***
* Sorrow will take you *
* It will shake you *
* How can anyone stand tall? *
* When mountains fall *
Do you see that we came for the Blue Ridge Mountains?
- Yeah. - How hard would it be for you,
not even being from here, to hide a body?
It wouldn't be hard at all.
You don't know where to search here.
No, gorges and caves and canyons and rivers and everything.
I love that song, "Take Me Home, Country Roads,"
where they sing about the Blue Ridge Mountains.
It's beautiful here,
but it's also a place where some people never come home,
like young wife and mother, Brenda Lambert,
who disappeared here 30 years ago.
Brenda, was only 22, a baby herself.
She was married. She had little kids,
and she goes missing on the day
of her son's one year birthday party.
- A lot of questions. - A lot of rumors, crazy rumors.
Weeks before her disappearance,
Brenda Lambert filed a protective order
against her husband, claiming domestic violence.
Naturally, he became the first person of interest.
According to him, though, Brenda just ran off.
But then you've got this weird aspect of this case.
Not only does Brenda go missing,
you've got an alleged lover of hers that goes missing.
Mark Cook. There's no body ever found with that one either.
Are they related or is it just--
- A rumor? - Yeah.
Six months after Brenda vanished,
a local man named Mark Cook also disappeared.
Some think it's just a coincidence,
while other people suspect
that their disappearances are connected.
If so, that would open up a whole new world of suspects.
Her sister, Christy's, been like an investigator
this whole time for all these years,
trying to get something to happen with the case.
I would do the same thing for my sister.
- Yeah. - For over 30 years,
all of the rumors and unanswered questions
about this case have torn Brenda's family apart.
Circumstantial evidence cases where you don't have a body
are the hardest ones to solve.
So, that's why the Mercer County Sheriff's Office has asked
for our help.
Something like this where you've got a mother
of a couple of kids.
These are the ones that I think they haunt you.
I know.
***
- Howdy. - Hello.
- How ya doing? - How are y'all?
- Good to see y'all. - Steve Spingola.
- How you doing? - Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you. So he drafted you, huh?
He did, I'm drafted.
Your department was known about the case for 30 years.
Yes. Yeah, I'm retiring here next month.
This is like your last big push for this, huh?
It is. Don't want to let anybody down.
- I want closure for the family. - Okay.
Well, let's go get started working
and see if we can get some answers, okay?
Sounds great.
Mercer County is very quiet, very rural, low crime rates.
It's a little piece of heaven.
Having a cold case like this with a missing person
is very unusual for Mercer County.
It's a thorn in the side for the sheriff's department
not to get this thing solved.
Closing this case would mean the world to me.
Okay. First, tell us a little bit about Brenda.
Brenda was a mother of two.
She was very happy person, easygoing.
Everything was about her children.
Who's the baby in the picture here with Brenda?
That's baby Raymond Jr.
And that was his one-year birthday?
- Mm-hmm. - And the daughter was?
Christa Dawn.
She was a homemaker.
Family was real important to her.
Anybody that knew her knew that she was also a fighter,
she had a fighter spirit.
She was kind of sassy, right? She was a feisty girl.
Very defensive of what she loved.
Nice.
Branda and Raymond got married back in 1986,
when Brenda was only 16 years old.
By July of 1992,
their relationship was already headed for a divorce.
He's not living in the house.
He's actually living with his mom and dad.
Really?
There were allegations of domestic violence
and infidelity.
And Raymond was staying with his parents
on the family's rural mountain property
on the day Brenda disappeared.
July 26, 1992. How does all this start?
She was having a birthday party for Junior Lambert.
She invited the family.
Raymond went to pick a cake up and he showed up.
- Tammy Loveday showed up. - Brenda's cousin.
There was a source of tension to her being in the home
because there was a lot of rumor focused around
that Tammy might have been having an affair with Raymond.
And she had the nerve to go to the birthday party?
- She did. - That's kind of bold.
Oh, yeah. But everybody seems to agree
she was in a terrible mood that day,
that there was something wrong.
Well, it's not every day
that your husband's mistress walks into the house
and starts lording over the birthday party for a--
- Right. - For a one-year-old child.
Yeah.
According to the family at the party,
everybody left about eight o' clock.
Raymond took the kids up to the mountain property
where they spent the night
with Raymond and Raymond's parents.
