Michael Lambert and Gary Gromkiewicz: Two felons indicted for murder of pregnant woman found in icy pond
WARWICK, RHODE ISLAND: Two convicted felons have been indicted for the alleged murder of a pregnant 34-year-old woman whose body was found in Rhode Island by a fisherman in an icy pond days before last year's Christmas.
Authorities said that Gary R Gromkiewicz, a 36-year-old Lincoln resident, identified as the ex-boyfriend of Leila Patricia Duarte Da Luz and father of her unborn child, was indicted alongside 46-year-old Michael Lambert, a parolee in Pawtucket once convicted for the 1994 Thanksgiving Day murder of a homeless man.
Gromkiewicz was reportedly on probation for a 2015 felony assault with a deadly weapon. Lambert was described as Gromkiewicz’s “known associate”, state officials said at the outset of the case.
What led to Michael Lambert and Gary Gromkiewicz's indictment?
According to authorities, an “extensive” probe into the two convicted felons which involved analysis of “technical data and physical evidence,” alongside witness interviews, proved to be the key to establishing the initial “framework” for murder and conspiracy charges.
According to the reports of local ABC affiliate WLNE, prosecutors said that Gromkiewicz was Da Luz’s fiance and that the duo had an altercation regarding the amount of money he spent on a ring. The woman was identified as the victim six days after the horrific discovery at the pond and after the Brockton Police Department in Massachusetts received a missing person report.
Gary Gromkiewicz denied knowing where the victim was
The defendant allegedly denied knowing where Da Luz was when Brockton cops reached him. An “increasingly agitated” Gromkiewicz allegedly hung up the phone during a reported subsequent phone call with local Lincoln cops after saying, "I’m all set. I have a girlfriend. I don’t want anything to do with Leila. If you find her, don’t call me. I don’t care.”
What charges do Gary Gromkiewicz and Michael Lambert face?
A grand jury has since indicted Gromkiewicz and Lambert on two charges each. As per Rhode Island court records, both defendants were indicted on Wednesday, September 6. Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F Neronha announced the indictments on Thursday, saying Gromkiewicz and Lambert were each charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
“As alleged in court proceedings, at approximately 2:30 a.m. on December 21, 2022, Gromkiewicz and Lambert traveled to Brockton, Mass. to pick up the victim at her home. The victim was Gromkiewicz’s ex-girlfriend and was pregnant at the time,” the attorney general’s office said.
“According to cell phone location data, they then drove throughout Rhode Island over the course of the morning, making multiple stops at gas stations and convenience stores as captured on surveillance footage.”
“As further alleged, at approximately 6:18 a.m., cell phone location data then tracked their travel to western Coventry, in an area where Carbuncle Pond is located, and where the victim’s body was later recovered,” the press release continued.
The victim was eight to 10 weeks pregnant at the time of death
When Da Luz was found dead in Coventry’s Carbuncle Pond, she was eight to 10 weeks pregnant and was reportedly wearing an engagement ring. It has been reported by the medical examiner that she was still alive before she “entered the water” and drowned based on water in Da Luz’s lungs. Da Luz had “sustained blunt force trauma to the head.”
