A Charley reader sent word of this to me, prompting me to do my own searching. The disappearance of Martha Jean Lambert, a twelve-year-old girl who disappeared from Elkton, Florida in November 1985, has been closed although her body has never been found. Martha’s brother David, who was fourteen years old at the time, got into a fight with his sister and pushed her, and she fell back onto a piece of steel which punctured her skull (ew) and killed her. David panicked over what his parents might think, buried her in a shallow grave and kept his mouth shut for the next twenty-five years. The best article I can find about this is with the St. Augustine Record.
David made his confession in September, but it hasn’t been made public till now. The police looked for Martha’s body but couldn’t find it and don’t expect to, because the abandoned college where she was buried has been bulldozed and the area completely rebuilt. No charges will be filed against David, due to his age at the time and the fact that the statute of limitations for manslaughter has expired. The Lamberts’ father is dead, and their mom is still in denial, insisting that David could never have killed his sister.
This reminds me a lot of the Robert Mayotte case. He was about twelve, I think, and was missing for over ten years and presumed abducted. Then his friends finally admitted he’d died in an accident, I think a shooting accident, on the day he disappeared and they freaked out and hid his body. I don’t remember whether any charges were filed against them. Probably not. It’s a dreadful, horrible thing to try to hide it and make the missing child’s family wait and worry and wonder all those years, but I was suppose it’s better to come forward late than never.
Rest in peace, Martha.
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