Missing for 34 years: Martha Lambert’s case remains unsolved

Many cold cases come and go but some remain unsolved for decades. Sometimes, these cases are nearly forgotten by the public eye and then there are the ones that just never leave the minds of people. The unsolved missing persons case of Martha Jean Lambert is one of those. She disappeared from St. Augustine, Florida in 1985 and has never been found. As of November 27th 2019, Martha has been missing for 3 decades and 4 years

Martha vanishes

November 27th was just like any normal day except that it was the day before thanksgiving of 1985. Martha attended school at Ketterlinus Junior High School, a 7th and 8th grade Center in 1985 and is now known as Ketterlinus Elementary School.

Due to a horrific fire that occurred in a classroom in 1981, school dismissal time was moved to 5:30 pm. Martha was dismissed from school that day and went to a friends home afterwards on Kerri-Lynn Road where she also resided. She stayed there until 7:30 pm when she left the friends house to walk to her own home, alone. Whatever happened afterwards remains unclear.

Where is Martha?
On the night in question, Martha’s mother, Margaret Lambert-Pichon, stated that she and the girl attended a social event that evening. It took place at a neighbors residence. At some point during the event, Martha told her mother “Mom, I’m going over, I’ll be back in 5 minutes”. She left the residence and never returned. She may have gone to her own home where her father, Howard, was cooking dinner. Some agencies state that Martha asked when food would be ready and left again. Never to return.

After Margaret noticed that a substantial amount of time had passed and Martha has not yet returned to the gathering, she went out to look for Martha. She noted that Martha was nowhere in the immediate area so she went up to the Lambert trailer and saw that Martha’s older brother, David, came out laughing. He would not divulge the reason for why he was laughing.

Margaret knew that something was wrong so she and others began to search for the 12 year old who was still wearing a two piece bathing suite at the time she left. Martha’s family notified the St. John’s County Sheriffs Office about her disappearance at 3:00 am of November 28th.

The search

Martha’s family and neighbors searched immensely for the young girl. Areas along State Road 207 and Kerri-Lynn Road were searched. Two days after she was reported missing, a dozen officers from the St. John’s County Sheriffs Office searched the wooded area behind the Lambert trailer for Martha but no trace of her was ever found.

A poster with a photograph of Martha and her information (photo courtesy of the Palm Beach Post 03/23/1986)

Alan Godby, a neighbor who knew Martha before she disappeared said it wasn’t uncommon to hear yelling come from the Lambert family. He quoted that Martha’s brothers were “strange”and that there was a lot of anger in the Lambert family home. He said that Martha was kind but shy and loved spending time at friends houses. Godby helped search the thick brush near State Road 207 for Martha in the days after her disappearance was reported. He was said to have been the only person still living on Kerri-Lynn Road by 2004 who knew Lambert back when she disappeared.

A photograph of State Road 207 in Elkton, Florida

In a 2004 update about Martha’s decades old disappearance, Martha’s mother criticized the initial investigation into Martha Jeans disappearance. Authorities initially believed that Martha had left on her own accord and investigated the case as such. Martha was the victim of screaming abuse and other horrible things at home. Martha and her two older brothers spent much of their young lives in foster care and Martha’s older brothers also ran away from home prior to Martha’s disappearance. They thought she may have done the same.

Despite Martha’s horrible home life, Margaret maintained that she would never have left voluntarily and also stated that Martha wouldn’t even get into a friends car without permission. Authorities soon determined that Martha did not leave on her own accord.

Martha was excited on the day she disappeared. November 27th of 1985 was the day prior to thanksgiving of 1985. Martha would spend the day with her family at her grandmother, Anna Jones, house in St. John’s County. She was in high spirits that day which is what makes her mother and family doubt a voluntary disappearance.

She was kidnapped

Since the day Martha was reported missing, Margaret has maintained her belief that the girl was kidnapped and taken from the area outside of her home that night. Authorities investigated the abduction theory immensely but could not find a single trace of any such crime being committed and no one has ever been arrested in relation to Martha’s disappearance.

Martha disappeared only one year after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children came in to help aid in the epidemic of missing children. Martha’s case is one of the oldest cases in the database. They labeled her disappearance as a “Non-Family Abduction” which means that a child is believed to have been abducted by a person who is not related to the child.

A poster featuring the details surrounding Martha’s disappearance and the number of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (photo courtesy of the South Florida Sun Sentinel 07/25/1991)

While no arrests were made in Lambert’s case, several people came to light in the investigation and were questioned but no one was ever said to be the one responsible for whatever happened to the young girl.

Stories and more confusion

Despite the stories and accounts that Martha Jeans relatives and friends gave in, authorities could not corroborate and confirm which was true. They all have different stories that contradicted one another.

Some neighbors reported that they had seen Martha walking along Kerri-Lynn Road near her home later that night. Some also stated they had seen a unknown green van being driven by two men passing through the area when she was out there. It disappeared and authorities were never able to find such a van.

The strangest of it all was the amount of times Martha’s older brother, David Lambert, changed his story of the night his younger sister vanished. He at one point stated that he had seen Martha getting into a black vehicle but authorities could not find a car like the one he said and said the story could not be substantiated. He would then go on to claim that he had a small dinner with Martha the night she disappeared.

He said that when they were done, Martha said she was going out and when he asked where she responded with “It’s none of your concern” and left. David said he last saw Martha walking into the dark outside.

Authorities believed that David knew more about his sisters disappearance then he was letting on. Margaret did believe that David knew something. She feared that David had been threatened by the people who abducted Martha. Her theory was never substantiated.