The next day, he returned about 2:30
to discover that Brenda was missing.
The family contacted the sheriff's department
and said she was missing.
The sheriff's department went to that residence.
They found the house locked up.
The decorations from the birthday party still up.
The dishes from the party were still in the sink.
Law enforcement starts looking for her.
But she just vanished.
How was Raymond handling it back then?
If I was a husband that had lost my wife,
I would be calling the cops for updates on what's going on.
We got nothing but crickets from him.
- Whoa. - Brenda's car was still parked
right outside of her house,
and nothing was found to have been missing.
Raymond suggested she may have abandoned her own kids
and run off with another man.
But if that's so, she didn't take anything with her.
Maybe he didn't seem concerned
because he knew what actually happened to her.
All right.
So, you always have to look to the spouse first, right?
Raymond Lambert.
Raymond was 26, married young, rocky marriage.
He's mad at her about her socializing.
She liked to go to the bars.
- Well, everybody did, right? - Yeah.
It was just what you did on the weekend.
- Yeah. - He's jealous, right?
Very jealous. She was telling her other people
that Raymond was beating her.
Well, there was a DV,
a domestic violence earlier that month.
July 7th, she calls law enforcement.
He was held me against my will,
stuck a gun to my head and threatened to kill me.
Raymond doesn't get arrested
but she's going to go see legal aid, July 30th.
Attorney, to talk about doing what?
Divorce.
Brenda ended up dropping her protective order,
which is what allowed Raymond to come to the birthday party.
So, if he did kill Brenda, why that night?
Now, let's get to our next suspect,
Tammy, Brenda's cousin, cheating with Raymond.
In his original statement, he doesn't put Tammy there.
Denies having any relationship with her.
But even Brenda knew they were sleeping together?
- Yeah. - Yeah.
How fast did she move into Brenda's house?
Tammy moved in a week later.
They lived together, got married, raised the kids,
and then got divorced.
Brenda's cousin, Tammy, replaced her
as soon as Brenda was out of the picture.
But how was Tammy so sure
Brenda wasn't going to be coming back?
Did Tammy kill Brenda for Raymond?
Did Tammy kill Brenda with Raymond?
Or was she really uninvolved in what happened to her?
So, the only other big rumor that comes into play
when we're trying to figure out
what to do with what happened to Brenda
is what do we do with the fact
that Mark Cook goes missing six months later, right?
In a small town like this,
one missing person is pretty dang rare.
But two in six months, that is unheard of.
24-year-old Mark Cook was last seen on January the 14th
at a local bar called Pedro's.
You gotta understand this is a small town,
tight knit community,
everybody knows everybody from school.
Brenda Lambert and Mark Cook knew each other
and there was a lot of talk that she's missing.
All of a sudden, he's missing.
Maybe there was more than just a friendship.
Lot of talk and innuendo of, well,
maybe she ran away with Mark Cook, found another life.
Thirty years ago in Mercer County,
how can two different people go missing?
Could they be related?
We're just going to go see how far we can go
down that trail and see what we come up with.
If Brenda and Mark were having an affair,
is it possible that Raymond's jealousy caused him
to kill Brenda and then seek revenge against Mark?
Could-- could it have been someone else?
Are their disappearances even connected at all?
Any way you look at it,
if we're going to solve Brenda's case,
we need to take a look at Mark's case too.
***
Brenda and Raymond's son was just a baby
when she went missing.
And today, he's still very close with his dad.
And their daughter tragically passed away
just a few years ago.
But Brenda had six brothers and sisters.
- Hello. - Hi.
- Hello. - And through the years,
it's been her sister, Christy, who has dedicated herself
to try and figure out what's happened.
Writing countless emails to investigators full of tips
and leads and questions.
Today, we're meeting with her and her brother, Tim.
We're excited to talk to you all.
Oh, well, I'm excited to talk to you.
So, we're here to talk about Brenda and what she was like.
She was fun growing up with as a kid.
She's a tomboy and she liked climbing trees.
How far did she go in school?
She was feisty and the principal begged my mom
to let her quit at 15.
You're kidding, how come?
He just wanted her out of there
because she wanted to pull pranks.
- Did you know that? - I did not know that.
She never grew up out of the childlike stage,
but she was a really good mother.
She did love her kids with her heart.
