By all accounts, Roberta Johnson had a heart of gold. After serving in the U.S. Army, the Florida middle-school teacher had a passion for working with troubled kids. She was known to take the children with the most difficulties under her wing and nurture them as best she could.
Which is why no one can understand how this mother — who was also 9 months pregnant at the time of her death — could have been murdered and buried in a shallow grave in Marion County.
According to Fox 35 Orlando, it was a spring morning on April 24, 1999, when Johnson left to take her 17-year-old daughter to school. It was a Saturday and the teen was set to do some extra classroom schoolwork. On that trip, according to the report, Johnson made a phone call to her own mother and then shuttled her daughter’s boyfriend back to his house. That was the last time Johnson was seen alive.
Johnson never made it back to the school that afternoon to pick up her teen. Arkeisha Johnson said at the time, “It was unusual for my mother not to pick me up.”
Those initial hours turned to days. Little did Arkeisha know at the time: “When she dropped me off at school, I told her I loved her; it would be my last words to her.”
According to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page, on a recent position about the case, Arkeisha said about her mother’s murder, “It’s been a very long road. An emotional road. It happened three or four days before my 18th birthday, a week or two before I graduated high school. So to have to go through those two very important milestones without her when she had been there for me since day one, it breaks your heart.”
Related: Her Sister’s Murder Was A Cold Case — Now She Fights To Keep Killer Behind Bars
Lauren Lettelier, a Marion County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson, told the Fox station, “It’s unimaginable what kind of person is still out there, that we need to find. We need to bring justice … and close this case.”
In 2003, Ocala Star Banner spoke with Louise Jackson, who at the time of the report was 62. Johnson was her oldest daughter. Jackson was filled with emotion as she relived the moments and days following the death of her daughter and her unborn grandson.
Authorities also say, according to the Fox station, they’ve looked closely at a person of interest over the years, but they won’t release any other information about the possible suspect. The Ocala Star Banner said Johnson was beaten to death with an instrument of some sort. When her body was found, it was covered not only with dirt, but also with the hood of a car. Some speculate the murder was not only planned, but executed from a known attacker who may have wanted her dead.
Detective Jeff Owns also touched on a motive for Johnson’s death. In 2003, he said, “As the case gets colder, it gets difficult. We’ve turned this case inside out. We’ve interviewed more than three dozen people and have come up with nothing.” Owens also added it is a “troublesome” murder because there is no evidence of a robbery or of a sexual crime. It does not appear Johnson had any known enemies.
In 2010, Jacksonville.com said Johnson’s murder was re-examined in a cold-case technique class. Detective Donald Buie spoke out and said her body was buried in a four-feet-deep grave. The report also said it’s possible Johnson was trying to “shake down” a married lover at the time of her murder.
The man, who the publication identifies as a former professional football player, spoke out to the newspaper at the time of their reporting and said, “I know I didn’t do it.” CrimeFeed will not name Johnson’s friend because he’s never been charged. The man also said, according to the report, he did cooperate with detectives in 1999 when his friend was found murdered.
It’s important to note witnesses never put the friend and Johnson together prior to her killing. The report claims if the friend was the father of the unborn child it would have been his third out of wedlock and he would have to pay child support. You can read more about law enforcement’s analysis and theories on Johnson’s case here, including information about someone who may have seen her at a local convenience store, where her vehicle was found.
Johnson had plans to name her unborn child Nerriah Izrael X.
If you know anything about this case or if you have any fresh leads, please reach out to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office directly. This is one of 33 cases the department says they work daily. Arkeisha pleads, “Help us bring peace to my family and justice for the mom and my brother. No matter how small you may think it is, it could be the one missing key that we need to solve this case.”
Read more: Ocala Star Banner
Read more: Fox 35 Orlando
Read more: Marion County Sheriff
Photo: Fox35