The Barefoot Witness

Summary

Podcast Summary

20/20: The Barefoot Witness

Podcast: 20/20 (ABC News)
Date: May 23, 2026
Host: ABC News Team
Episode Theme:
An in-depth, emotional, and investigative narrative on the murder of Lyntell Washington, an acclaimed Baton Rouge teacher, whose disappearance is unraveled through the vital testimony of her three-year-old daughter—the only eyewitness to the crime. The episode intricately explores the investigation, the personal lives entangled in the tragedy, and the community's pursuit of justice.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Discovery: A Child Alone in a Parking Lot

• [00:35] Security footage reveals a three-year-old girl barefoot, wandering a Baton Rouge parking lot at dawn, clutching a pillow and smeared in blood.
• Good Samaritan Leslie Parms finds her and calls 911, relaying the urgency of a child alone, dirty, and traumatized. Blood is found in and around a Toyota Corolla, and the child identifies it as her mother's car.
  • "My passion is helping. And this child needed help." — Leslie Parms [04:56]

2. The Missing Mother: Lyntell Washington

• The car belongs to Lyntell Washington, a beloved middle school teacher and "Teacher of the Year."
• Friends and colleagues express alarm at her sudden disappearance, noting her devotion as a mother.
  • "She would never allow her daughter to be alone. Never." — Jamisha Payne [09:19]
• The community rallies, media covers the mystery, and police suspect foul play almost immediately.
• Lyntell's three-year-old daughter becomes the focal point. Her innocent yet poignant statements to police start to reveal family secrets.

3. Lyntell’s Background & Relationships

• Personal portrait: Lyntell is loyal, hardworking, and a nurturing presence for students and friends alike.
• She experiences heartbreaks, a divorce, a miracle pregnancy, and seeks love in secret, complicated relationships.
• Begins an affair with Robert Marks, the assistant principal at her school—an educated, well-regarded man with a hidden web of lies.
  • "Nobody at the school knows about the affair... Not at all." — Jamisha Payne [21:41]
• Marks misleads Lyntell (and others) about his marital status, fabricates details about his living situation, and ultimately, Lyntell grows suspicious and angry at his continual deception.

4. The Secret Relationship Unravels

• Lyntell, pregnant with Marks’ child, plans to reveal the affair to his wife after discovering his dishonesty about a supposed divorce and his living arrangements.
  • “Does this look like a couple that's going through a divorce?... She was upset.” — Melissa Mason [27:46]
• Tensions boil over just days before Lyntell vanishes. The last known contacts, texts, and plans to meet set the stage for the crime.

5. The Crime and the Investigation

• Marks contacts Lyntell to arrange a meeting. Data shows they meet at a Walmart, then travel together; police reconstruct their path using cell phone geolocation data.
• Marks fabricates alibis (watching a game at a bar), which phone and surveillance records quickly debunk.
  • "He lied. He lied then, he lied throughout." — Detective/Investigator [65:30]
• The search for Lyntell intensifies, focusing on remote, swampy areas across the Mississippi from Baton Rouge, finally locating her decomposed body in a cane field ditch after five days.

6. The Little Girl’s Revelations: The Key Witness

• Forensic interviewers and counselors carefully question Lyntell's daughter. The child repeatedly says "Mr. Robbie" (her name for Robert Marks) hurt her mother and "put blood" in the car.
  • "He played all these grown women, but he couldn't play this three year old." — Melissa Mason [42:42]
• Her statements are corroborated by physical evidence and digital forensic trails, including:
  • Cell phone records showing Marks' movements
  • DNA proving Marks was the unborn baby’s father
  • The murder weapon never found, but circumstantial evidence mounts

7. The Arrest, Trial, and Aftermath

• Marks is arrested and charged with murder and feticide. His wife defends him publicly, but is later shocked by revelations of multiple affairs.
• The prosecution presents a compelling circumstantial case—cell phone data, the child's testimony, and computer searches revealing Marks' research on murders of pregnant women.
  • "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 a pot and cook it up..." — Tony Clayton, Prosecutor [75:23]
• The defense offers no witnesses, focusing only on questioning the reliability of a child witness.
• After only 30 minutes, the jury finds Marks guilty on all counts. He receives a life sentence and is sent to Angola Prison.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

The Discovery

• "Just looking at the blood pool, I knew someone... Something happened really bad to someone." — Leslie Parms [07:50]
• "This little girl is in the backseat of the car while all of this is going on." — Reporter/Narrator [01:42]

On Lyntell's Character

• "She didn't want anything attached to her name... that was negative. She wanted to be a great mother." — Jamisha Payne [12:54]

On the Breakthrough Evidence

• "Everything he's doing in the dark is now coming to light." — Detective Winter [42:39, 59:02]
• "He played all these grown women, but he couldn't play this three year old." — Melissa Mason [42:42, 58:10]
• "Mr. Robbie did that blood. Mr. Robbie made that blood happen. Did he hit your mommy? He hit your mommy." — 911 Operator, quoting the child [53:56]

The Trial

• "In Louisiana, we love gumbo. I told the jury that I'm gonna make a gumbo... and serve it to him cold like that ice cold water that runs through his vein." — Tony Clayton [75:23]
• "Did he not know that bars have security cameras? That cell phones ping towers?" — Brett Buffington [77:21]
• "He just never moved. He just sat there completely cold to everything." — Reporter/Narrator [79:48]

Verdict and Aftermath

• "They got it right. They got it right." — Melissa Mason [81:37]
• "This child stood up for her mom." — Reporter/Narrator [83:07]
• "We have our good days, we have our bad days. And 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." — Robert Marks’ former partner [83:37]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:35–04:39] — The discovery of Lyntell's daughter; initial 911 calls and community response
• [10:47–13:04] — Early investigation: Who was Lyntell Washington?
• [18:16–25:04] — The secret relationship with Robert Marks and its unraveling
• [29:02–30:06] — The confrontation and last contacts between Lyntell and Marks
• [36:36–44:24] — The massive multi-agency search for Lyntell’s body
• [46:02–48:35] — Discovery and identification of Lyntell’s remains
• [49:20–50:33] — The baby's identity confirmed; motive emerges
• [53:05–58:48] — The detailed account by Lyntell’s three-year-old daughter
• [60:31–65:57] — Analysis of cell phone geolocation data and timeline reconstruction
• [66:23–71:27] — The emergence of a third woman, police piecing together Marks' escape
• [74:32–81:37] — The trial: prosecution strategy, defense, verdict, and reactions
• [83:32–84:01] — Update on Lyntell’s daughter: her life after tragedy

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Final Reflections

The Barefoot Witness chronicles not just a horrendous crime, but the resilience of a child, the bonds of friendship, and a community’s demand for justice. The storytelling seamlessly weaves together police work, digital forensics, and human heartache. Lyntell's little girl, whose voice could not be silenced or manipulated, stands as the episode's emotional center and ultimate truth-teller.

