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

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SharD said:
Has anyone ever looked into this Doe being Martha Lambert?

Sheridan County Jane Doe

Depending on the accuracy of the reconstructions, you can see that Martha and the unknown woman on the picture both have front teeth that aren't the same size and are crooked. The same tooth is longer and protruding. Both the picture and the clay (?) sculpture have such teeth.

The age range is fitting as well. 16-21 as an estimation, compared to Martha being 19 in 1992.

Question remains whatever happened to her between 1985 and 1992 if so. It is a long time.
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This lady had a history of being pregnant in the past. Unlikely that it would be 12 year old Martha.
 
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staugustine.com: Story Archives
Little girl lost (June 04,1999) Web posted Friday, June 04, 1999
victim_then.jpg

victim_now.jpg


Then ...Martha Jean Lambert at 12 years old.
Now? A computerized, age-enhanced photo from the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office of what she may look like now. Little girl lost
Family remains hopeful 14 years after disappearance of daughter
By PETER GUINTA
Staff Writer
She would be a pretty young woman of 26 now, with long blond hair and a sunny disposition.
Her grades at school were poor, and there was no tradition of books or learning in her family, so she would have probably remained uneducated, maybe working a menial job somewhere.

Maybe she would be raising her child.

If so, one hopes Martha Jean Lambert never feels the paralyzing fear that grabs parents’ heart when their child is threatened or hurt. And, one hopes that she never feels the pain and loss her disappearance gave her own mother.

Martha, a 12-year-old Ketterlinus Junior High School seventh-grader, disappeared 14 years ago from her mobile home on Kerri Lynn Road.

Her mother, Margaret, who went to St. Augustine High School, was last known to be living in Danville, Ill., her home town. She telephones the Sheriff’s Office twice a year to check on any progress in the investigation.

But her phone has been disconnected and she is not listed in the Danville directory any longer.

Her two sons also have not been heard from in a while. They lived in St. Johns County for a long time, but also are not listed in the phone book now.

Detective Michael Quintieri is a detective in the Cold Cases Unit of the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, which reviews unsolved murders. He collects evidence with the help of his civilian volunteer, Warren Graybiel.

While the Lambert case is not yet ruled a murder, most officers believe that Martha is dead. Too much time has passed. Something would have turned up by now if she were alive.

‘‘She would still have memories. It could have been an abduction. She didn’t have a whole lot of friends, but she was a trusting person who did want to be liked,’’ Quintieri said.

As in most difficult cases, the evidence can be looked at more than one way.

It was a chilly day in November 1985, and St. Johns County students were out of school on their Thanksgiving break. Margaret and Martha went over to a neighbor’s house and chatted until about 7:30 p.m.

Then Martha went home alone. She came into the mobile home and split a baked potato with her brother, then told him she was going out. He asked where she was going, and she said, ‘‘It’s none of your concern.’’

victims_family.jpg

The Lambert family. Martha, at far right, was 12 when she disappeared. ‘‘She was never positively seen again,’’ Quintieri said. ‘‘She was labeled a runaway in the beginning. Her brothers had run away before. But as time went on, (the case) became more and more suspicious. Foul play is definitely suspected. For this many years, not to turn up.’’


A dozen officers came out to the house the first day and gave a cursory search of the area. Nothing was found. Neighbors reported seeing suspicious vehicles. None of those sightings could be confirmed.

The persons’ crimes unit of the Sheriff’s Office eventually investigated the case as an abduction or murder, and the National Hotline for Missing Children listed Martha from 1985 to 1987. More than 50 tips were received. Other than one similar-looking runaway found in the Midwest, no real leads developed.

Her mother was in her 30s when Martha disappeared. Her father, Howard Lambert, was 74. He is now deceased. Martha was the baby. Her parents fought frequently and the children spent some time in foster homes.

Quintieri said it was possible Martha ran away.

‘‘I do know she liked being away from home more than she liked being in the home,’’ he said. ‘‘You couldn’t say it was a nurturing environment. It’s a possible unresolved homicide or she ran away. Either way, it’s an open case.’’

The day his daughter disappeared, Howard told officers that Martha left the house to go back to meet her mother at the neighbor’s house.

She never got there.

There is no explanation available to explain the differences in the stories about Martha’s last hours.

This week, sheriff’s Deputy Vinnie Russo completed a computer-assisted, age-enhanced photograph of Martha, showing how she might look today.

Several suspects developed in the case. Martha’s father was looked at, but was too frail to carry the body of a good-sized 12-year-old girl far enough into the woods to bury.

Another neighborhood man, Clifford Morgan, was in his 60s at the time and had a reputation for liking children around his house.

‘‘He knew the family. We know (Martha) was over at his trailer on a number of occasions,’’ Quintieri said.

