Two Rhode Island men have been indicted for the murder of a pregnant Massachusetts woman whose body was found in a pond last year.
Michael Lambert, 46, of Pawtucket, and Gary Gromkiewicz, 36, of Lincoln, were each indicted by a grand jury on one count of murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder, Attorney General Peter Neronha announced Thursday. They were initially charged back in May and this week's indictment moves the case to Superior Court. They are both being held at Rhode Island prisons and are scheduled to be arraigned on Sept. 29.
A fisherman found the body of 34-year-old Leila Duarte Da Luz, of Brockton, beneath the ice in Carbuncle Pond in Coventry, Rhode Island, on Dec. 21, 2022, according to WJAR. Investigators said she had "several lacerations to her head" and the medical examiner's report showed she sustained "blunt force trauma to the head." The medical examiner also found water in her lungs, indicating that she was alive when she entered the water.
The following day, the state medical examiner’s Office conducted an autopsy and confirmed the manner of death as homicide and that the victim was pregnant. Family members told WJAR in February that Da Luz was two months pregnant and had been living in Brockton at the time of her death.
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Prosecutors say that on 2:30 a.m. on Dec. 21, 2022, Gromkiewicz and Lambert traveled to Brockton to pick up Da Luz, his ex-girlfriend, at her home. 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 that were captured by surveillance footage. Around 6:18 a.m., prosecutors say cell phone location data tracked their travel to Coventry, in an area near Carbuncle Pond.
Police have said previously that Gromkiewicz was the father of Da Luz's unborn baby and was on probation for a 2015 felony assault with a deadly weapon conviction. Lambert is a known associated of Gromkiewicz, and he was free on parole in a 1995 murder conviction.
The investigation that led to the arrests was led by Rhode Island State police, with assistance from Massachusetts State Police, Brockton police, Lincoln police, Coventry police, the U.S. Marshals Service, Homeland Security, the FBI and other Rhode Island agencies. State police said detectives executed 53 search warrants related to the murder investigation.