For listeners new to this case or the podcast, this episode powerfully illustrates how a community, aided by science and the courage of the innocent, can bring even the best-hidden crimes to light.

Transcript

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[Reporter/Narrator]

Security video captures a little girl running around by herself, clutching a pillow.

[Brittany Weiss (Reporter)]

Hair is just sticking up on my arms. It's giving me chills.

[Detective/Investigator]

So we have this little girl in a parking lot, a little three year old. And she has blood all over her feet.

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

That's your mommy's car. Where's Mommy? There's blood on the front seat of the car. Are you hurting, sweetheart?

[Reporter/Narrator]

The car belongs to a woman named Lintell Washington.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

Everybody was concerned, certainly for this teacher, this teacher of the year that just vanished.

[Search Team Member/Investigator]

It's just a huge area to cover.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Pretty remote too.

[Search Team Member/Investigator]

Very remote.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

Lyntel did not have any luck with Mint. Hers was just jaw dropping.

[Reporter/Narrator]

The thing is, it's a secret.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

She asked, well, should I meet him face to face? And I told her yes. I said yes. And I should have said no.

[Reporter/Narrator]

Lintel's daughter is in the backseat of the car while all of this is going on.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Solving this crime comes down to a three year old child, the only witness. Is she in danger too?

[Reporter/Narrator]

I think the best way to describe Baton Rouge is that it's a smaller version of New Orleans.

[Former Student]

It's the capital of Louisiana. It gets that city vibe, but mostly it's just a very small town.

[Reporter/Narrator]

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.

[Brett Buffington (Crime Reporter)]

If you think of Baton Rouge, you think of Garth Brooks. Call in Baton Rouge. It's the motto of that city.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Garth Brooks even posted about it on Facebook.

[Detective Winter]

I forbidden.

[Monty (Investigator/Searcher)]

Won't you put me off you.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

We got a smile down a Baton Rouge. Hurry up, won't you?

[Monty (Investigator/Searcher)]

Put her on the line. I gotta talk to the girl.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

Just one more time.

[Coroner/Investigator]

Garth Brooks played at Tiger stadium to about 102,000 people, putting on a booming of a show.

[Brett Buffington (Crime Reporter)]

Crowd got so loud, literally set off a seismograph.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

Called it a Garth Quinn.

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

I love that Baton Rouge.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

But behind that good time vibe is a troubling problem for Baton Rouge.

[Brett Buffington (Crime Reporter)]

The man's body dump Killing was brutal.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

A murder rate rivaling that of much larger cities.

[Brett Buffington (Crime Reporter)]

Oh, yeah, they definitely have a murder problem in Baton Rouge.

[Reporter/Narrator]

Security video captures a little girl running around by herself, clutching a pillow.

[Detective/Investigator]

And she's just walking around, a little three year old.

[Reporter/Narrator]

And no one knows who she is and why is she alone? I mean, this is a little child.

[Brittany Weiss (Reporter)]

Someplace you wouldn't expect a little child walking around by themselves.

[Leslie Parms (Good Samaritan who found the girl)]

My name is Leslie Parms. In 2016, I was driving for a company called Family Care, which is medical transportation.

[Detective Winter]

This good Samaritan sees her.

[Leslie Parms (Good Samaritan who found the girl)]

I noticed a young lady, little girl, probably about three years old. She was standing in the parking lot about right here.

[Detective Winter]

He comes up to this child and he starts to converse with her.

[Brittany Weiss (Reporter)]

And he had asked that girl where her parents were.

[Leslie Parms (Good Samaritan who found the girl)]

And she just kind of had this puzzled look on her face and she was kind of teary eyed and distraught. And I asked her, I 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.

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

This is Leslie Farms. I'm over on Newcastle Boulevard here, right off of Sherwood. I have a child. How old are you, sweetheart? She's three years old. She's in the parking lot, Finnegan, by herself with a pillow. No one's around, can't find anyone. I need an office.

[Leslie Parms (Good Samaritan who found the girl)]

My passion is helping. And this child needed help. And I couldn't just pass by and feel comfortable not helping.

[Brett Buffington (Crime Reporter)]

There was a lot of chatter in the newsroom. This police scanner picked up this call.

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

Yeah, I don't feel comfortable.

[Brett Buffington (Crime Reporter)]

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.

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

You hurt your foot. That's why you're bleeding. You have blood on your foot because you hurt it.

[Leslie Parms (Good Samaritan who found the girl)]

So I asked her, was she hurt?

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

She said, no, she said she was bleeding. Do I need to send medical attention that way? An ambulance? I don't think so.

[Leslie Parms (Good Samaritan who found the girl)]

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.

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

Little girl, she died by herself. I'm talking about three years old, no one around, holding a pillow.

[Leslie Parms (Good Samaritan who found the girl)]

She was barefoot. It's kind of a concern as well because you're out there, no shoes on, in the parking lot.

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

She's A black female. She has on peach shorts and a pink shirt with cute on it. Okay, we're gonna send someone over there immediately.

[Leslie Parms (Good Samaritan who found the girl)]

It's like you slept in the car all night. She said, yes, she's cute.

[Reporter/Narrator]

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.

[Leslie Parms (Good Samaritan who found the girl)]

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.

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

Oh, my gosh. There's blood on the front seat of the car. Okay, stay on the phone with me. Okay? 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.

[Leslie Parms (Good Samaritan who found the girl)]

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.

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

God, I hope this is not bad. You want me to stay on the phone with you? Okay, I'll stay on phone. Cause this baby here, she's terrified.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

I remember that 911 call vividly.

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

Come on. Come on, guys. Where y' all at? I'm checking for you. Hang on. Okay.

[Leslie Parms (Good Samaritan who found the girl)]

I told her something bad has happened at this location, so they need to get some officers to speed up and get over here.

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

The woman's keys and her purser in the car. Okay. There's blood on both sides of the seat. A lot of blood. Like somebody got hit with something. Yeah, almost. She's in trouble somewhere.

[Brittany Weiss (Reporter)]

My name is Brittany Weiss. I am the 2 on youn side Reporter at WBRZ. 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 and we interviewed Leslie Parms that day, and he told us what he had found.

[Leslie Parms (Good Samaritan who found the girl)]

Just looking at the blood pool, I knew someone. Something happened really bad to someone.

[Detective Winter]

It wasn't going to be good at all.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

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.

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

Did Mommy bleed? Mommy was bleeding. Did you see where the blood was coming from? Where was it coming from?

[Detective/Investigator]

Dash cam video. What's important in this particular thing is the audio.

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

You know where your mommy went? Where can you point the direction she went?

[Detective/Investigator]

And you're hearing the same story from the three year old. Given to Mr. Parms and then given to the police officers who respond.

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

Got a lot of blood in it. That little girl got blood on her feet. She thought somebody hurt her mama when I was three years old. I'm about to run the plate.

[Reporter/Narrator]

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

[Brett Buffington (Crime Reporter)]

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 her class.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

And I knew instantly something is wrong.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

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.