She didn't walk off.
She would have never left her kids.
- No. - Okay.
And she would not let them kids go with Raymond,
I guarantee it.
She was just exciting to be around, you know.
She liked to play around, laugh a lot, cut up,
and she was a great mother.
She loved her kids.
That's the reason I know
she didn't walk off like they said.
As soon as I heard that, I said, "No, she didn't."
No, she didn't.
Go back to back then, to late '80s, early '90s.
What was going on in Brenda's world and Raymond's world?
Me and Raymond was working at a chicken plant.
That's how he met Brenda,
coming down to pick me up and take me home.
Did you want them to start dating?
Well, I didn't mind it at first because I didn't know him.
Cause I rode with him for three months.
- And? - I didn't like him very much.
How come?
Well, he'd stop on a river bridge.
He said if you ever kill anybody,
there's a swirl rack down on that river,
just throw them in there.
Tie a block to her feet and they'll go down in and out.
Are you thinking he's full of [bleep]
and he's just trying to impress you? He's messed up.
That's what I thought. He's full of [bleep].
So, you didn't think he was really capable
of doing all these things?
- No, not at the time. - Not at the time.
All right.
I'm done.
It's okay, Tim.
Did you have any clue
that things were not going well in their marriage?
Yes.
I know they was getting ready to get a divorce.
- Did you know about the abuse? - No.
Did you know he was running around on her?
Yeah, that's why they was getting a divorce.
When did you start hearing anything
about Tammy and Raymond?
Just around the birthday party.
- I didn't know Tammy. - But she's your cousin.
Yeah, but she lived in Missouri all her life.
Oh, so she's kind of like the new girl in town.
Yeah.
So, Brenda didn't know her either?
- No. - Good to know. Thank you.
So, Christy, how come of all the family members,
you've sort of appointed yourself
to be the one to communicate with him the most?
I mean, I just wanted to.
And it was just like a fire in me.
I had to find her. And I still do.
I can't give up on her.
Brenda was like a second mom.
He was like my other dad.
I was with them so much
that their kids were like my brother and sister.
It still hurts to think that he might have killed her.
- Complicated. - Very.
It's been hard carrying this on my shoulders
from trying to get answers for Brenda.
I mean, she's been gone for 30 years,
and there's never any hope whatsoever.
Not until Cold Justice showed up, you know.
I try not to be hopeless,
but this has been the most hope that we've had.
Give me a hug.
* Whoa, the time may come *
* Swallow up the land I'm from *
* Whoa, how the time may come *
* Drown my woes, the tide has come *
The first thing we want to do
is try and get a really good understanding
of all the key locations in this case.
So, we've asked Brenda's sister, Christy, for her help.
Brenda's house is no longer standing,
but Christy's first hand knowledge of the area
could really be invaluable
in helping us understand Raymond's story
and his family's land,
where the sheriff's department thinks
that Brenda might be buried.
You know, when I first moved back here,
it floored me how much had changed.
Why did you move back?
To get closer to do something with Brenda's case.
Because it's just so hard.
When I was living in Tennessee, you know,
I would make trips in and the phone calls
and stuff like that. It was a lot harder than me
just being able to go up to the courthouse and like,
"Hey, let's talk about this."
You see just down this road right here
is where Brenda lived.
* Darkness left where the sunlight's been *
* Darkness now, my only friend *
So, Christy, tell us what it was like 30 years ago.
The house was way back there at the end of the property.
So, what was the closest neighbor
to Brenda and Raymond back then?
I think all the way over here.
Even if you got into a screaming match,
you're not going to hear anything.
According to Raymond, Brenda said
she was going to ride up the mountain that night,
but didn't specify where she was going.
But her car was found at her house,
along with her purse, keys and shoes.
A strong indicator she did not leave voluntarily.
It's hard being in the last place that she was seen.
I know, but you probably got some good memories here?
Oh, I got a lot of good memories.
Raymond returned the next day to discover Brenda was missing.
But if all of her things were clearly still in the house,
why would he think she ran off with somebody else?
Was Raymond actually just trying to draw attention away
from himself or his new girlfriend,
Brenda's cousin, Tammy?
So, this whole drive we're doing right now
would be the drive from Brenda and Raymond's house
up to the Lambert property?
Yes, that's on top of the mountain.
