Ex-assistant principal likely faces death penalty in case of murdered Norland High teacher
Prosecutors plan to seek an indictment against the ex-Norland High assistant principal accused of murdering a teacher — which means he’ll likely face the death penalty.
Ernest Joseph Roberts appeared in a Miami-Dade court Friday for arraignment as prosecutors announced they will go to a grand jury to seek an indictment on first-degree murder charges. In Miami-Dade, prosecutors normally seek the death penalty on all first-degree murder cases, although they can waive it months or years later.
For now, Roberts is charged with second-degree murder. Roberts pleaded not guilty, through court documents filed by lawyer Rod Vereen.
“There shouldn’t be a rush to judgment. My client is being convicted in the court of public opinion, and they don’t know the facts of the case,” Vereen told the Herald on Friday. “Let justice run its course. My client is innocent until proven guilty.”
Roberts, 39, is accused of murdering Kameela Russell, a teacher and test proctor at Norland High in North Miami-Dade. The popular educator disappeared on May 15, failing to pick up her daughter at a relative’s home in Miami Gardens.
Her body was found days later in a canal near Roberts’ home. From the beginning, he was the chief suspect — Russell was last seen alive on a neighbor’s surveillance video pulling her car into his driveway that evening.
Court documents paint a compelling circumstantial case against Roberts, who had been friends with Russell since childhood and was even the godfather of her children.
Miami Gardens police detectives say Russell’s blood was found on an Amazon box inside his bedroom, which had been thoroughly cleaned with bleach. He is seen on the surveillance video putting something — believed to be her body — in her trunk, then driving her car away, according to the arrest warrant.
He also tried enlisting the help of a school janitor to get rid of her car, even penning him a note and leaving it for him hidden inside a cabinet at Linda Lentin K-8 Center in North Miami, where he’d been most recently working.
“Do you know anyone that can chop up a car? If so or make it ‘disappear’ take these keys,” Roberts’ note read, according to the warrant. “Its behind the speedway racetrack on 441 by County line. Friends are gone and need it to disappear. If not leave it + I’ll work it out later. THROW THIS NOTE AWAY!”
According to police, Roberts also told the janitor that an intruder broke into his home and he hit and killed the person with a baseball bat. Roberts even asked the janitor “how to get rid of the blood stains,” the warrant said.
The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office ruled that Russell died of blunt force trauma. Investigators have not determined a motive.
This story was originally published July 5, 2019 at 12:52 PM.