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

Yeah, you got a little blow in your foot. That's. That's gonna get. They're gonna get it. They're gonna take care of that. Okay? Yeah, you gotta take a bath. They're gonna get you cleaned up, okay? Okay. Just be patient.

[Robert Marks' Wife or Close Associate]

All right?

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

I drove in to 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 Lintell?

[Brittany Weiss (Reporter)]

The hair is just sticking up on my arms. It's giving me chills hearing this.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

Immediately it was clear that something sinister had occurred.

[Brittany Weiss (Reporter)]

You're obviously thinking the worst case scenarios would happen to this woman.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

And then to just find out what actually happened was extraordinary, Shocking to the senses. The investigation started Thursday when Washington's three 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.

[Reporter/Narrator]

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.

[Brittany Weiss (Reporter)]

Foul play is not ruled out.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

So where is she?

[Reporter/Narrator]

Lintell Washington and her daughter lived in a one bedroom apartment very close to where Lintell's car was found.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Detectives want to know why Lintel's daughter and car wound up in that parking lot when her home is just down the street.

[Reporter/Narrator]

Security cameras in the area are able to fill in the holes of what happened.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Detectives, rewind that parking lot security video back to 11:30 the night before, and bingo, There's a car consistent with Lintel'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.

[Investigator/Reporter]

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.

[Brittany Weiss (Reporter)]

This friend tells me Lintell Washington is passionate, knowledgeable, and trusting.

[Brett Buffington (Crime Reporter)]

Lintell Washington. She was teacher at a middle school. We talked to her friends. She was well respected in the community.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

Lancell Washington's nickname is Puffy. That was a name she had since her childhood.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

She was loyal, dedicated, and hardworking.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

Very funny, very passionate, very kind person. We didn't call ourselves friends. We called ourselves sisters.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Her name was very, very 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.

[Reporter/Narrator]

Lintell Washington has a twin sister named Cintel.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

She had a twin sister?

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

Yes.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Identical twin.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

I can tell them apart, but, yeah, they are identical.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Lintel's friends share that she has been married and divorced and eventually meets Darren Glasper.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

She meets Darren at a barbecue, and then he sees Cintell, and so he says, oh, there are two of them. But he wanted Lintell.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

What was it about Lintell that grabbed your attention?

[Robert Marks' Wife or Close Associate]

Her presence just, like, lit up the whole neighborhood.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Were they a solid couple?

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

They were solid, yes. In the beginning, yes.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Did she talk about family and wanting to have children?

[Robert Marks' Wife or Close Associate]

When we first began dating, she told me she had surgery and that they told her she was unable to conceive,

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

and so she didn't think that she could have kids.

[Robert Marks' Wife or Close Associate]

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.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

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 were about to be a mother.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Was she happy? Was he happy?

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

Was she happy? Remember, she thought she couldn't have kids, and so she is ecstatic.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

So it's kind of a miracle pregnancy.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

It's a miracle pregnancy, yes.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Was there talk of marriage and really making this permanent?

[Robert Marks' Wife or Close Associate]

Yeah, it really was. But I also had some issues and some demons I was dealing with.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

When you say demons.

[Detective Winter]

Yeah.

[Robert Marks' Wife or Close Associate]

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 eight months pregnant.

[News Anchor/Reporter]

Clintel 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.

[Former Student]

Miss Washington. I called her Miss Washington. She was my 8th grade social studies teacher.

[Reporter/Narrator]

Lintell Washington. She moved to Baton Rouge to start a new life. She had come from New Orleans and everything is actually looking great.

[Former Student]

She was a really good teacher. She always had a bright smile every time we walked into the classroom.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

What made her a good teacher?

Her heart. You know, Lyntel had a loving, caring heart. And no matter what those children did, no matter where they came from, she gave them everything she had.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

She used to listen to this one song that I. I couldn't stand this song. Oh my goodness. It's the one where the lady says, I need a refill. I was like, oh my God, why does she need this refill? Like she's not satisfied. What's the problem? And so she was like, oh, this is my song. I love this song. And now I love this song. That's what she really needed. She was looking for this refill of love that she just wasn't finding.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Did you get the impression that she was looking for love, Jamisha? Sure.

But she didn't really, you know, connect with anybody.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

Lintel did not have any luck with men. I mean, probably none of us. But hers was just jaw dropping, like crazy stuff.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

But then Lintell meets somebody new.

[Reporter/Narrator]

A relationship develops. The thing is, it's a secret relationship.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Somebody at school.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

She tells me that she's seeing him and she's not supposed to say anything.

[News Anchor/Reporter]

Our team coverage continues. A three year old girl was found by a man, teary eyed, carrying a pillow. The girl led parms to a car.

[Detective/Investigator]

So we have this little girl in a parking lot. Little three year old, and she has blood all over her feet.

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

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?

[News Anchor/Reporter]

We're live tonight in downtown Brett Buffington, WBRZ News Tube.

[Brett Buffington (Crime Reporter)]

I remember going home and I called my mom and I just said, hey, I just want to tell you I love you. It is a tough story today. Little 3 year old girl and it's not going to be good when we

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

unfortunately 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.

[Detective Winter]

Lintel has this identical twin named Cintel. She rushes to Baton Rouge to come get her niece.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

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.

[Detective Winter]

This girl's like, my mommy's back. My mommy's mommy.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

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.

[Detective Winter]

She thinks Chantelle is a mom. And, wow, she.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

She had a good mama. She had a great mother.

That little girl's mother is nowhere to be found. Lyntel is gone to no one knows where. So now the attention begins to turn to the people in her life.

[Robert Marks' Wife or Close Associate]

I had a dream the night before, and I called her, and I left a voicemail on the phone. And I said, 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 her phone. I hope these people don't think I have nothing to do with this.

[Detective/Investigator]

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.

[Former Student]

His name was Dr. Robert Marks. He was the assistant principal at Brookstown.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

I'm assistant principal. Robert Marks is the other assistant principal.

[Reporter/Narrator]

Lintel Washington and Robert Marks start work at this middle school at about the same time.

[Former Student]

Every time I see him in the hallway, he will always be, like, smiling and waving and saying hi.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

He was a very nice, kind man.

[Brett Buffington (Crime Reporter)]

This is a guy from the north side of Baton Rouge who was successful. He had a PhD in education.

[Detective Winter]

Just a good guy, highly educated, making good money.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

When Lintell started working after she got the job, she didn't like Robert Marks. She was not attracted to him.

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

Mm.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

Mm, no. She was like, oh, no, girl, he this tall.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

At what point did you know that she was interested in Robert Marks?

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

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.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

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, And I'm like, who? And she said, you know him. You know, Dr. Marks. I said, girl, no, not at all

[Reporter/Narrator]

the thing is, it's a secret relationship because Robert Marks is married, had a

[Detective Winter]

wife, beautiful wife, beautiful kids.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

We knew that he was married, but never saw the wife. And he didn't wear his wife.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

He wanted to take out. And she asked him, she said, aren't you married?