They own 200 acres.
So, if he killed Brenda at the house
and brought her up here, this is the route he's driving?
Yes.
* Grave digger, gonna bury my neck *
* That'll swallow me in my grave *
Are we, like in the middle of Coaldale Mountain?
This is on top of the mountain.
So, the house Raymond grew up in--
Just a little way up the road.
This way? The land that you're most interested in
- has been Lambert property. - It is.
And up until now, no one has granted you
any permission to just go checking it out
- and searching and digging? - Right.
Standing on this mountain
where Raymond's family owns 200 acres of this forest land,
it strikes you how daunting this landscape is.
If Brenda is out here, she could be anywhere.
The good thing is,
you don't have to have a body to prove a murder.
It's tragic that people can just be here one day
and gone the next.
Nobody should be treated that way.
* Follow me fast and then I flee *
Okay, so now we're gonna Kay, huh?
It's time for us to dive into the witnesses
in Brenda's world, starting with her older sister, Kay.
We know they were close.
Kay gave birth to a little baby girl
just three weeks after Brenda vanished
and she named her after Brenda.
- Hello. - Hey, is this Kay?
- Yes. - Hopefully, Kay knows more
about Brenda and Raymond's estranged relationship
and the possibility that her disappearance
is connected to Mark Cook.
Do you think that Raymond thought that
Mark Cook and Brenda were messing around with each other?
Do you ever remember Raymond and Brenda,
if there was any type of arguing?
We know that Brenda filed a protective order
against Raymond in the weeks before her disappearance,
claiming that he was violent.
But it's much worse than I appreciated.
How close in time did you see red rings around her neck
compared to when she ends up missing?
Wow. Okay.
Was she really about to go through with the divorce,
do you think?
It sounds like regardless of Raymond's affair
with her cousin, Brenda, knew that her marriage was over.
In the world of domestic violence cases,
strangulation is the ultimate act of control by the abuser.
And a woman who has been strangled
by her partner previously is 750% more likely
to be killed by that partner.
That's all I can think of
that we need to ask you right now, Kay.
Thank you very much for your help.
Oh, thank you.
Okay, so you call her
and you just start ask her all those questions,
and I'm going to make sure we cover everything
- before you hang up, okay? - Okay, sounds great.
We've heard that Brenda Lambert's disappearance
had nothing to do with Mark Cook,
but more to do with her relationship
and her decision to divorce her husband, Raymond.
And it's possible that her cousin, Tammy,
was involved as well.
But why that night?
Hey, is this Kathy?
We're hoping that Brenda's sister, Kat, knows more.
Did you know anything
about Brenda having an appointment
on July the 30th to meet with a legal aid lawyer?
And so, he didn't want to get divorced
because he knew he could either lose the kids
or had to split up custody, huh?
Wow. Raymond said that he would see Brenda dead
before letting her take their kids.
So, he was not only losing control of Brenda,
he was also possibly losing his house
and custody of his kids.
It makes you wonder
if it all came to a head that night of the birthday party
and he lost control of himself too.
Okay, talk about that threat. What do you mean?
What is it?
Man, according to Kat,
Brenda threatened Raymond that she was going
to go to the authorities with information about a crime
that his family had committed.
We've got no evidence that they committed that crime,
and maybe Brenda didn't either.
But if Raymond thought she did or feared she did,
could that have made him snap?
When was the next time you saw Raymond?
What does he look like? How's he acting?
Okay.
Raymond told the sheriff's department
that he did not return to their house
until 2:30 that next day.
So, how come he's telling Kat at midnight
that he can't find Brenda at home?
I appreciate your time. Thanks a lot.
All right, thank you.
Did he return to her house or not?
Did he forget or did he just blow his own alibi?
We've been hearing a lot of evidence against Raymond,
but we have another suspect
that may have also wanted Brenda dead.
Her own cousin, Tammy.
Tammy was having an affair with Raymond
and moved in just days after Brenda's disappearance
and married him about as quickly as legally possible.
- Hi. - Hi.
Hey, Bonnie. How you doing?
All right.
Tammy's mother, Bonnie, has always defended her.
But what we want to know
is what is she going to tell us today?
Tammy and Raymond are no longer together.
And after all, Brenda is her own niece.
You know why we're here?
Yeah.
Right.
