Baton Rouge home of slain activist Sadie Roberts-Joseph burglarized

Stolen items included a 60-inch TV.

December 13, 2019, 5:18 PM

For the second time since community activist Sadie Roberts-Joseph was murdered over the summer, her property was disrespected.

Police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, were called on Wednesday to the home of the founder of the Odell S. Williams Now And Then African American Museum to discover it had been burglarized, ransacked and a 60-inch television stolen.

Roberts-Joseph's son, Jason Roberts, told ABC Baton Rouge affiliate WBRZ he was on a routine visit to his mother's home when he noticed the backdoor had been kicked in.

Flowers outside the Odell S. Williams Now and Then African-American History Museum, whose founder Sadie Roberts-Joseph, was discovered dead in the trunk of a car in Baton Rouge, La., July 14, 2019.
Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images

"This is, this should be, the last place anyone should come to violate," he told WBRZ. "It crushes us to know that someone came to this place."

Roberts-Joseph was found dead, doused in bleach, inside the trunk of her own car on July 12. The 75-year-old museum founder allegedly was suffocated by her tenant, Ronn Bell, who was $1,200 behind in rent, police said.

The 38-year-old Bell was indicted by a grand jury in November 2019 on one count of second-degree murder. Bell entered a plea of not guilty.

Gov. Kathleen Blanco, left, talks with Sadie Roberts-Joseph, right, before a rally on the steps of the state Capitol in Batobn Rouge, La., in April 2004.
Arthur D. Lauck/AP, FILE

If convicted, Bell faces life in prison without the possibility of parole, probation or suspension of sentence, according to Louisiana law.

Weeks after Roberts-Joseph's death, her museum on South Boulevard was vandalized, according to The Associated Press.

"To know she gave her heart to the city, and the city ended up taking her life, makes you wonder what more does she need to give," her son said. "I can't think of someone who deserves respect more than my mother, who gave so much for this city. What more could you want from her?"