A case grows cold

Despite much work and searches done by law enforcement, they were no closer to solving the case then they were the night she disappeared. They found absolutely no evidence in Martha’s case and quoted that witness statements were completely unreliable in her case.

Martha’s case grew very cold very quickly but investigators always managed to keep a small flame under the cold case. They had no idea or clue as to why or how Lambert disappeared. It was almost as if she fell from the face of the earth.

Despite the circumstances of her disappearance being unknown, investigators were certain that foul play was involved in Martha’s case and they believed that she had possibly been killed on the day she disappeared. Her mother and family kept hope, however, that she was still alive. Only hope kept Martha’s case alive and it was hope that investigators had to persevere in searching for Martha.

A Family falls to pieces

After Martha’s disappearance, Margaret was grief stricken and Howard was crushed. Her absence deeply affected both of her brothers. They were absolutely devastated when Martha never returned home that night. The eldest brother of the Lambert family, Raymond, was quoted as saying “I hope they find Martha, I hope she comes home”.

Fighting between Margaret and Howard increased more then it had before the day Martha vanished. Margaret and Howard divorced and Margaret said “he was too much into alcohol”. Margaret moved away from Florida in the 1990s, she wanted to get away from all the bad memories and wanted to give her two sons independence.

Howard stayed in the same trailer on Kerri-Lynn Road that the family lived in when Martha disappeared until he passed away a few years later. Margaret stayed she couldn’t exactly remember when he passed away. The Lambert trailer has since been torn down and remodeled.

Raymond and David remained in St. John’s County but then moved to other parts of Florida.

A shocking confession

Many years would pass before investigators got a confession from the one person they had suspicion of the most in Martha’s case. In 2000, when David Lambert was arrested for attempting to pass a bad check he told investigators that he knew what happened to his sister fifteen years earlier and that he was responsible for her death.

David stated that he buried Martha’s body in a Coquina Mine known locally as “The Pitts”. The Mine was off Holmes Boulevard and not far from Martha’s home. Investigators searched the line but no remains were recovered and David was not charged.

Nine years later, David again confessed to killing Martha but gave a more detailed account of the alleged incident. David stated that on the day that his sister disappeared, he and Martha left their house after a fight between Margaret and Howard ensued. Margaret apparently burned the turkey and this sent Howard into a rage.

David would go on to claim that he and Martha went to a L’il Champs Convenience store on State Road 207 where Martha spent a little over $4 on Sweets. She returned the change to David. David had a job at the time. They then went to the Florida Memorial College off Holmes Boulevard. This was a college which was abandoned years prior to Martha going missing.

The structure was wooded and full of debris and glass. It was dubbed as the “poor kids Disney” and it was a well known place for teens and kids to hangout. When Martha and David got there, a fight between the two occurred because Martha refused to give David his money back and requested more.

Martha punched David across the face and he pushed her away from him. Martha fell back and hit her head on a piece of steel protruding from the ground and it pierced the base of her skull. When David realized what happened he picked her up and noticed a hole in the back of her head with blood coming out.

David panicked and cried for help hoping someone would come and help her. No one came and David feared of what his parents would do if they found out what he had done to his sister. He feared they would kill him. David used the broken piece of a road sign to dig a 3 foot grave and placed Martha in it and buried her. He stated he returned home afterwards.

David Lambert in 2009 when he confessed to killing his sister Martha Lambert

Investigators believed his statements to be true because he was full of emotion and grief when he said it. Investigators used canines and digging equipment to attempt a recovery of Martha’s remains. David drew a map of where he allegedly buried her. They spent two days digging in sections and while a canine did react to a spot, no remains were found.

It’s possible that Martha’s grave, if there even was one, was scattered or moved when demolition of the area took place in the 1990s. Without her remains and due to statue of limitations on manslaughter in 1985, authorities could not charged David with Martha’s death.

A mother’s story

Margaret Lambert-Pichon has stated that she does not believe that David was responsible for whatever happened to her daughter. She believed investigators coerced the confession because they wanted the case closed.

She still believed that Martha was the victim of a kidnapping and that she was murdered by someone else. Per this article, Margaret stated a killer was still on the loose and that it was not David. She said David always wanted to be the center of attention and said the confession was possibly a way of doing that.

Martha’s family has also stated they don’t stand by the confession and also believed that she was abducted the night she vanished. They are not convinced the case is over because the girls remains have not been found.

A mans denial

After press releases regarding the confession came up and months after his confession, David retracted his statement regarding his role in his sisters disappearance. He stated he has long standing emotional and mental problems and that he did not know where Martha was. He also suggested that she might still be alive.

A photograph of David after he confessed to causing his sisters death

He says that he told investigators what they wanted to hear and said his confession was nothing but a lie. Despite the fact he recanted, Martha’s case was closed and no real resolution came to light.

So what did happen to Martha?

Despite the fact that investigators closed the case, many see the case as unsolved. Investigators have announced that they can reopen the investigation into Martha’s disappearance if they receive any new information or witness statements.

Martha’s mother has submitted DNA samples to use for comparison in the case that Martha or her remains are recovered. She hopes to find her daughter and bring her home.

Authorities have established that they believe foul play was involved in Martha’s disappearance and that she is most certainly deceased.

She’s still missing

As of December of 2019, Martha Jean Lambert remains missing and her missing persons case unsolved. If alive today, Martha would be 46 years old and turning 47 on March 26th 2020. If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Martha Jean Lambert then please contact the St. John’s County Sheriffs Office at 1-904-824-8304 or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST)

For more information about Martha’s case, you can visit The Charley Project (owned and operated by Meaghan Good), The Doe Network, NamUs, or Stories of the unsolved.