- Raymond did? - Raymond did.
That's that Sunday night?
According to Bonnie, Raymond called
asking about Brenda at about 11 o'clock,
about an hour before he showed up
at Brenda's sister's house stating he was looking for her.
This sounds a lot like he was trying to craft an alibi.
What did you think right away
when you couldn't get hold of her?
Brenda's daughter states that she saw Raymond
and his late father on and off the mountain all night.
Did Brenda's threat to Raymond's family
get them involved with what happened to her?
Or is Bonnie just pointing fingers away from her daughter?
Unfortunately, Brenda's own daughter is not alive
to confirm this story.
And Raymond's dad is not alive either.
But things are definitely getting interesting.
Did Tammy ever ask Raymond if he killed Brenda?
Really?
Okay, I'm gonna put my camera right here
and film you from the back seat.
- Okay. - Joe has made contact
with a confidential informant claiming to have information
about both Brenda Lambert and Mark Cook's disappearance.
We've heard that there's no truth to the fact
that Branda and Mark were having an affair,
but is it possible that their disappearances
might still be connected in some other way?
You told me about two murders that you knew about.
Start from there.
We heard that Mark Cook was last seen at Pedro's Bar,
which is consistent with this story,
as are many of the other details we're hearing.
I'm not sure that with just this one witness,
you would be able to prove in court who killed Mark.
But according to this witness, it wasn't Raymond.
So, when you heard all these stories floating around town
about Brenda's murder being connected
to Mark Cook's murder
because maybe they were messing around.
Never flirted that you saw?
What's the best information you've ever heard
or come up with as to what happened to Brenda?
Have you ever heard anything
or do you have any ideas on where Raymond would've put--
Brenda's sister told us that Brenda threatened to go
to the sheriff's department with information
on Rayond's family,
and their daughter allegedly saw Raymond
with his father on and off the mountain all that night.
When you add what this informant is saying
to all the other credible witnesses that we have,
this is a big deal. This is good information.
***
Okay, she's home. I see her car.
We feel that we can eliminate the idea
that there was any connection between the disappearance
of Brenda Lambert and Mark Cook,
which means that we can focus our attention
back on Raymond and Tammy.
You must be Miss Tammy.
Yes, I am.
We believe that Brenda's husband, Raymond,
and his late father may be involved,
but we need to consider that her cousin, Tammy,
may have been too.
If she played a part, maybe she'll implicate herself
or if she knows anything
about Raymond's possible involvement,
now that they're divorced, maybe she'll tell us that.
Let's talk about the birthday party day again,
July the 26th, 1992.
Everybody started leaving and Raymond told me
that his mom and dad was going to take the kids
on the mountain.
That next day, me and her sisters went to the house.
Brenda's purse was there, car keys was there,
but no sign of Brenda.
I didn't think nothing of him doing anything at that time.
It's kind of odd that Tammy didn't think that much
about Brenda going missing, especially when it feels like
everybody else knew about Raymond's abuse.
Then again, Tammy was in a relationship with Raymond,
and she was crazy about him,
so maybe she was blinded by love.
In 1991, you moved to West Virginia with your mom,
and you knew you had these cousins,
Brenda and her sisters,
but y'all never had family reunions
or hung out or anything like that?
No. I didn't know Brenda and Raymond was married.
He wasn't with Brenda when I met him.
But then Brenda was going out with us
and talking to us and stuff,
and she-- she told us she was done with him.
She didn't want nothing else to do with him.
Okay, so what did she tell you about him being abusive,
if anything?
She didn't tell me nothing about him being abusive to her.
- Okay. - Nothing.
Because we can't figure out why you would want to date a man
that you thought was abusive to Brenda.
I mean, yeah, I know what y'all are thinking.
Like, this is a married man and woman.
Here you come in the picture,
and then you probably will sit there
and kill her over him and stuff.
No, I'm not that type of person
that I'd never, ever hurt nobody over a man.
They were having problems
way before I even came in the picture.
I'm not making excuses for me.
Believe me, I'm living with it every day
that I got with a married man.
What all did Raymond tell you about
what he thought about his marriage with Brenda?
I remember one time Raymond telling me,
he said that she went to go,
she was going to go file for divorce,
and there was no way he was going
to let her have the house and the kids.
Raymond is the type of man,
what's his is his and what was mine was his.
