Assistant principal is charged with murder of high school teacher after he asked janitor how to clean up blood and left desperate note for help destroying her car
- Ernest Joseph Roberts is accused of killing test coordinator Kameela Russell
- Mother-of-two’s body was found in a canal a week after she went missing May 15
- On May 20, Roberts directed a janitor to go to a filing cabinet where he found a note about how to get rid of a car and keys to the woman’s Audi
- Roberts also asked how to clean blood and claimed he killed an intruder with a baseball bat and wrapped the body in tarp
- Cops listened in on a call with Roberts and janitor that revealed where car was
- They later discovered her blood in his Florida home
- Roberts was arrested Friday a month after she went missing
A former assistant Principal in Florida has been charged with the murder of a Miami teacher whose killing he tried to cover up by disposing of her car, according to police.
Ernest Joseph Roberts, 39, allegedly hid Kameela Russell’s motor but was busted after leaving a note for a janitor at Norland High, according to Friday charging documents.
It’s a month since she disappeared and a teenager found the mother-of two’s body on the banks of a canal near Roberts’ home, between Florida’s Turnpike and the gated Andover neighborhood, a week later.
Russell’s black Audi was seen speeding away from her aunt’s driveway May 15 on the evening she was supposed to take her daughter to a gymnastics class but her disappearance sparked a missing person’s hunt.
Ernest Joseph Roberts is accused of killing test coordinator Kameela Russell. Mother-of-two’s body was found in a canal a week after she went missing May 15
Most recently Roberts had worked at Linda Lentin K-8 Center in North Miami where he had transferred in February.
On May 20, Roberts directed a janitor at the Center ‘to go to a specific file cabinet inside of conference room 908’ where he found car keys and a note.
‘Do you know anyone that can chop up a car? If so or make it ‘disappear’ take these keys,’ he allegedly wrote. ‘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!’
Roberts called the janitor saying: ‘I did something crazy.’
The janitor stated Roberts had said he killed an intruder with a baseball bat.
An autopsy stated Russell died of blunt force trauma.
Roberts allegedly asked how to get rid of blood. Speaking about the supposed intruder he claimed he had wrapped the body in a tarp and ‘dragged the body through the house leaving blood stains’.
The janitor initially believed Roberts was joking and suggested Clorox.
Two were friends from children and both worked together before Roberts transferred schools
The janitor notified police who later listened in on a call about the where the car was located.
It led to a probe of phone records, surveillance video and DNA evidence, a Friday statement said.
Investigators found blood splattered on an Amazon box in his bedroom which contained bloody sandals, a cleaning mop and traces of bleach.
They later saw a neighbor’s home surveillance which showed her car arrive at his home and her enter but never leave.
Roberts cut of his own security footage shortly before her arrival.
Cops believe he loaded her dead body into the trunk before he was seen driving the vehicle away and returning home on foot.
Police watched him as he stayed in Broward County until he was arrested Friday morning when dropping his stepdaughter off.
But a motive has not been established for the murder. Roberts – who has worked for Miami-Dade County Public Schools since 2004 – was godfather to Russell’s children, one of whom is a freshman at Norland High and another who just completed first grade.
However he previously worked with state-probation-officer-turned-test-coordinator Russell – his childhood friend – at Norland in Miami Gardens where he was for six years until February.
A note to a janitor at Norland High eventually got the assistant principal busted
Transfer records referenced staff at the school – where he was promoted from a teacher to assistant principal in August 2017 – not being allowed to supervise relatives.
Roberts’ Broward County address was listed as the same as another employee of the school, Miami Herald reported.
Roberts was divorced in May 2018.
Now his school wants to fire him. A spokesperson said he was quietly removed when they learned he was a person of interest. He had no record of disciplinary action.
Jackie Calzadilla said in a statement the school ‘is appalled and saddened’.
‘Our prayers and thoughts continue to be with Ms. Russell’s family.’
His mother attended a press conference Friday but refused to comment.
She told the Herald two weeks ago about rumors of her son’s involvement of the death: ‘That would surprise me because I’ve never seen anything that would warrant all of that.’
Mayor Oliver Gilbert – who graduated from Norland – said: ‘I knew Kameela. When I visited Norland all the time she was the sweetest. Her loss is a loss for everybody.’