[Reporter/Narrator]

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.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

He assured her that it's a divorce. They're separated. He did say that there was this two story house and the wife was upstairs and he was downstairs.

[Reporter/Narrator]

They do live together, but they live on separate flags.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

He would go to her house, they would cook. 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.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Was she in love?

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

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

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

with her mom missing that little girl. As you can hear on this police dash cam video, she soon begins to innocently reveal family secrets.

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

My mom needs a King James.

[Detective Winter]

Mommy got a baby.

[Former Student]

She was like, I got something to tell y'.

[Unknown Speaker (brief)]

All.

[Former Student]

And I was like, what is it? She was like, I'm pregnant.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Who learns that she's pregnant first? Did she reveal it to you?

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

Oh, yes, she did.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

I'm two months pregnant. My baby looks so beautiful in my womb.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

And I'm like, oh, my goodness, what is he saying? And she tells me he's happy.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

In Lintell's apartment, detectives will later find sonograms tracking her pregnancy, including one with an announcement on it. I'm a girl.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

She says, darling, 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.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

The week before she goes missing, Lintell finally reveals the relationship to her boss and friend, Jamisha.

She said, this baby is for Robert Marks.

She's pregnant with Robert Marks baby.

I said, girl, stop playing, you know? And she said, no, I'm serious.

[Brett Buffington (Crime Reporter)]

Jamisha Payne knew what was going on. Lintel Washington had apparently told her everything she knew. All the secrets, the pieces of.

[Reporter/Narrator]

Of the puzzle start to become very clear.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

She was saying, I'm going to Let his wife know what's going on.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Today.

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[Cell Phone Data Expert/Cy Ray]

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[Narrator/Advertiser]

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[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

The community was baffled. Everybody was concerned certainly, you know, for this teacher, this teacher of the year that just vanished out of nowhere.

[Brittany Weiss (Reporter)]

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.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

He sounded like he was going to be someone that was a of part part of her life and the baby's life.

[Reporter/Narrator]

Robert tells Lintel that he's going on a trip for a few days. He's going to Panama City to go to a family reunion.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

A family reunion like his mama, his daddy, you know, his sister.

[Reporter/Narrator]

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.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

She says, does this look like a couple that's going through a divorce? And I said, no.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

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, upset, angry, mad. She was saying, I'm going to his house, I'm going to go over there and I'm going to let his wife know what's going on.

[Reporter/Narrator]

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?

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

She says, girl, I went to the house. It's a trailer.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

She said, girl, that boy told me he stayed in his two story house. He lives in a damn trailer, girl.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

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'm gonna tell his wife. She said, oh, I'm gonna tell a wife. She was upset.

[Reporter/Narrator]

By the time Robert returns from his cruise on June 6, he has got one angry Lintell Washington waiting for him and he knows he's got a problem.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

She said, are you lying to me? Just tell me the truth. And so she texted that.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Lintel 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.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

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 her was Robert Marks.

[Detective/Investigator]

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.

[Detective Winter]

All right? Mr. Marks, I'm Detective Winter, this is

[Reporter/Narrator]

my sergeant, Baton Rouge police. Take Robert Marks in for questioning.

[Detective Winter]

Robert, we're looking for Lynn Tail. You believe you know where she's at?

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

I don't know where she is.

[Detective Winter]

I Tried to call her this morning and I sent her a text.

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

She had one back.

[Reporter/Narrator]

He tells police that he saw Lintell Washington last night, the night before, for about a half hour.

[Robert Marks' Wife or Close Associate]

She awoke.

[Detective Winter]

They were in her car. Yes. What car were you in?

[Cell Phone Data Expert/Cy Ray]

I was riding a motorcycle.

[Detective/Investigator]

I seen. He holds his hands a lot towards his face, a clear sign he's lying.

[Reporter/Narrator]

And he explains that they just talked.

[Detective/Investigator]

He immediately admits to the affair.

[Detective Winter]

Did your wife know about her?

[Detective/Investigator]

That his wife did not know about the affair?

[Detective Winter]

I think she does now.

[Cell Phone Data Expert/Cy Ray]

Did she ever threaten to talk to your wife?

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

Never.

[Detective Winter]

Never.

[Monty (Investigator/Searcher)]

So that would be news to you

[Detective Winter]

that she had planned on talking to your wife?

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

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. Hung out at a restaurant.

[Coroner/Investigator]

Where'd you go?

[Detective Winter]

After yourself or just rolling around a little bit. Passed by Twin Peaks.

[Brett Buffington (Crime Reporter)]

And when Robert Marks was talking to investigators, we find out that he's got an alibi.

[Reporter/Narrator]

He tells police that the night before he was watching the basketball game.

[Brett Buffington (Crime Reporter)]

With one minute left to go in

[Cell Phone Data Expert/Cy Ray]

the game, the score remains.

[Reporter/Narrator]

He tells them that he's at a local bar called Twin Peaks.

[Detective Winter]

Twin Peaks is the equivalent to Hooters.

[Coroner/Investigator]

She's not just missing,

[Detective Winter]

Amy, is she? Not just missing. Just what I said, she's not just missing.

[Coroner/Investigator]

We have evidence that she's hurt bad and we got enough blood in the

[Detective Winter]

car to assume that she's dead.

[Detective/Investigator]

So the last person, the last adult to see her alive was Marx. That is a big, big deal in investigation.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

But first, an even bigger deal. Finding Lintell Washington. At this point, she's not just a missing piece, she's the entire puzzle.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

Active scene is unfolding as detectives search for Lintel Washington. So literally everybody was glued to the tv. Everybody was glued to news coverage trying to figure out, okay, where is this woman?

[Brittany Weiss (Reporter)]

One of our reporters got a tip there was a large police presence on the other side of the river.

[Brett Buffington (Crime Reporter)]

There's a massive 50 plus law enforcement officers in the air on ATVs with K9s. There's this huge search effort.

[News Anchor/Reporter]

We've learned that they have searched a six mile radius from that command post.

[Monty (Investigator/Searcher)]

Inglesville Parish is 575 square miles. You want to get rid of a body, this is a good place to, to go.

[Brittany Weiss (Reporter)]

Lintell Washington didn't show up to work. Something she's never done before.

[Reporter/Narrator]

You have a woman who is five months pregnant. She's missing.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

Washington's three year old daughter was found wandering around a parking lot.

[Reporter/Narrator]

Her little girl is alone and abandoned,

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

and we're told blood was around the woman's car.

[Reporter/Narrator]

The immediate concern is something horrible has happened to Lintell Washington and where is she?

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

It was something that I was just in shock about because this was really happening and it was really my friend that was missing.

[Brittany Weiss (Reporter)]

Police say Washington lives in this area off Sherwood Forest. Tonight, they're searching for her.

[Brett Buffington (Crime Reporter)]

They were quick with putting clues together. Within a day, they knew where they needed to be searching.

[Reporter/Narrator]

Police are being guided in their search by cell phone records where Lintel appeared to have been that night. One of the areas is across the Mississippi from Baton Rouge.

