Kriti Mehrotra
It was June 2016 when the entire state of Louisiana was left baffled to the core as a pregnant middle school teacher was found shot to death in an irrigation ditch at a sugarcane field. The truth is, as carefully chronicled in ABC’s ’20/20: The Barefoot Witness,’ she’d been reported missing with suspected foul play days prior as her 3-year-old daughter was found wandering alone in a parking lot. This young girl’s bare feet were splattered with blood, and she was nervous, but she was so articulate once she realized people were there to help that she blew the case wide open.
Darren Glasper is Lyntell Washington’s Baby Daddy
Although reportedly raised around New York and having graduated from Tottenville High School, Darren Glasper had long settled in Louisiana when he first met Lyntell Washington. As per their friends, they’d come across one another at a big barbecue and quickly fell head over heels. He’d seen both her and her twin sister Cyntell at the same time, yet he was stuck on the former. The duo became officially involved, but neither imagined they would fall pregnant a year into their relationship, especially as the teacher had been told she couldn’t have kids.
However, both Lyntell and Darren were over the moon – the pregnancy came as an unexpected surprise, yet the couple was truly overjoyed about soon welcoming their miracle baby into this world. They even discussed settling down together and tying the knot during this period, but they ultimately decided it would be best if they went their separate ways since they were focused on different things. According to the baby daddy’s account, he was under the influence of alcohol and drugs a lot at this stage of his life, so they split when she was a month away from her due date.
Lyntell Washington’s Daughter Witnessed Her Brutal Murder
Despite the fact that Lyntell and Darren called quits on their romance before their daughter was even born, they managed to maintain a cordial connection thanks to their shared history as well as her. The mother seemingly had full custody of the little girl, but the father was also still actively involved in their lives – in fact, he was one of the last people to get in touch with the teacher on June 8, 2016. As per his accounts, he had left her a voice mail about having dreamt she was pregnant with a little girl again, but he never got a response – the next thing he knew, she and their child were in the news.
According to records, a good Samaritan saw a young girl wandering in a parking lot with a pillow and no adult around, so he stopped, asked her if she was alone, and immediately dialed 911. While on the phone with dispatchers, he asked her questions about her mother, their car, and why she had blood on her feet, making the 3-year-old inadvertently realize he was trying to really help. That’s when she innocently revealed everything – she took him to their car with blood spatters across the front seat, revealed a “Mr. Robbie put the blood there,” and then added he was the one who left her alone.
With this and her subsequent questioning at a counseling center, this little girl painted a clear yet tragic picture of how Lyntell was shot to death while she witnessed everything from the back seat. After reiterating that it was “Mr. Robbie” who left her and the blood in the car, she added she had heard a “boom” and seen her mother be hurt in her head before being left “asleep” beside/in a lake. This “Mr. Robbie” was Lyntell’s then-boyfriend, colleague, and baby daddy, Robert Marks, and the “lake” was the irrigation drain in Iberville Parish, where the Baton Rouge resident’s remains were eventually found.
Having Turned Over a New Leaf, Darren Has Custody of His and Lyntell’s Daughter
With the then-3-year-old’s help, along with additional pieces of evidence such as cell phone records and Robert’s other affair partner, he was arrested for murder as well as feticide in June 2016. When he eventually stood trial for the charges against him over 5½ years later, she also testified against him, meaning she definitely played a crucial role in ensuring he was ultimately found guilty. By this point, the 9-year-old had actually settled with her father, Darren Glasper, who had attained custody after showing up to court clean and proving he had what it takes to care for her all by himself.
From what we can tell, Lyntell’s daughter is around 12 years old as of writing and living her best possibly tween life alongside her loving father in New Orleans, Louisiana. She attends school, is seemingly passionate about dance, often prefers to share her life experiences on TikTok, and even learned how to shoot a weapon relatively recently, thanks to Darren. In other words, he is doing his best to give her the life she deserves, all the while showing up in the most important ways, which is all that matters in the long run.
Darren’s personal standing seems that he is a professional mason contractor these days, meaning he specializes in outside work involving brick, stone, and concrete. We should also mention that it seems like he has two older kids from a previous relationship – a son and a daughter, both of whom have big, loving families of their own, too. Furthermore, it’s imperative to note that this man of faith is apparently getting into martial arts these days, has an innate interest in music, and often prefers to go by the name Ras Fiyah.
Read More: Robert Marks: Where is the Killer Now?
