Missing Greenbelt teacher found dead; suspect charged with murder

Police say they have charged a suspect in the death of a Greenbelt woman who disappeared more than a month ago, just before a new year began at the school where she taught second grade.

Mariame Toure Sylla was last seen July 29 going for a walk at Schrom Hills Park. A family friend reported her missing the next day, but an exhaustive search of the park did not provide any clues, and a desperate, widespread search ensued.

But on Friday, Prince George's County police announced dismembered remains found in Clinton just days after Toure Sylla's disappearance have been identified as hers.

A "concerned citizen" alerted police to the remains near a pond off Old Alexandria Ferry Road in Clinton on Aug. 1, and DNA results later identified the remains as Toure Sylla's, Prince George's County Police Chief Malik Aziz said Friday.

Harold Francis Landon III, 33, of University Park, is charged with her murder, Aziz said.

Detectives determined that the suspect was in the park at the same time as the victim, Aziz said. Police believe Toure Sylla and Landon did not know each other.

“This appears to be stranger to stranger at this particular time,” Aziz said. “You know, when we’re investigating these type of things, we always leave a door open for something that could have been missed, but our detectives have been working really hard to make those connections, and we haven’t found any connection that these two people knew each other, and I don’t believe they knew each other. I just think we have a person who decided to commit an horrific crime. The most horrific crime you can do is murder. And do that for some unknown, unjustifiable reason.”

This is the first time authorities publicly confirmed Toure Sylla's death. An autopsy will determine the cause of death, police said.

Landon has been in jail since Aug. 1 on an unrelated domestic violence charge. He was arrested just hours before Toure Sylla's remains were found.

In August, investigators had said they had not uncovered any signs of foul play, Greenbelt Police Chief Richard Bowers said. Bowers said the department also had searched Toure Sylla's cellphone and financial records and scoured social media.

"Keep in mind we will go where the evidence leads us," Bowers said Aug. 10. "If we discover information that would indicate that there was foul play in her disappearance, then that would be the direction our investigation goes."

Toure Sylla taught at Greenbelt's Dora Kennedy French Immersion School, where she was known as Madame Sylla.

“She was planning on retiring a year from now,” Prince George’s County Educators Association President Dr. Donna Christy said. “She had purchased a home back on the Ivory Coast in Africa. She was praying to move home.”

The day before school started, dozens of people gathered to pray for her safe return.

“To all of the young people who love Miss Sylla, who we’ve heard from over the last few weeks, second grade students that she taught, to tell all of those students, as well, that we express our grief and condolences to them,” County Executive Angela Alsobrooks said Friday.

“We need you. We love you. Everybody is looking for you. Please come back. We need you,” her sister, Fati Toure, said at the time.

Fati Toure, who traveled to Maryland from their native Ivory Coast when her sister disappeared, was in attendance at Friday's police news conference.