In my years of researching Martha Lambert’s mysterious disappearance, I’ve come up with four potential explanations. Some based on my own observations and others based on witnesses who knew the Lamberts back in the day:
1.) Martha was killed by someone close to her, whether it was a family member or not remains to be seen:
-Her family didn’t have a good reputation in the area, both of her parents struggled with alcoholism and the home life was unstable. There were rumors of sexual abuse in the Lambert household but since I can’t confirm these rumors, I will not say whether I believe them to be true or not. Perhaps something happened to Martha in her home and her family conspired to cover it up by hiding her body before filing the missing persons report.
-Martha’s brothers both acted strangely after she disappeared. Neither of their whereabouts can be confirmed for that night. The mother said Raymond was at church but I’ve gotten confirmation that he was not there from kids (now adults) who attended the same church that night. David said he was at home but no one can confirm or deny this. I’ve theorized that one or both of them could be behind this and they hid her body in the area before the searches began. Maybe David’s confession to her accidental death was the truth and her remains weren’t found. Only problem is that the abandoned college campus was searched for her with nothing being found. Also, police would gather there to do target practice and file paper work together, none of them saw anything to indicate her body was there. Teenagers, kids, and homeless people also frequented the abandoned campus but none reported seeing anything out of the ordinary there.
-Martha had an elderly neighbor, Clifford Morgan, whose trailer she visited numerous times before she went missing. He had a reputation for having kids around his home. Morgan was killed in a home invasion of his trailer in January 1986 so LE couldn’t question him about the case. Martha met him when her parents had a yard sale at some point prior to her disappearance.
2.) Martha was abducted by an unknown individual:
-There’s mention of a green van that was seen driving in the neighborhood on the night of November 27th 1985. The two men driving have never been identified and the van was not located.
-Her brother David also mentioned in one of his earlier statements that he saw Martha get into a black car with someone.
3.) Martha was the victim of a serial killer:
-Two years before Martha disappeared, another twelve year old girl named Sherry Sheperd went missing from St. John’s County. She left her house in Hastings to go for a swim on August 2nd 1983 and never returned. A few years later, her skeletal remains were found buried in a shallow grave. She was murdered and her case is unsolved though very little information exists about it. Due to the similarities, I’ve wondered if Sherry and Martha were killed by the same person.
-William Darrell Lindsay was in the area when she disappeared and Kerri-Lynn Road was in his stomping grounds. Only issue with him is that he seemed to prefer older women engaged in prostitution as his victims. Martha was quite small in stature so I can’t imagine him mistaking her for being older than her actual age. Some detectives I’ve spoken to have said they do believe it’s possible Lindsay took Martha and that he kept the information to himself so he wouldn’t be known as a child predator in prison.
-James Kenneth Elmen Jr. has been on my radar for quite some years now. He murdered Julie Stoverink Estes in Jacksonville on November 17th, ten days before Martha’s disappearance. Julie was abducted by him from a Lil Champs store in Jacksonville. Martha and her brothers frequented the Lil Champs store that was located not far from her Kerri Lynn Road residence. I’ve speculated maybe Elmen planned to rob the store like he did with Julie and kidnap the clerk there but spotted Martha instead before taking her. He’s also suspected in the death of his ten year old half sister, Dana Loomis. She disappeared on October 22nd 1985 from her home in Jacksonville and was found murdered a few hours later in the woods just a couple hundred yards from where she lived. He’s the prime suspect in the death of fifteen year old Kristina Casey who went missing in Jacksonville on April 20th 1985. Her skeletal remains were found nearly a year later in a wooded area. He was arrested for kidnapping as well as attempted kidnapping in 1986 and has been in prison ever since. He’s one of my main suspects in this case.
4.) Martha ran away from home and doesn’t want to be found:
-Martha’s home life was chaotic and unstable. She was described by everyone who knew her as the only normal one amongst her family. Most people believed she took off to start a new life away from her crazy family. She was self sufficient and knew how to cook and take care of herself since none of the adults around her could. Her former foster family remembers she was sweet and caring but shy.
-Shortly after her disappearance, Martha’s mom got a phone call from a young girl who said “Mom, I’m okay” before hanging up. Her mom didn’t believe it was Martha on the other end but part of me wonders if it indeed was her and she was saying goodbye for good. No one could confirm if the unidentified girl was Martha or not.
