November 27, 1985. St. Augustine, Florida. While attending a neighbourhood social gathering, 12-year old Martha Jean Lambert tells her mother that she will be taking a brief trip back to their mobile home, but Martha never returns and is eventually reported missing. Suspicion starts to fall upon on Martha’s 14-year old brother, David Lambert, after he gives conflicting stories about the last time he saw her. Over the course of the next 24 years, David makes two separate confessions about killing Martha and disposing of her body. Investigators find David’s second confession to be believable enough that they decide to close the case, but almost immediately after this news is made public, David recants his story. Was Martha’s brother actually responsible for her disappearance, or did something else happen to her? This week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold” covers a very controversial and divisive missing persons case which has yet to find a conclusive resolution.

Additional Reading:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Martha_Jean_Lambert

http://charleyproject.org/case/martha-jean-lambert

https://abcnews.go.com/US/missing-girl-cold-case-solved-cops/story?id=9465748

https://www.staugustine.com/article/20100102/NEWS/301029981

https://www.staugustine.com/article/20100107/NEWS/301079953

https://www.jacksonville.com/article/20100109/NEWS/801259468

https://web.archive.org/web/20141202205242/http://staugustine.com/stories/112804/new_2730440.shtml

https://crimeblogger1983.blogspot.com/2020/06/what-happened-to-martha-jean-lambert.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LinZik2MPtQ

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“The Trail Went Cold” is now doing a weekly livestream show on GetVokl every Thursday from 7:00-8:00 PM ET as part of their “True Crime Thursday” line-up. For more information, please visit their website.

The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.