[Brittany Weiss (Reporter)]

One of our reporters got a tip that there was a large police presence on the other side of the river.

[News Anchor/Reporter]

Friday around 10am Chief investigator Chris Nakamoto got a tip. BRPD's dive team was heading to Rhema to search waterways.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

We're here in Naperville Parish where an active scene is unfolding as detectives search for Lintel Washington. There 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.

[Detective Winter]

We have detailed information that directed us to this location. We have detailed information that point us to the Baker, Zachary and St. Francisville areas.

[Brett Buffington (Crime Reporter)]

If you leave Baton Rouge and drive west, you're 30 miles here in Abbeville Parish.

[News Anchor/Reporter]

It was a massive search effort. In the air, on ATVs and on foot.

[Brett Buffington (Crime Reporter)]

It's remote, it's rural, it's farmland, it's sugar cane fields. You're not around civilization out there.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

I still was telling myself, she's okay. But then I was thinking, she's being 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.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

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.

[News Anchor/Reporter]

We've learned that they have searched a six mile radius from that command post that you're now looking at live from Skyeye 2.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

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.

[News Anchor/Reporter]

Police believe the former teacher of the year could be in the waters of this bayou near Rhema.

[Search Team Member/Investigator]

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

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

young lady Chief Criminal Deputy Ronnie Hebert took me to that rural area where his department conducted a massive search for Lintel Washington in June of 2016. You had heard there was a woman missing and a little child that was found.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Right.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

She had blood on her feet. What did that tell you about this case?

[Search Team Member/Investigator]

Well, it tells me that the person that was responsible for it was very callous.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Did your gut instinct tell you anything?

[Search Team Member/Investigator]

I was hoping and praying that they would find her alive, but my gut instinct told me that she would probably be deceased.

[Brittany Weiss (Reporter)]

Considering that there was foul play suspected, I don't think that hopes were high that they were going to find Lintel alive.

[Brett Buffington (Crime Reporter)]

In order to find out who hurt that three year old little girl's mommy. In order to take that person and give them the justice for this family, they had to find Lyntel Washington.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

How big is the surge?

[Search Team Member/Investigator]

This is a massive area. Cane fields, a lot of water. Water, it's just a. It's just a huge area to cover.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Pretty remote too.

[Search Team Member/Investigator]

Very remote. When you get off that interstate, you know, it's a different world.

[Monty (Investigator/Searcher)]

The twin span here is I10, I10 West, I10 east, coming this way to Baton Rouge. This is the main corridor between Baton Rouge, Lake Charles and further on into Texas.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Sheriff Brett Stacey 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.

[Coroner/Investigator]

It's actually beautiful back there. Pretty treacherous place.

[Monty (Investigator/Searcher)]

We had received some information from a cell phone tower. Immediately we thought about potential places to dump the body.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Right here.

[Monty (Investigator/Searcher)]

So that's one of the first places we looked.

[Brett Buffington (Crime Reporter)]

When we heard this is where they were searching, nobody was surprised.

[Monty (Investigator/Searcher)]

We were drawn here because of this place, 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 determined cause of death. Especially in a homicide case, time is important.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Tonight, News Chief's Brett Pulfington is above in sky i2. Brett, as I understand it, you've got some information. You're just learning.

[News Anchor/Reporter]

Sylvia. Just within the last 10 minutes, confirming with the Amberville Parish sheriff and the Baton Rouge Police Department spokesperson that this search is in the phases of wrapping up.

[Brett Buffington (Crime Reporter)]

Sun starts going down, no luck.

[News Anchor/Reporter]

An unsuccessful search here in Amberville Parish as they look for the body of Lintel Washington.

[Monty (Investigator/Searcher)]

They did not locate her.

[Brittany Weiss (Reporter)]

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.

[News Anchor/Reporter]

Now police are hopeless. Someone will come forward with information as they work leads an attempt to figure out exactly what happened to Lintel Washington.

[Brett Buffington (Crime Reporter)]

This was the lead story in Baton Rouge. Three reporters some days covering this. From the morning through the day and into the evening, Lintel Washington's face was on the news.

[News Anchor/Reporter]

Lintel Washington's been.

[Brett Buffington (Crime Reporter)]

The police were asking for people to call in and give tips.

[Detective Winter]

If anybody saw anything that seems to to be out of place, please give us a call.

[Brett Buffington (Crime Reporter)]

They had to be in the right area. They had the cell phone data. They searched, they searched, they searched. And finally on the fifth day, they got a break.

[News Anchor/Reporter]

Washington's cell phone was traced in Rosedale. That's in Abbeville Parish.

[Reporter/Narrator]

If it were not for this three 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

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

in the car, solving the crime comes down to a child.

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

What did you hear when mommy got hurt? What did you hear with your ears? My ears? Is mommy in the lake?

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

What you mean she was found? Found where? I just couldn't process. She was found dead, like what?

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

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.

[Monty (Investigator/Searcher)]

You want to get rid of a body, this is a good place to go.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Would anything have led you back here? Just searching.

[Leslie Parms (Good Samaritan who found the girl)]

It's obvious that this child sat there and watched this entire ordeal happen right

[Robert Marks' Wife or Close Associate]

in front of her. She's the key witness. She can identify him.

[Detective Winter]

Everything he's doing in the dark is now coming to light.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

He played all these grown women, but he couldn't play this three year old.

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

I have a child. How old are you, sweetheart? She's three years old. She's in the parking lot finishing by herself with a pillow.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

When I heard that Lyntel'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. Lynn Tail Washington had been missing for about a week. And in this whole week, Jamiece and I, we would be on the phone with each other like three in the morning. We just waking up crying.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

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,

[News Anchor/Reporter]

Two over a swamp where police are searching for a missing teacher.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

This was a huge story. It made headlines every day. It led the top of our newscasts every day. Everybody wanted to know where Lintell was.

[Brett Buffington (Crime Reporter)]

They searched, they searched, they searched. And finally, on the fifth day, they got a break.

[Monty (Investigator/Searcher)]

I received a call from the guy that owns the land here in Rosedale, and he said, monty, look, I'm in Grand Isle. One of my workers located a body in our drainage ditch. When I called Major Abear, he said, hey, look, Monty, I think this is probably going to be the school teacher. We need to get on up there

[Detective Winter]

and secure the scene.

[Search Team Member/Investigator]

Straight down here, this little called a headland. This road will end where her body was located at.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Well, this is certainly off the beaten path.

[Search Team Member/Investigator]

It is really. You see all the cane they got? Right?

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Right.

[Search Team Member/Investigator]

And it's miles and miles of cane. The only people that would come here would be the workers that raised this cane.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

So you got the call, and where had they found a body?

[Search Team Member/Investigator]

Right up in this area right here. That time they had some water in this ditch because it was, to me, it was a watery grave.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

And there was no question in your mind she had been dead dump there?

[Search Team Member/Investigator]

Absolutely. She was a transferred dump.

