FL FL - Martha Lambert, 12, Elkton, 27 Nov 1985

Martha Jean Lambert
Missing since November 27, 1985 from Elkton, Saint Johns County, Florida.
Classification: Nonfamily Abduction


Vital Statistics
Date Of Birth: March 26, 1973
Age at Time of Disappearance: 12 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 4'5 (135 cm.); 70 pounds (32 kg.)
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Blonde hair; blue eyes.
Marks, Scars: Birthmarks on the front of her right thigh and on the upper part of her left chest.
Clothing: A matching two-piece bathing suit
Dentals: Lambert has slightly protruding teeth.

Circumstances of Disappearance

Lambert, a 7th grade student at Ketterlinus Junior High, was last seen at her family's mobile home in Elkton, Florida on November 27, 1985. She spent time at a neighbor's residence after school, then returned to her home to have a small dinner with her brother. She told him she was going out. She has never been seen or heard from again. Martha's family life was troubled, she had spent much of her life in different foster homes. Her brothers had also ran away previously from their home. Authorities suspect foul play may have been involved.

Investigators

If you have any information concerning Lambert's whereabouts, please contact:

Saint Johns' County Sheriff's Office 904-824-8304

E-Mail: rporter@co.st-johns.fl.us

Agency Case Number: 271329
NCMEC #: NCMC601793
NCIC Number: M-293192969
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:
The National Center For Missing and Exploited Children
St. Augustine Record
Florida Missing Children Information Clearinghouse
Florida Department of Law Enforcement
St. Johns County Sheriff's Office
The Doe Network: Case File 308DFFL

LINK:
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/308dffl.html

Bumping this up for Martha...she has been missing for 22 years.

According to some of the posters on the Somer Thompson thread, Martha Jean Lambert's case has been solved, per news4jax.com

Hoppy

Here is link to story:

I can't change the title from not solved to solved.

The case is solved.

http://www.news4jax.com/news/22106627/detail.html

Here's another link:

http://staugustine.com/news/local-n...-confesses-killing-her-1985-solving-cold-case

1 Jan10

The death of a girl who disappeared in 1985 at the age of 12 has been solved after her brother admitted to accidentally killing the girl and burying her body, according to the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office.

The State Attorney's Office has decided not to file charges against David A. Lambert, who reportedly has confessed to investigators that he was responsible for the death of his 12-year-old sister, Martha Jean Lambert, in 1985.

more at link
________________________

Here's another news story with a lot more detail:

http://jacksonville.com/news/2010-0...irl_confesses_to_accidentally_killing_her_in_

________________________

I'm not buying the brother's story:

1. LE hasn't been able to locate Martha's remains.

2. How is a 14 year old going to bury her that quickly and without detection?

3. How is a 14 year old going to keep a secret like that for 25 years?

Hoppy

hoppyfrog said:

Here's another link:

http://staugustine.com/news/local-n...-confesses-killing-her-1985-solving-cold-case

1 Jan10

The death of a girl who disappeared in 1985 at the age of 12 has been solved after her brother admitted to accidentally killing the girl and burying her body, according to the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office.

The State Attorney's Office has decided not to file charges against David A. Lambert, who reportedly has confessed to investigators that he was responsible for the death of his 12-year-old sister, Martha Jean Lambert, in 1985.

more at link
________________________

Here's another news story with a lot more detail:

http://jacksonville.com/news/2010-0...irl_confesses_to_accidentally_killing_her_in_

________________________

I'm not buying the brother's story:

1. LE hasn't been able to locate Martha's remains.

2. How is a 14 year old going to bury her that quickly and without detection?

3. How is a 14 year old going to keep a secret like that for 25 years?

Hoppy

Click to expand...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,581773,00.html?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a16:g2:r3:c0.194899:b29611942:z10
'snippets'

He said he panicked and buried his sister in a 3-foot-deep grave not far from the family home.


David Lambert led investigators to the location in September, and extensive excavations and K-9 searches failed to turn up Martha's remains. Detectives said old structures and land in the area has been cleared over the years, which they believe removed or scattered any remains that may have existed.

Why would he confess?

This development is kind of fishy.

Not really sure what to think here.

I'm not sure if I buy that..

He is 39 now, is he a father now with a daughter her age?
Conscience bothers him?
Wants to confess before he passes or something like that?
Odd, was he ever a suspect in this case ever?

I like this comment from the news website that was posted:

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gmartin997 10 hours ago
Aside from the girl's death, the real tragedy is that the family will never have any real closure because the girl's body can never receive a proper burial. Her remains are probably scattered all over that property. As for the brother, I'm wondering why a 15 year old boy is 'playing' with his 12 year old sister at an 'abandoned' college. Most 15 year old boys are hanging with their buddies, not with their 12 year old sisters; and most 12 year old girls are playing with their Barbie dolls with their 12 year old friends (you know what I mean). What kind of game does a 15 year old boy play with his 12 year old sister on the property of an abandoned college that they can't play at home, and why were they fighting over a twenty dollar bill? This story has a lot of convenient gaps.

Click to expand...