Unfortunately for detectives, Morgan was beaten to death in a robbery not long after Martha disappeared. His two killers, Gary Ward and Brenda Dunlop, received prison sentences of 22 years and five years, respectively. Both are now out of prison.

Lt. Chuck West was one of the initial detectives on that case.

‘‘(Morgan) was a strange man. But I don’t think he had anything to do with (Martha’s) disappearance,’’ he said.

Lt. J.D. Cannon, of the sheriff’s investigations division, said he believed it was possible Martha was abducted.

‘‘Someone could have driven up,’’ he said. ‘‘A vehicle was seen near her. But nothing came of that. This is a baffling case.’’
 
Something of a red flag that Martha had a rough home life, with the kids in and out of foster care due to child abuse. I'm surprised at the lack of investigation towards the parents. It seems the police focused on a stranger abduction or the brother. Personally, I don't really believe the brother had anything to do with it. He sounds like a troubled attention-seeker. You never know, perhaps he was somehow trying to cover for the parents?
 
ekardh said:
Something of a red flag that Martha had a rough home life, with the kids in and out of foster care due to child abuse. I'm surprised at the lack of investigation towards the parents. It seems the police focused on a stranger abduction or the brother. Personally, I don't really believe the brother had anything to do with it. He sounds like a troubled attention-seeker. You never know, perhaps he was somehow trying to cover for the parents?
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Interesting thoughts, ekardh. I've always wondered about the brother. His story definitely sounded odd to me.
The fact that she shared a potato with her brother before she left her house makes me wonder how much (or how little) those kids had to eat.
 
Lavender Moon said:
Interesting thoughts, ekardh. I've always wondered about the brother. His story definitely sounded odd to me.
The fact that she shared a potato with her brother before she left her house makes me wonder how much (or how little) those kids had to eat.
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It would have been difficult for a 14 year-old to hide a body on the spur of the moment. I honestly doubt the brother was guilty.

Earlier I speculated that he might have been trying to cover for the parents. Another, less sinister, explanation could be that David thought confessing to his sister’s murder would bring his mother closure. Whatever happened, he’s obviously a psychologically damaged individual.

Of course, a young girl from a dysfunctional household would’ve also been easy pickings for a random predator. It doesn’t sound like the kids were well supervised. I know “it was the 80s” is often trotted out in cases like this but surely it shouldn’t have taken them until 3am to realise something was up?

The complete lack of evidence doesn’t seem to point one way or another, but like I said, I’m surprised the parents weren’t investigated at least given their background.
 
At this point, I believe Martha very well might be a still-missing victim of killer William Darrell Lindsey. Obviously to most of you, that’ll seem like a stretch since most of his victims were older women but when you think about the reasons I’m about to provide, you’ll hopefully understand why I believe this:

1.) Lindsey was active as Martha vanished after he killed Lisa Foley in St. Augustine in 1983

2.) Lindsey was known to kill in that specific area of St. Augustine. Martha vanished about two-five minutes away from where some of his victims were taken from

3.) He was known to take victims that always had some sad story to tell. With Martha, she would’ve had books upon books about her struggles dealing with a chaotic family and child abuse. He seemed to pick victims no one would really care about or look for at that time. Martha wasn’t the golden child of America like Etan Patz and rarely got any attention at all. I’ve read that cursory searches took place two days after she disappeared

4.) Martha was wearing a matching two piece bathing suit when she vanished and if he saw this, he might’ve simply assumed she was just another cocaine-addicted prostitute and picked her up not realizing she’s a child.

I believe based on Lindsey’s known habit of throwing his victims into water holes and borrow ponds that Martha is in a body of water near her residence in 1985. Obviously one might wonder why Lindsey didn’t just confess to Martha’s murder in 1997 when he was confessing. I believe this is attributed to him not wanting to be known for this one crime. She was an innocent twelve year old and he might’ve felt guilty enough to keep it secret.
 
Mysteries1974 said:
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staugustine.com: Story Archives
It was a chilly day in November 1985, and St. Johns County students were out of school on their Thanksgiving break. Margaret and Martha went over to a neighbor’s house and chatted until about 7:30 p.m.
The day his daughter disappeared, Howard told officers that Martha left the house to go back to meet her mother at the neighbor’s house.
‘‘Someone could have driven up,’’ he said. ‘‘A vehicle was seen near her. But nothing came of that. This is a baffling case.’’
Click to expand...

If it was a "chilly day" and Martha was out at night when it would be even colder, why was she wearing a bathing suit? If Martha was going back to the neighbor's house to meet her mother, how could her brother have killed her at the college? What vehicle are they referring to?
 
I don't believe the brother's confessions. How many falsely convicted people confessed under pressure to get an over zealous police officer to back off?
 
@Caring1 Hey could you post the current list of NamUs exclusions for Martha Lambert? I would greatly appreciate it.
 
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