[Monty (Investigator/Searcher)]

It's very humid. We have a lot of flies, brain maggots. And the body can deteriorate in such a rapid pace. She was so badly decomposed.

[Detective Winter]

What I can say is that we know it to be a female, and that's all we can say at this particular time. You know, indications are that.

[Coroner/Investigator]

That it's probably the person that we've been missing.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

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.

[Reporter/Narrator]

The clothes match the clothes that Lintell wore to school on the last day

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

she was seen on that security camera footage. Police zero in on Lintel's sandals.

[Detective Winter]

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.

[Coroner/Investigator]

Two sandals match, which is actually pretty significant given the facts of the case.

[Investigator/Reporter]

These investigators were very confident at that point that they'd found the body of Lyntel Washington. They still had to confirm it.

[Cell Phone Data Expert/Cy Ray]

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 gunshot wound to the head.

[Reporter/Narrator]

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?

[Brittany Weiss (Reporter)]

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 the body as Lintel Washington with dental records. Friends of Lintel have remained hopeful, but tonight they gather to remember the person she was.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

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?

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

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, slang teacher and, you know, all of these different things on the news.

[Former Student]

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.

[Brittany Weiss (Reporter)]

Her daughter staying with family members now without a mom.

[Robert Marks' Wife or Close Associate]

That was one of the hardest things I had to deal with just to hear those words. We found her, and that day, just that changed my life forever.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

In what ways?

[Robert Marks' Wife or Close Associate]

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 her father in her life.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

As if Lintell's murder wasn't devastating enough, there was a second victim, her unborn child.

[Cell Phone Data Expert/Cy Ray]

We took a measurement of the fetus femur. When the femur becomes a certain length, it equates to a certain gestational age. It was about 22 weeks gestation.

[Brett Buffington (Crime Reporter)]

Even after the trauma of Lintel Washington being shot in the head, the coroner believed that that child in there was. Would have been able to be saved.

[Reporter/Narrator]

Through DNA testing, police determined that Lintell Washington was indeed carrying Robert Marks baby.

[Detective Winter]

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.

[Coroner/Investigator]

He was the father of the child and that Lintell was threatening to tell his wife. So we figured we had a motive that was A huge piece of evidence to support what we had been hearing and thinking.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

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. Lintel's three year old daughter. What will she say?

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

Do hurt Mommy.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

Who put blood in the car. Hey, it's Lisanne Walter.

[Detective Winter]

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. I mean, I know what mindfulness is because my kids told me, but I've

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

seen the way I eat and I'm

[Detective Winter]

pretty sure I don't practice it. I don't know why I can't find a fella.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Don't miss it was an Accident.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

Now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney plus for fun Dal subscribers terms apply.

[Cell Phone Data Expert/Cy Ray]

It was Wednesday morning, about 10am When Leslie Jenning Priyar's colleagues became concerned she

[Detective Winter]

hadn't come to work.

[Reporter/Narrator]

In 2001, Leslie Prier was living in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. when on

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

a spring morning, the unthinkable happened.

[Cell Phone Data Expert/Cy Ray]

There were signs of a struggle, but no forced entry.

[News Anchor/Reporter]

This woman was strangled and she was beaten.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

She was found in the shower with the water running.

[Reporter/Narrator]

For the next two decades, Leslie Prier's case remained unsolved.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

And the shocking truth about the real killer stayed hidden until very recently, when

[Reporter/Narrator]

new technology allowed investigators to do what had once been impossible. I'm Stephanie Ramos and this is Blood and Water, a new series from ABC Audio in 2020.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

And he almost got away with it. He almost got away with it.

Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts. Authorities now know that Lintel Want 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 Lintel's daughter made the day they found her in that parking lot.

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

Well, here I am. See, I'm not going to. I'm not gonna leave you, I promise. Okay? I'm gonna stay here with you till somebody comes. All right?

[Leslie Parms (Good Samaritan who found the girl)]

Once she became comfortable with talking with me and realized that I was there to help, she opened up more.

[Cell Phone Data Expert/Cy Ray]

So we have a copy of the 911 call.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

Okay.

[Cell Phone Data Expert/Cy Ray]

And when you're ready. Just push play, okay?

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

Are you hurting, sweetheart? You're hurting. What's wrong? Tell me. Mr. Robbie gone. What happened to Mr. Robbie?

[Leslie Parms (Good Samaritan who found the girl)]

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.

[Reporter/Narrator]

The little girl is very verbal and she's very aware of the blood in the car. And she says, Mr. Robbie put the blood there.

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

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 let him.

[Leslie Parms (Good Samaritan who found the girl)]

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. Roberts.

[Detective/Investigator]

And then he has to wait quite a while for a response from the police. All the way while getting more information, finding out more what's happening.

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

Okay. They're about five minutes away. Okay. Oh, yeah, tell them that's about good. Okay. They need to step it up a little bit.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

When police finally get there, the little girl keeps talking. The audio is captured on a police dashboard camera.

[Reporter/Narrator]

And of course, the police are trying to figure out, well, who Mr. Robbie. Like, no one knows who Mr. Robbie is.

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

So who made the blood? Who made the blood in the car?

[Detective Winter]

Mr. Robbie.

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

Okay, who is Mr. Robbie? Is he your daddy?

[Investigator/Reporter]

We've got a three year old who said, Mr. Robbie hurt my mom. The police have no idea at that point who that person is until the friend and coworker Jamisha shows up at the scene.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

But she called me the lady. So she said, Lady, Mr. Robbie hurt my mommy.

The three year old says 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. Jamisha tells police that Marks is an assistant principal at the school where she and Lintel work.

And 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.

[Reporter/Narrator]

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

[Detective/Investigator]

her because you don't know what's down the line for her psychologically. But understand that she's vital to your case. So she's a valuable asset in the investigation.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

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?

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

You're about to hear the actual audio from the interview that authorities conducted with Lintel's three year old daughter.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

They'll put blood in the car.

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

Mr. Robbie.

[Reporter/Narrator]

During the forensic interview, a little bit more information comes out that's really important.

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

What did you hear when mommy got hurt? What did you hear with your ears? My ears were gone. Did you say Mr. Robbie hurt Mommy? Yes, ma'. Am.

[Detective Winter]

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.

[Coroner/Investigator]

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.

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

Mommy in the lake? Yes.

[Detective/Investigator]

The irrigation ditch is where she was in the sugar cane deal. Was that filtered water at the time? Could that be the water that the daughter was talking about?

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

That means she must have.

[Search Team Member/Investigator]

This ditch was full of water. Right? And she must have been here. She must have been here.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

He played all these grown women, but he couldn't play this three year old? Let's just say that.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

But Marks insists that he has no idea what the three year old girl is talking about.

[Detective Winter]

You know, our daughter's pretty, intelligent. Absolutely.

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

Yes, I did.

[Detective Winter]

Okay, well, we've spoken with her daughter. Why would her daughter say you heard

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

her hurtful until

[Detective Winter]

hurt her feelings?