Honestly, a small child`s body could be scattered due to animals and the elements after decades. This is why so many people are missing and their bodies aren`t found.

ETA: Also from the news article

"Our belief is the excavating done from that demolition several years ago has probably scattered the remains or removed the remains of Martha," said Mulligan.

Click to expand...

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- The cold case of 12-year-old Martha Jean Lambert has been solved. Investigators in St. Johns County say her older brother has confessed to accidentally killing her.
In November 1985, investigators believed Lambert disappeared from her home on Kerri Lynn Road.
"Her brother was the last individual we knew of that had seen her," said Sgt. Chuck Mulligan, St. Johns County Sheriff's Office.



http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/topstories/news-article.aspx?storyid=150198&catid=3

Have they found her body? What I have read on this indicated they haven't.

WholeLottaRosie said:

Have they found her body? What I have read on this indicated they haven't.

Click to expand...

They haven't found the body based on the statement in the article: Mulligan said finding Martha's body is a practically impossible task now.

Wow-what a nightmare for her parents.

We need to get the name changed since her body has not been found.

Usually I am suspisious of people involved in cases like this. i am not of this though. I think he is telling the truth. I saw nothing odd about them being at the college. They may have snuck of to smoke cigarettes there maybe they went there to get away from home. they were allgedley abused and had a troubled family life. I can understand him being fearful, considering they were abused. Perhaps they were together that day because they had nobody else. her charley page says she had few friends. Usually kids who live in homes like that are outcasts with few friends with all the running away and foster care they probably lacked the stabiltiy to make friends. I can't seem to recall children like that that I have ever come across being the most popular kids in school.
Rather than point the finger at him I am gonna let it go and feel nothing but sadness for him and Martha for what they both could have been given better circumstances and a kinder upbringing. Goes to show the exactly how destructive and vicious child abuse is. I am sure his live since then has not been a bed of roses.

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (Jan. 2) AP -- Authorities in northeast Florida say they've closed the 24-year-old case of a missing seventh-grader, but the girl's mother says she doesn't believe it.

Martha Jean Lambert vanished near her St. Augustine home on Nov. 27, 1985. Her mother, Margaret Pichon, says she remains convinced that the 12-year-old girl was kidnapped.

However, the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office said Friday that Pichon's son David Lambert has confessed to accidentally killing his sister in an argument.

Sgt. Chuck Mulligan said Lambert told police that he panicked and buried the girl in a shallow grave. Lambert was 15 at the time.

Martha Jean Lambert:

The 12-year-old went missing near her Florida home on Nov. 27, 1985. Police said Friday that Lambert's brother, David, has admitted to accidentally killing his sister during an argument. David Lambert allegedly told detectives that he panicked and buried his sister in a shallow grave. Her remains have not been found.

The State Attorney's Office decided not charge Lambert with manslaughter after prosecutors considered his age at the time, the statute of limitations manslaughter charges had in 1985 and "other mitigating circumstances," Mulligan said.

Investigators had considered Lambert a suspect, but they had no evidence nor a confession until sheriff's detectives Sean Tice and Howard Cole III reopened the case in June.

Lambert, now 38, had previously told investigators that he last saw his sister as she walked off to play.

When Tice and Cole interviewed him again last summer, Lambert told them he and Martha Jean were arguing near the old Florida Memorial College site over $20 he refused to give her, the detectives said. The girl punched him in the face, and Lambert said he shoved her backward. Her head landed on a piece of metal sticking out of the ground, he told the detectives.

"D. Lambert stated when he lifted Martha up there was a large hole in the back of her head and blood was pouring out," Tice wrote in the offense report. "D. Lambert stated he initially called out for help, hoping that someone would be walking by and hear his cries."

Lambert told the detectives that he dug a hole 3 feet deep and laid Martha Jean in it.

"He was terrified," Tice told The St. Augustine Record. "He was terrified of his Mama. Still is."

Pichon says the sheriff's office just wants the case closed. Authorities still haven't found her daughter's remains, though crews searched the site Lambert indicated in his recent interviews.

Demolition at the site over the past 24 years "is believed to have removed or scattered any remains that may have existed," sheriff's officials said.

Pichon told The Florida Times-Union that Lambert "makes up tales" to get attention.

Mulligan said investigators believe Lambert is telling the truth.

"We certainly understand the complexity and the difficulties these situations bring on a family," Mulligan said. "These are his words."

Martha Jean's disappearance was the county's longest-running missing person investigation.

Convenient way to put solved on the case with no evidence. I find it hard to believe a panicked 15 year old boy dug a three foot hole (with what?) put her in it, and covered her so well, no backhoe operator or any other construction employee never saw anything. We hear about crews finding bones in construction sites often enough. But nothing?
Why he would confess is likely a very complicated thought process. Curious about a polygraph or voice stress analysis though.

Convenient way to put solved on the case with no evidence. I find it hard to believe a panicked 15 year old boy dug a three foot hole (with what?) put her in it, and covered her so well, no backhoe operator or any other construction employee never saw anything. We hear about crews finding bones in construction sites often enough. But nothing?
Why he would confess is likely a very complicated thought process. Curious about a polygraph or voice stress analysis though.