BATON ROUGE - The trial has begun for accused killer Ronn Bell in the murder of Baton Rouge activist Sadie Roberts-Joseph. The family of Joseph says the trial has been a long time coming.

“For six long years it's been waking up every day knowing there is no resolution to what we have been going through,” her son Jason Roberts said.

It was on July 12th, 2019, that family, friends, and the community lost Roberts-Joseph.

Baton Rouge police found Roberts-Joseph dead in the trunk of her car behind an abandoned house on North 20th Street. Investigators believe she was strangled.

Bell was a tenant of one of the properties that Roberts-Joseph owned. Investigators say Bell owed her more than $1,200 in back rent.

Since Bell’s arrest, the trial has been delayed multiple times. 

“An emotional roller coaster every time we would have a court date set, and we’d be approaching the court date for it to get pushed back,” Jason said.

That was the emotional roller coaster and the anguish that we continually have,” he said.

Jason described his mom as one of the most giving, loving, and charitable people you would ever meet.

“She was the type of person who literally would bring in people from outside if she needed help, and she would help them. She’s the type of woman who would give the literal shirt off her back just to help you out. That was the type. My mom was the type of person she was in the community as well,” he said.

Now that the trial is underway, there is only one thing he and his family are ready to hear.

“I’ve waited six years to hear two words — ‘He’s guilty,’” he said.