A 42-year-old Pleasanton man was arrested last week after authorities allege he killed the woman he was living with and left her dismembered body on the Alameda shoreline in July.
The remains of the woman, later identified as 27-year-old Rachel Elizabeth Imani Buckner, were found July 20 by someone walking on a trail near the Bay Farm Island Bridge, Alameda Police Chief Nishant Joshi said on Sept. 7.
“It’s a very disturbing case,” Joshi said. Buckner’s body was dismembered and wrapped in plastic, according to police. Buckner’s family has been notified and is devastated, the chief said.
Joseph C. Roberts, 42, was arrested on Sept. 6 in connection with the death, by the U.S. Marshals Service and police from Pleasanton and Alameda.
The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office confirmed to the Weekly that Roberts has been charged with first-degree murder, but additional details about the criminal case have not yet been revealed by prosecutors. He remains in custody without bail at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin.
The victim was identified by her DNA, and evidence led detectives to Roberts. Detectives have not determined a motive in the death, and it hasn’t been determined when or where she was killed, Joshi said.
Buckner, who graduated from Dougherty Valley High School in San Ramon and Howard University in Washington, D.C., was pursuing a law degree at Golden Gate University, according to a resume on social media.
Roberts, who was arraigned in Alameda County Superior Court last Friday, is scheduled to appear before a judge for entry of plea on Sept. 21, according to the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office online inmate locator system.
Pleasanton police Lt. Erik Silacci told the Weekly that his department assisted in the arrest at Roberts’ apartment in Pleasanton last week, although the Alameda Police Department is the lead investigative agency in the case as that city is where Buckner’s remains were found.
“Obviously it is a very tragic, tragic event, and our thoughts are with the victim and her family,” Silacci said. “We’re going to assist Alameda PD in any way we can to ensure this suspect is prosecuted and held accountable.”
Anyone with information that might assist the investigation is asked to call Alameda police at 510-337-8402.
— Story by Bay City News Service and Embarcadero Media East Bay Division editorial director Jeremy Walsh.
