A young Bay Area law student was found dismembered on the Alameda shoreline, and police say the man she lived with is responsible for her death.
The woman’s remains were found on July 20 inside a bag left near Bay Farm Island Bridge, Alameda police said in a statement Thursday. Whoever put her there had removed her head, feet and hands, making identification difficult, according to charging documents reviewed by KTVU. On Aug. 30, a DNA test led to the woman’s identity: Rachel Elizabeth Imani Buckner, a 27-year-old law student from Pleasanton.
Alameda police said in the statement that “additional evidence” led detectives to Joseph C. Roberts, 42, of Pleasanton. According to charging documents, Roberts allegedly lived with Buckner and referred to her as his fiancé. Roberts was taken into custody on Sept. 6 and is being held without bail at Santa Rita Jail. According to jail records he has been charged with murder, among other felonies, and is due in court for a plea hearing on Sept. 21.
According to family members who spoke with KTVU, Buckner grew up in San Ramon and attended Howard University on a scholarship. She was a student at Golden Gate University School of Law at the time of her death and had nearly finished her law degree, family said.