Martha Jean Lambert 1985 Disappearance Solved/ Brother, David Lambert, has confessed to accidentally killing his sister in an argument

Police: Florida Girl's 1985 Disappearance Solved
Saturday, January 02, 2010
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Martha Jean Lambert
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — 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.

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.

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Wonder why he was "terrified of his Mama" and "still is"?
Are they going to let him off "scot free" on this? How do they know it was just an accident? Too bad that no remains can be found...If only he had been truthful a long time ago!

Wonder if, since some say he makes up stories, and no remains found, if this is why there were no charges!

If he really did kill his sister the guilt he was carrying for 24 years must have been horrible. If he didn't and only wanted attention he must be very sick and needs professional help.jmho

If it really was an accident, it is hard to believe that he would have kept that to himself all this time...I mean, why not tell what happened and let the evidence support the story (while there was still evidence to be found). Makes you wonder if there was an accident or if he just made it up...

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It seems that these children had a sad life...Had been in foster care for child abuse at some time...Maybe that's the reason the brother was afriad of Mama...You have to wonder how well this case was investigated...I mean the fight supposedly happened near their home and she was buried in a shallow grave...I think today's searches (with dogs, etc.) would have located a grave like that. Maybe they didn't have the "know-how" that they use today in these types of searches...And, maybe this family was not considered "important" enough to pursue this poor girl's fate...I hope that is not the case, but something surely went wrong somewhere...If the investigators suspected the boy knew something more, why could they not get a 15-year-old to tell what happened.

Martha