend in 2016 before he left her daughter in a Louisiana parking lot.
A passerby found the toddler with blood on her feet near a car that was also splattered with blood.
It was later discovered that Washington, 40, had developed a secret relationship with Robert Marks, the assistant principal at Brookstown Middle Magnet Academy, where she taught.
Friends of Washington told ABC’s Deborah Roberts that she was looking for love but “did not have any luck with men.”
Read More On 20/20
When Washington became pregnant, she told Marks that he needed to tell his wife or she would, according to Jamicia Pink-Fisher, who was another Brookstown assistant principal.
When the pieces of Washington’s case started to be put together, the daughter was questioned by police, and helped crack the case.
Leslie Parms was the one who located the child in the parking lot.
She told him that she was left there by "Mr Robbie," which Washington’s friends said was the daughter’s nickname for Marks.
Most read in The US Sun
When police asked the child who put the blood on Washington’s car dashboard, she once again pointed to “Mr Robbie.”
The daughter confirmed these details with a child forensic interviewer, telling them she heard a ”boom” and then answering "yes" when asked if she “saw Mr Robbie hurt Mommy.”
“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,'" Chuck Smith, an investigator with the East Baton Rouge District Attorney's Office, told 20/20.
Washington was found dead in a ditch in a sugar cane irrigation field a week after her daughter was left in the parking lot.
She had a gunshot wound to the head, according to Tony Clayton, the Iberville Parish District Attorney.
Melissa Mason, a friend of Washington's, said that her friend told her that Marks was divorcing his wife but they were living in the same house.
Washington discovered Marks was on a cruise with his wife, and grew angry, texting him to ask if he was going to support her and her unborn child.
Marks was questioned by police and reportedly admitted to the affair.
The suspect was also seeing a third woman, Tramica Jackson, who told investigators that Marks asked her to pick him up around the location where Washington’s child was found.
She played no role in the murder, investigators said.
In a preview for the episode, police said they were notified by the owner of the field that workers had found the body.
Police, suspecting it was Washington, quickly responded to the scene.
The clothes she was wearing matched the surveillance footage of Washington in her classroom on the day she disappeared, and officers were able to locate a sandal in her car that matched the one she had on when she was found.
"I remember I just dropped to the floor, and then my husband caught me," Mason said of when she learned of the discovery.
"I just couldn't process she was found dead."
The testimony of the child was played for the jury at Marks’ trial.
"She was telling it. I don't think he expected that at all," a juror told 20/20, noting he was “moved” by the video.
The child is now nine years old and lives with her father, Darren Glasper, who said he sees “a lot” of Washington in her.
"I see that she's smart, educated. She's focused when she puts her mind to stuff," Glasper said.
Marks’ defense lawyer argued at trial that the evidence of the case was circumstantial but did not offer a closing argument or provide witnesses.
After a half-hour of deliberations, a jury convicted Marks in December of 2021.
He was sentenced earlier this year to life in prison without parole.
Meanwhile, Washington is remembered by her friends, family, and students as a dedicated teacher, doting mother, and loyal friend.
“She was loyal, dedicated, and hard-working,” Pink-Fisher said.
“Her name was important to her.
"She didn't want anything attached to her name that was negative, that was bad. And she wanted to be a great mother.”
“She was a really good teacher," a former student told 20/20.
Read More on The US Sun
Read More on The US Sun
“She always had a bright smile.”
The episode about Washington's horrific death airs at 9pm on ABC.