Crime & Safety
Dismembered Body Dumped On Bay Farm Island: Guilty Verdict
The former law school student was murdered and dismembered by her boyfriend.
ALAMEDA, CA — A man who killed and dismembered his girlfriend and left her remains in a trash bag along a waterfront trail in Alameda was convicted of her murder Monday, according to prosecutors.
Joseph Roberts, 43, was found guilty of second-degree murder in the death of 27-year-old Rachel Elizabeth Imani Buckner, the Alameda County District Attorney's Office said.
On July 20, 2023, Alameda Police discovered the dismembered body of Buckner inside a black garbage bag near the Harbor Bay Club on Bay Farm Island.
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A jury heard evidence that Roberts' DNA was found on the duct tape used to seal the garbage bag, according to prosecutors.
Roberts and Buckner met at Golden Gate University Law School in 2019 and lived together in Pleasanton, the District Attorney's Office said. Police were called to the pair's apartment on several occasions for welfare checks and domestic violence calls. At the time of Buckner's disappearance, she had been living with Roberts, but he never reported her as missing.
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Roberts is facing 15 years to life in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 14.
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