At the time, I thought she actually ran off.
But then, when things started going by,
like her kid graduating, her mom passing
and she didn't come back then, then I started thinking
she didn't run off.
And then when you started thinking that,
did you start asking Raymond any questions?
Why not?
I was scared to death to ask him anything.
- Because? - Because he was abusive.
He would smack you, he would choke you.
He would backhand me with his hand and black my eye.
He was taking women to the house.
I caught him at work with a hooker.
You start seeing him do this.
He's lying. He's lying.
I learned that over the years. [laughing]
He gets like an itch when he's or he's--
- Or he's-- - He's really fidgety.
Yeah, yawning or something.
As you started figuring out what he was really like
and you were with him and abused by him,
did you ever try to put together in your head
what happened exactly to Brenda?
Raymond's sister, she said that Raymond
and his dad left the mountain that night
and they was gone for hours.
And when they came back, they went to the sawmill.
This is the second time we've heard
that Raymond and his dad were acting strangely
on the mountain that night
and that their family sawmill was involved.
Did they use that to dispose of or hide Brenda's body?
I'm just remembering him telling me
that that in the state of West Virginia,
it's the law that you have to have a body
to convict somebody.
- Raymond said that? - Yeah.
That is not true.
So, do you think Raymond did it now?
I think he's capable of it, to tell you the God's truth.
So, if he's not here,
we'll try to get a phone number for him and all that.
We've got one last person to talk to
about the 1992 disappearance of Brenda Lambert,
her husband, and our prime suspect, Raymond Lambert.
He's been characterized as abusive and combative.
So, we're not expecting him to invite us in for a drink.
[knocking on door]
Hey, Raymond. How you doing?
Sorry, to bother you so early in the morning.
I'm with the sheriff's department. How you been?
So, I came to talk to you about Brenda.
We just want to, you know,
see if we can close this out once and for all.
You haven't heard from Brenda in the last 30 years at all,
We want to see if Raymond says now
what he said 30 years ago.
How much of his story has changed
and if he truly believes that Brenda simply ran away,
is he angry that she left him to raise their kids?
You didn't think it was funny that Brenda just takes off,
leaves you and the kids behind? wNo car, no money?
Yeah. Yeah. How was your marriage going?
Right, I understand that.
Did you try to make an attempt to find Brenda?
And nobody could find her?
So what do you remember about that day, that Sunday?
Was Brenda in a good mood?
Why?
You don't think it had anything to do with the fact
that Tammy shows up
and she knows that you and Tammy are doing the nasty?
Were you already having a relationship with Tammy?
Right.
So, does Brenda suspect
that you're screwing around with Tammy?
There wasn't?
She knew that? She knew that?
And she wasn't upset about it?
Okay. Were you and Brenda having sex at that time, too,
or was it pretty much over with?
No?
In relation to the day she goes missing, right,
that Sunday?
When's the last time you had sex with Brenda?
By Friday.
Raymond is trying to sell us the idea
that everybody was fine with him sleeping with everybody,
and that Brenda didn't mind, but I'm not buying that.
Were you the last one to leave the party,
or do you remember that?
Tammy told us that when Raymond lies,
he gets restless, moving his shoulders and stretching.
It looks like he's a bit uncomfortable
about the important details of what happened that night.
When you start seeing him do this...
he's lying. Or he's--
- He's really fidgety? - Yeah. Yawning or something.
Now, did she want your daughter to stay with her that night?
Right. Right. So Brenda wasn't a great mom?
Earlier that month, Brenda reported domestic violence
and sought an order of protection. Is that true?
Against you, or what was the deal?
Why would that have been, sir?
But there was no domestic violence?
Nothing?
You never choked her?
Did you ever point a gun at her?
Never did?
Kay told us that Raymond strangled Brenda
on multiple occasions,
and Tammy said that he strangled her too.
It seems like Raymond's stretching the truth
as much as his shoulders.
Does your family still own that sawmill property?
No. Your family doesn't own the land up there?
Would he gave us consensus
to walk around to look at the property,
you think, for Brenda's body, or--
Well, I don't have any other questions. Do you, sir?
All right, I really appreciate you talking.
We may have to come back, all right.
First, Raymond says that his family doesn't own
that property, but then that they do.
