FRUIT COVE, Fla. – After St. Johns County investigators said a man admitted last week to accidentally killing his younger sister 24 years ago, the mother of the two said Monday she doesn't think the case is over, despite her son's confession.
Martha Jean Lambert disappeared from her home on Kerri Lynn Road in the Fruit Cove area just before Thanksgiving 1985. She was 12 years old. Detectives began taking another look at her unresolved case last year and recently re-interviewed family members and neighbors last summer, including Lambert's brother, David, who was 15 at the time.
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David Lambert told investigators he was playing with his sister on the property of an abandoned college when they got into an argument.
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"There was an argument that occurred over a $20 bill. He claims that Martha slapped him and he shoved her off of him. She fell back and struck her head against a piece of steel. He panicked and buried her in a 3-foot grave shortly after she died," said Chuck Mulligan of the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office.
David Lambert led investigators to the location in September, and extensive excavations and K-9 searches failed to turn up Martha's remains.
"Our belief is the excavating done from that demolition several years ago has probably scattered the remains or removed the remains of Martha," Mulligan said.
Family members said for them, the case is still not closed, because Martha's body has not been found.
"It will not be over until they can come up with her remains," said Margaret Pichon, the mother of David and Martha Lambert.
Pichon said a killer is still on the loose, despite the fact that her son admitted to killing his sister.
"I've got to explain about my son. Nobody knows him better than me. He's always wanted to be the center of attention," Pichon said.
After reviewing the case with the state attorney's office, the sheriff's office determined that the appropriate charge would be manslaughter. But given the statute of limitations, David Lambert's age at the time and other mitigating circumstances, no charges would be filed and the case was closed.