Rachel’s body was found on Bay Farm Island last year
On Tuesday, July 2, Joseph Roberts (43) was sentenced to 15 years to life for the murder of Rachel Elizabeth Imani Buckner (27). Judge Scott Patton also ordered Roberts to pay $19,818 in restitution. A jury found Roberts guilty of second-degree murder on May 13, 2024.
Buckner’s dismembered body was found inside a black garbage bag along a waterfront trail near Harbor Bay Club on Bay Farm Island on July 20, 2023, according to Alameda Police Department investigators. The evidence in the case included the defendant’s DNA being found on a piece of duct tape used to seal the garbage bag.
Roberts and Buckner were living in an apartment in Pleasanton at the time of her disappearance, but evidence showed that he never reported that she was missing. According to police records, officers had responded to the apartment for several welfare checks and domestic violence calls prior to that time.
Before ordering the sentence, Judge Patton told Roberts that his crime was one of the most heinous he had ever seen.
“The inhumanity of your actions are beyond my ability to comprehend,” Judge Patton said, according to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle. “None of my comments here are sufficient to stress the outrage of our community at your actions.”
However, a second-degree murder conviction and the 15 years to life sentence was the maximum penalty allowed, due to the nature of the evidence and the circumstances of the case. According to the Chronicle report, Roberts’ defense attorney, Annie Beles, said no evidence was presented as to how Buckner died before she was dismembered.
However, evidence presented by prosecutors during the trial did show that DNA on some of the bags and a piece of duct tape pointed to Roberts, as did cellphone records, which placed him at the scene the day a dog walker came upon Buckner’s body. Investigators also found a fragment of a bone belonging to Buckner in a drain at their shared apartment.
Roberts was credited 300 days of time served before being transferred to San Quentin State Prison.
“Words are inadequate to describe what Rachel Imani Buckner’s family must be feeling in this moment after their loved one was tragically taken from them in such an unthinkable way,” Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price stated after the sentencing. “While we hope this sentence will provide a sense of closure, no punishment will ever undo what Joseph Roberts did to Rachel and the lasting impact it will have on her family.”
