Exclusive: 'We have to forgive,' says sister of murdered Greenbelt teacher

“It’s difficult but we have to forgive," said Fati Toure, sister of victim Mariam Sylla in an exclusive interview with WUSA9. “Mariam is fine where she is, because she is with God." 

Toure, who is from Ivory Coast, was preparing Wednesday for a funeral Friday at the Diyanet Center mosque in Lanham. She said she is coping with the horrible murder of her beloved sister through a lens of religion.

"Everything that God is doing is good," she said. "It’s difficult to accept."

Parents at the Dora Kennedy French Immersion School in Greenbelt are petitioning Prince George’s County Public Schools to allow virtual learning Friday to compensate for funeral attendance.

"Given the circumstances surrounding Mme Sylla’s death, her years of service to this county, and the tremendous impact she had on her community, colleagues and students, we anticipate that a large number of both staff and families will pay their respects to Mme Sylla and her family at her funeral services this Friday, September 8," the petition reads. "This will make it highly unfeasible to have adequate class coverage and provide an optimal French-immersive learning environment for students on that day." 

In response, Prince George's County Public Schools issued a statement saying administrators will make accommodations for any staff that want to attend, but that school will also continue to operate on Friday for in-person learning.

"This is a profound loss, not only for the DKFI community but for our entire school district," the statement said, noting that grief counselors have been called to the school. "We are also working with the school principal to ensure staff and/or teachers who would like to attend Mme Sylla's funeral services are able to do so." 

Many Parents at the Kennedy French Immersion School in Greenbelt are taking the cue from Toure regarding forgiveness when counselling kids about the unthinkable way Sylla died.

“He was shocked -- like mom, why would somebody do that," said parent Melinda Conrad-Brown. "I said well there is evil in the world and there will always be evil in the world, but there is also good in the world. And while it may be hard to forgive it is something we have to strive to to and our forgiveness will make us stronger than the evil in the world." 

Toure said she is deeply grateful to the school community for the searches they conducted and outpouring of support she’s received.

Murder suspect Harold Landon III is accused of murdering Sylla, and disposing of her dismembered body near a roadside storm water management pond near Joint Base Andrews in Clinton.

Police say cell phone records show Landon and Sylla were near the Schrom Hills Park in Greenbelt at the same time when she disappeared on July 30.

Investigators say they believe Landon was a complete stranger to Sylla and no motive has been established.

Landon was arrested Aug. 1 after an unrelated domestic violence incident at a home in Greenbelt.  In that incident he is accused of attacking an ex-girlfriend with a knife.

He was arrested at nearby Doctor's Hospital and was jailed as investigators developed evidence in the Sylla murder.