Introduction
On April 26, 1999, Roberta Vivian Johnson, nearly 9 months pregnant, was found buried in a four-foot shallow grave just off the main road.
Background
Roberta was a mother of one, with a son on the way. She had driven a bus for a living, but she also spent some time in the military. Roberta's daughter, Arkeisha Johnson, was 17 and ready to graduate high school at the time of the murder, while Arkeisha's boyfriend, Sidney Hudson, was 18. Roberta was married to Tommy Lee Johnson, but they had been separated for nearly a year at the time of her murder.
The Crime
Just days after her family reported her missing, Roberta Johnson's body was discovered by a police officer on the Monday of April 26, 1999, buried in a shallow grave covered by the hood of an old Chevrolet. It was determined that Roberta was killed by a blow to the back of the head, crushing her skull. The murder weapon has never been identified, however. Near the scene of the crime, leaves covered in blood, tire tracks, and footprints were all found, along with fingernails and a ring.
The Investigation
The Saturday prior to the discovery of her body, Roberta had dropped her daughter off at school sometime around 6:30 AM, and then dropped her daughter's boyfriend off at his house about an hour later at 7:30 AM. Sometime before 10:00 AM, she called her mother and told her she had an appointment at Winn-Dixie, where her 1990 Buick Regal would be found abandoned. Roberta had told her mother that she was meeting someone on the morning of her disappearance. Her mother said she didn't explicitly name Drayton as the person she was seeing, but at the time she assumed that's who she was referring to.
Her car was found locked, and her keys were on the curb nearby. In the backseat of her car was a bag of trash. The Friday before her murder, a witness reported seeing Roberta with a man in the parking lot of an unnamed convenience store, possibly in some kind of altercation. The man was later identified as Drayton Florence Sr., an Army recruiter Roberta was allegedly seeing at one point or another, though he denied any kind of intimate relationship between them.
The last known meeting between Drayton and Roberta took place on Friday. Drayton claims he was in the office Saturday, and coworkers corroborated this story, though acknowledged he technically could have left unnoticed. After being questioned by detectives, Drayton asked multiple coworkers to swap their work cars, eventually convincing one to do so. Detectives were able to find the car he was driving at the time of Roberta's disappearance, and when searched, found amniotic fluid in the passenger's seat. Florence admitted that Roberta sat down in his car on Friday, but didn't reveal anything else. Drayton's home was searched, but no evidence tying him to the murder was found.
Detectives were able to find other men involved with Roberta Johnson, but were soon ruled out based on their alibis.
Both a ring and some fingernails were recovered at the scene of the crime, and tested for DNA, but the results have not been made publicly available.
Theories
The only real theory with any credence is that Drayton Florence Sr. is responsible for the murder. However, there's no evidence that directly ties him to the crime, not even the amniotic fluid in the passenger seat of his work car. The last known date of contact between the two is the Friday before her body was discovered. However, she was alive at least part of Saturday, since she dropped her daughter and daughter's boyfriend off, and made a phone call to her mother that same day.
One theory is that Roberta wasn't sure who the father of her child was, and was trying to get child support from Drayton Florence Sr. It's possible that rather than pay child support, Drayton decided to murder Roberta Johnson. It was later determined that Drayton was not the father of the child, but it's possible neither Roberta nor Drayton actually knew that. It's also possible that Drayton felt threatened that Roberta may tell his wife about their affair, and decided to murder her to keep their affair from getting out. It was also discovered during the investigation into Drayton that he had two other children with two other different women outside of his marriage.
Other theories involve any one of the other men Roberta was seeing, or had been seeing in the past, but all were cleared, including her estranged husband. The best theory we have is that Drayton Florence Sr. is involved with her murder, but with no evidence pointing to him having been with her on Saturday, the case remains unresolved.
To this day, the case remains unsolved. Roberta's family continues to have hope that her killer will one day be brought to justice.
References
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1999/04/28/blow-to-head-killed-mom-unborn-baby/