Deborah Tolson had spent more than two decades teaching children in Baltimore's public schools. On Monday morning, colleagues made a devastating discovery inside the very building where she had helped hundreds of young students learn to count and solve equations.
Tolson, a 75-year-old maths interventionist at Arundel Elementary School in Baltimore's Cherry Hill neighbourhood, was found dead inside the school before classes began on 9 March. Officials believe she may have been inside the building since the weekend, meaning she could have gone undiscovered for days.