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

No, no.

[Detective Winter]

Physically harmed her. Why would she say that?

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Investigators are unwilling to pin their entire case on a three year old.

[Reporter/Narrator]

But.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

But it turns out there is another witness, a silent witness that was with Lintel and Marks the entire time.

[Detective Winter]

Everything he's doing in the dark is now coming to light.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Melissa Mason says she will find forever be haunted by the advice she gave Lintell just days before her friend disappeared.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

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 and I should have said no.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

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.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

So Robert Marks, originally, when he's questioned by detectives, he says, yes, I was with Lintel.

[Detective Winter]

When's the last time you saw her? I still couldn't remember. Yesterday about a Walmart. What car were you in? I was riding a motorcycle.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

Motorcycle, 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 his cell phone records, he

[Detective/Investigator]

made a lot of mistakes. And your job as an investigator is find the perpetrator's mistakes and turn them into evidence.

[Cell Phone Data Expert/Cy Ray]

My name is Cy 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.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Investigators pull cell phone records for both Marks and Lintel from the hours before and after she went missing.

[Cell Phone Data Expert/Cy Ray]

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.

[Detective Winter]

You don't have to be on that phone. 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 Sundata.

[Cell Phone Data Expert/Cy Ray]

Red icons are Lintel'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,

[Brett Buffington (Crime Reporter)]

we know that Robert Marks texted Lintell Washington, said he wanted to meet up. She drove from her house up to Baker.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

The data confirms at least part of Robert Marks statement to police. He and Lintel did meet up near the Baker Walmart a little after 8 o' clock the night that Lintel disappeared.

[Detective Winter]

She comes out there in her Car with her baby in the backseat, she meets Robert Marks. He pulls up on a motorcycle. He gets into the car.

[Coroner/Investigator]

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 were loud.

[Detective/Investigator]

On the phone records, he says he left her at Baker, Louisiana at a Walmart, but he got into a car with her.

[Cell Phone Data Expert/Cy Ray]

If you remember, red icons are Lintel'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.

[Coroner/Investigator]

The phone ends up in the north end of the parish, above Southern University. Baton Police Department, 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.

[Detective Winter]

Our evidence shows that she was killed there. It would not have surprised the neighbors because it's a shooting range.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

After a time in this sparsely populated area, about 10 minutes, the phones are on the move again.

[Coroner/Investigator]

He takes the Huey P. Long Old Mississippi River Bridge and He takes Highway 190 and ends up going to Rhema.

[Cell Phone Data Expert/Cy Ray]

We're kind of out in the middle of nowhere now off of i10 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, Lintel will be found in this area.

[Reporter/Narrator]

He murders Lintel, drives her to this agricultural area, dumps her body, and this whole time Lintel's daughter, who is three years old, is in the backseat of the car. While all of this is going on,

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

the records then show Marks and Lintel's phones traveling east right back into Baton Rouge.

[Coroner/Investigator]

He comes back heading east on Interstate 10. And then her phone goes offline.

[Cell Phone Data Expert/Cy Ray]

You'll notice that we only see blue. We will no longer see the red device because it is now powered off.

[Coroner/Investigator]

The assumption then was that her phone was maybe tossed into the lake at that point.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

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 three year old daughter.

[Detective Winter]

That car was parked over off of Sherwood Forest and that morning this baby, this three year old child had gotten out of the car.

[Detective/Investigator]

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.

[Investigator/Reporter]

It's important to remember that this is an ongoing affair. They are 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 Lintel Washington is in a sugarcane field. She's dead and she's not going to answer the phone.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Marks isn't contacting Lintell, but it doesn't mean that he's finished making calls for the night.

[Detective Winter]

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 Forrest.

[Reporter/Narrator]

Once police confirm that that is indeed Lintell 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.

[Detective Winter]

Does it upset you that she's dead?

[Reporter/Narrator]

The outside world is definitely pointing the finger at Robert Marks and saying, oh, he has done a lot of horrible things, but his wife is standing up and defending him and saying he's a good man.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

Wife Kayla says she is stunned by the arrest of her husband.

[News Anchor/Reporter]

She described a legal commentator, Nancy Grace. The man she loves is not a man accused of murder.

[Reporter/Narrator]

Did you have any idea that they

[Brittany Weiss (Reporter)]

were having an affair?

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

I did not. I did not. Not one clue.

[Coroner/Investigator]

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.

[Brett Buffington (Crime Reporter)]

Within a couple of days of Robert Marks being arrested, he had two lawyers. They of course have to go to work.

[Detective Winter]

They don't have a case. Any DNA evidence I would challenge that has been contaminated. The body lay in the field for many, many days.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

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 Lintel is murdered. But if he leaves the three year old and Lynn tells Toyota in this parking lot, how does he get all the way back to Baker?

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

I was watching the news and they were saying about they show him arrested and they show 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.

[Reporter/Narrator]

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.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

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.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

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 in close contact, texting and calling back and forth the night Lintell is murdered.

[Detective/Investigator]

When you look at Tramika Jackson, you don't know what role she played. Is she involved in this? Does she know what's going on?

[Detective Winter]

At this point,

[Brett Buffington (Crime Reporter)]

you kind of are

[Detective Winter]

an accessory, whether you know it or not. You see what I'm saying? I'll try to cooperate as much as I can.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

I don't have. I want to give you whatever information.

[Detective/Investigator]

She's scared. She doesn't want to be involved in this. She comes in voluntarily without an attorney, and she's helpful.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

I just didn't. I mean, they put nothing together.

[Reporter/Narrator]

Tramika provides a lot of important information for detectives. She is able to place Robert at the scene where the car was abandoned with Lintel's little girl.

[Detective Winter]

It had to be 11 o'.

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

Clock.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

He said, you know what Sheriff Carr said?

[Brett Buffington (Crime Reporter)]

He calls up Tramika Jackson and says, hey, can you come pick me up? And there she pulls up.

[Coroner/Investigator]

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 and 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.

[Reporter/Narrator]

Tramika 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 Tramika's version of events.

[Detective/Investigator]

She picks him up and she drives him back to Baker to get on his motorcycle and go home. I think with Tramika, he sets her up. She's brought into this thing.

[Coroner/Investigator]

She was very forthcoming as far as her peace and taking him away from the scene. No indication that she knew anything about what had gone on.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Police are convinced that Trameka was in the dark about Lintel's murder and about the abandonment of her daughter the night that she gave Robert Marks a ride.

[Reporter/Narrator]

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.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

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?

[Detective Winter]

First, I want to express sympathy to the family of the victim. Reassure you that I had nothing to do with this.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

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.

[Robert Marks' Wife or Close Associate]

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.

[News Anchor/Reporter]

Marks lawyers insisting that this man, Robert Marks, he's not a murderer.

[Detective Winter]

The fact that crime is committed and all of a sudden this gentleman who has everything to lose is drug into this. It's about the sensationalism.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

As the state prepares to go to trial, the strongest piece of evidence against Robert Marks might be what the video doesn't show.

