Quackenbush’s killer, former Rochester teacher, found guilty of murder – Post Bulletin

NEW ORLEANS — Liz Quackenbush’s ex-boyfriend, Preston Higgs, was found guilty Friday of murdering the former Rochester public school teacher by a New Orleans jury, according to New Orleans media reports.

The jury deliberated for less than two hours before returning a guilty verdict of second-degree murder. The verdict comes more than three years after Quackenbush was found dead in the New Orleans home she shared with Higgs.

Higgs, a Rochester senior, admitted on the stand that he killed Quackenbush with a pickaxe but did so in self-defense. He argued that Quackenbush first stabbed Higgs with a blade, but the jury rejected that defense.

Higgs testified and, under questioning by Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams, admitted it was his choice to “put that axe in the woman’s head,” according to CBS TV news station 4WWL.

“Yes,” Higgs replied.

“Anyone else?” Williams asked.

“No, it was me,” Higgs said.

The two were in a relationship, but Quackenbush had sought to end their relationship.

After the verdict, Williams told media outside the courtroom that all Quackenbush wanted from Higgs was for him to get out of his life. And he called Higgs’ claims of self-defense “ridiculous, crazy.”

“It was clear that all Liz wanted was for him to leave,” Williams said. “Leave his house, leave his life. You saw the pictures, she was in a corner of that house. She had nowhere to go. She retreated as far away as she could. Her final resting place was in a corner.”

Higgs was captured in Indiana by authorities four months later, after a nationwide manhunt by the U.S. Marshals Service. Higgs had a criminal record. He was on parole for a robbery and sexual assault he committed in Minnesota when he was 19.

Quackenbush taught at the Rochester Alternative Learning Center for five years before moving to New Orleans in 2019 to teach at a similar school. Free-spirited and independent, Quackenbush was described as a gifted teacher who was able to connect and work with students who felt neglected in a traditional school setting.

While at ALC, Quackenbush and a colleague pioneered the Green Thumb Initiative, a school community garden that has created educational benefits ranging from gardening and grant writing to beekeeping.

Her approach was unconventional. When students wanted to produce a rap video, she would validate their ideas and ask them to write the lyrics while she looked for a recording studio to record the song.

“They knew she really cared about their human condition,” said Marian Holtorf-Jewell, a colleague at the ALC, quoted in a March 22, 2021, Rochester Post Bulletin article. “But as a teacher, she was very persistent when a child was struggling. She wouldn’t stop until the learning was meaningful to them.”

Her friends and students were traumatized by her death and sought to honor her values ​​and life by creating the Liz Quackenbush Foundation, a nonprofit organization that embodied her educational philosophy. Quackenbush believed that connecting with nature through experiences and lobbies could change lives and open doors to learning.

It is not yet known when Higgs will be sentenced.