I remember it like it was just yesterday. The sun was bright, the air was warm and not a cloud to be found. I was heading home from swimming, when my friend Travis came running towards me, waving a newspaper over his head. As he handed it to me, crying, I saw the picture of a beautiful woman with longish curly brown hair, Jacqueline Roberson...
Twenty-eight years old…
First grade teacher at Ardmore Elementary School...
The headline read “Body Found in Prince George’s County, Believed to be Missing Teacher; Area Searched Near Where Car Was Found.” However, all that I could see was “Body Found” and her face. My eyes welled with tears, blurring my vision as I ran home to the comfort of my mother’s arms. I remember handing the paper to her and her turning on the news. She tried to keep me from watching, but I refused to leave. I mean, hello??? This was my teacher! This was my teacher from this previous school year!! (I had been held back in kindergarten so I was a year older than my fellow classmates). On the news that day, I can remember seeing the police searching the brush in the woods. Combing through every ounce of debris left behind by nature...
…Today, I am 32 years old. Only four years older than Mrs. Roberson, when she was stabbed to death while waxing her husbands car.
I’d not been going to school for very long and had already NOT had the best experience ever. Not until we moved to Maryland in 1986, and I’d become the student of Miss Bolino She was a beauty and looked so young to me. First day of school, I sat prim and proper at my desk. Arms laid across it, fingers laced together. Trying so hard to make the best impression that I possibly could…While the rest of the class was loud and rowdy. I had been noticed by my new teacher, and greeted with the warmest of smiles. To get the attention of the rest of the class, I remember she asked us all how old we thought she was. I raised my hand and waited to be called upon. “19!”, I’d said. And I truly believed her to be so young. Miss Bolino liked my answer and made it a point to tell me so.
In April, the following year, my beautiful, young teacher married a man named Clyde. A handsome man that I remember to have had dark hair. One Day, she brought him and their Golden Retriever to class for show and tell. Then she explained to us that she was not longer Miss Bolino, but that she was now Mrs. Roberson. To help each of her students remember her new last name, she made a little game, teaching us motions…The “ROW" a boat motion, the “BURR” its cold motion and “SUN” above our heads motion. Row-Burr-Sun… Roberson! That school year was such fun having her as our teacher. She was the last teacher, until the eight grade, to have made an impact on me. A part of me shattered the day I’d learned that someone had brutally slayed her! Her short life, her impact on me and her murder has never left me. I’ve searched far too long for information on what had happened and whom had commited such a horrific crime. Finally, thanks to the help of my mother and a friend, I have some real answers. Yet, I will continue to search for more, for as long as it takes until I know the trials have all ended and her case has finally been laid to rest….
I remember the day, my teacher’s body was found, like it was just yesterday. The sun was bright... The air was warm... Not a cloud could be found.
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