[911 Operator/Dispatcher]

Foreign.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

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[Detective Winter]

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 chestnut. Greatness is up for grabs and the world is watching. Just win on the home of the NBA Finals. All the work, all the sacrifice.

[Brett Buffington (Crime Reporter)]

The NBA playoffs presented by Google continue

[Detective Winter]

on ESPN and abc.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Nearly six years after Lintel Washington was killed and after many delays, the stage is now set for a trial.

[News Anchor/Reporter]

The opening statements began today in the trial of a former assistant principal.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

He's on trial for her murder in Iberville Parish five years ago, the trial

[Reporter/Narrator]

of Robert Marks began with high emotion.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Robert Marks is finally facing a jury after being out on bond for five and a half years. Waiting for him is prosecutor Tony Clayton. Tony Clayton is a powerhouse.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

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.

[Reporter/Narrator]

Speaks in the way that you could only hear in a Louisiana courtroom

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

in his colorful opening statements.

[Detective Winter]

This is Lintel.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Tony Clayton asks this Louisiana jury to. To serve up what he calls gumbo justice.

[Detective Winter]

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 a pot and cook it up and serve it to him cold like that ice cold water that runs through his vein.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

The defense argues that there is no murder weapon, no DNA and no eyewitness tying Marks to the crime.

[Detective Winter]

They don't have a case.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

The key witness is the victim's own child.

[Reporter/Narrator]

It is the strongest moment in the trial and I think that they handled it so well. She seemed to very collected the evidence. Presented in court today was a video

[Narrator/Advertiser]

that showed the little girl being interviewed

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

by a worker at the Children's Advocacy

[Reporter/Narrator]

center in Baton Rouge.

[Detective Winter]

The daughter explained that the mother was grabbing at her head after she had been shot and that Mr. Robbie did it. You know.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

The defense pins its case on questioning the reliability of a three year old, suggesting that some of her statements were inaccurate.

[Detective Winter]

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 three year old child witness.

[Reporter/Narrator]

It may have been in the context of a mind of a three year old, but everything she said was accurate and backed up by the physical evidence.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Clayton uses Robert Marks own words against him. His alibi was that he was at a bar.

[Coroner/Investigator]

Where'd you go after you saw her?

[Detective Winter]

Just rode around a little bit. Passed by Twin Peaks and rode around. We went to Twin Peaks and pulled up the cameras on that night. He never showed up to Twin Peaks.

[Brett Buffington (Crime Reporter)]

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.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

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.

[Detective Winter]

Lintell was pregnant by Robin Marks and they were going through some problems.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

At some point he implied an abortion. He didn't say it directly, but the comment made her upset.

[Detective Winter]

Good morning. Happy Valentine's Day. I love you.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Happy Valentine to you too. You hurt my feelings yesterday. You really did.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

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.

[Investigator/Reporter]

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.

[Reporter/Narrator]

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 or were murdered.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Again, the defense doesn't address this evidence at all.

[Investigator/Reporter]

He has a life that he does not want to blow up. When Ms. Washington has this baby, her

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

friends had told us she had texted Robert and basically said, if you don't tell your wife, I will.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

He wanted to make sure that his name and his image remain un. And she was a big threat to that at that point, because she was going to expose him.

[Reporter/Narrator]

Throughout that whole testimony, he just never moved.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

He just never. He just sat there completely cold to everything.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Robert Marks, attorney doesn't call any witnesses, and he doesn't do a closing argument.

[Reporter/Narrator]

How can you defend a man who is up on murder charges without presenting one witness? I don't get that.

[Detective Winter]

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.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

I kept trying to read the jurors. I couldn't read them. And so part of me started feeling a little. Little nervous.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Also waiting for that verdict is Lintel's daughter, who's not so little anymore. That brave little girl is now nine years old. You'll meet her when we come back.

[Detective Winter]

And say we have a verdict. We, the people, 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.

[News Anchor/Reporter]

It only took the jury about 30 minutes to find Robert Marks guilty of murder and feticide.

[Reporter/Narrator]

All of us were honest.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

Same sty, same decision.

[Detective Winter]

I don't remember anybody even arguing. It was so ironclad. There was no upset emotions. We knew we were doing the right thing.

[Melissa Mason (Friend of Lintell)]

And I remember just yelling, they got it right. They got it right.

[Robert Marks' Wife or Close Associate]

After five and a half years, finally got our justice served today.

[Detective Winter]

I thought we had raised enough Reasonable doubt that the result would have been different.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

After the verdict, Marks wife Kayla, divorces him, telling 2020 she was shocked to learn of his multiple affairs.

[Reporter/Narrator]

Robert Marks was sentenced to life in prison. And he is actually in one of the worst prisons in this country.

[Brett Buffington (Crime Reporter)]

There are things worse than the death penalty in Louisiana. They call it Angola.

[Detective Winter]

And he deserves every bit of what's going to happen to him up there. I hate to come across that tough, but this was just so unjustifiable.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

I spent some time with Lintel's daughter.

[Former Student]

Really?

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

She's a little shy, but like most kids, she tells me she likes making those tickets. 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 Lintel in front?

[Robert Marks' Wife or Close Associate]

I see that she's smart, educated, she's focused when she puts her mind to stuff.

[Reporter/Narrator]

I hope that somewhere inside of her, that strong little girl realizes that she stood up for her mom.

[Brett Buffington (Crime Reporter)]

My heart breaks for her. She's got to go 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. It's so sad because Robert Marks made sure that her mom wouldn't be there with her.

[Robert Marks' Wife or Close Associate]

We have our good days, we have our bad days. And 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.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

That little girl that I sat with once, David, is now a teenager, Lyntel's daughter. And she is living with religion. And they tell us she's enjoying life, loves to dance.

[Cell Phone Data Expert/Cy Ray]

We love hearing that. We should also point out tonight that Robert Marks 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.

[Jamisha Payne (Friend and Colleague)]

And I'm Debra Roberts. From all of us here at ABC News and 20 20, good night.

[Cell Phone Data Expert/Cy Ray]

Warning.

[Detective Winter]

The following ZipRecruiter radio spot you are about to hear is going to be

[Cell Phone Data Expert/Cy Ray]

filled with F words when you're hiring.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

We at ZipRecruiter know you can feel frustrated, forlorn even, like your efforts are futile. And you can spend a fortune trying to find fabulous people, only to get flooded with candidates who are just fine. Fortunately, ZipRecruiter figured out how to fix all that. And right now you can try ZipRecruiter for free at ZipRecruiter.com Zip with ZipRecruiter, you can forget your frustrations because we find the right people for your roles fast, which is our absolute favorite F word. In fact, four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day.

[Detective Winter]

Fantastic.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

So whether you need to hire four, 40 or 400 people, get ready to meet first rate talent. Just go to ZipRecruiter.com Zip to try ZipRecruiter for free. Don't forget that ZipRecruiter.com Zip finally, that's ZipRecruiter.com Zip.