And now, he tells us that it's too overgrown to be useful
in any type of a police search.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is a classic flip flop.
Oh, interesting guy.
Very.
Did you see how he acted, though?
- The look on his face. - I know, I know.
I was like-- That was a tell to me. I thought.
- Good morning, good morning. - Good morning.
Hey buddy, how you doing?
We've uncovered a lot of circumstantial evidence
about the disappearance of Brenda Lambert
and the possible connection
to the disappearance of Mark Cook.
Do we believe that what happened to Mark Cook
is related to what happened to Brenda Lambert?
I have enough confidence in both of these cases
that it's not.
Did we hear one single piece of evidence--
- No. - That makes us think
- that they are connected? - No.
Not at all. Despite the rumors,
there's no evidence that Brenda and Mark
were in a relationship
or that there's any connection to their disappearances.
Their disappearances seem to be just a tragic coincidence.
So, the link is done.
Okay, let's talk about the suspects in Brenda's case,
Tammy Lambert.
We're trying to say because she hooked up with Raymond
so close after the disappearance of Brenda
that she's involved with this.
I don't think that's true at all.
I think Tammy's young, she's impressionable.
She's been scared to death for 30 years.
Not only is Tammy not involved
or guilty at all in what happened to Brenda,
she's going to be your best part of your case.
She's going to be your best witness.
Yeah.
Tammy was having an affair with Brenda's husband,
but she's always been honest about it
and believed their marriage was over.
She has always been cooperative with the investigation.
She was cooperative with us.
She never hesitated to answer any of our questions,
even the very difficult questions.
In some ways, Tammy was a victim here, too.
Last but not least, Raymond Lambert.
Let's be real honest.
You think she ran off with some man
and left her babies behind with no shoes,
no purse, no car, no money?
- No way. - Hell no.
That's his defense.
She ran off and left her babies for their whole lives.
Okay, bull[bleep].
She loved her kids
and she would not let them kids go with Raymond.
I guarantee it.
So, the day of the birthday party,
Brenda's acting funny by all accounts.
Their marriage was falling apart.
So, he didn't want to get divorced
because he knew he could either lose the kids
or have to split up custody, huh?
She knew the day of the birthday party was going to be
a day of reckoning, and they were about to get into it.
She was about to leave him forever
or try to and keep his house.
This man that put fingers on her neck
and tried to strangle
her and beat the [bleep] out of her for many years.
I think Raymond, her got into an argument.
He's done something.
And he went to his daddy and said, "Hey, I'm in trouble."
And he said, "Let's take care of it."
And then what else happened?
According to the sisters, about 11:00 that night...
- Why's he worried about Brenda? - He just left.
That's weird. Use your common sense.
When you start seeing him do this, he's lying.
- Or he's-- - Just really fidgety.
Yeah, and yawning.
Were you the last one to leave the party?
Tammy and Brenda's sisters and Bonnie,
they're all believable,
and they're all telling you the same thing.
He's the person that had the motive
and the opportunity and the means.
Your case is never going to get any better than is right now.
We want Raymond Lambert arrested for first degree murder.
Nice. Nice.
Circumstantial evidence cases don't always
get better than this.
And it's time for us to present everything
that we've learned
to the Mercer County prosecuting attorney.
Good luck, man.
***
Never got to do this kind of news delivery before
in your career, or have you?
- No, I have not. - After all these years,
you get to be the guy that tells them some news.
Feels great. I'm so excited.
There's no way we could have got this close at all
without the help from Cold Justice.No way at all.
I'm retiring in a month.
I wanted to see if I still had it,
to be able to close a case.
This is the hardest case the department had.
And I'm ready to go in front of the family.
And I feel good about it.
So, I had a meeting with the prosecutor.
Okay.
He wants to look at a few things.
I don't want to go into too much specifics,
but they are really, really good.
Mmm. Okay.
Things are gonna start moving like you've never seen.
I mean, it's already have.
I mean, it's already moved further
than I've ever seen it move. I want to tell you,
I appreciate everyone of y'all for what you do.
You're very welcome.
I'm kind of lost for words.
It's really hard to let that sink in
after 30 years of really not having a lot of hope.
It's been hard carrying this on my shoulders
and it just feels like it's just been lifted up off of me.
It's a lot of relief.
It's a good case, okay?
I know you want to find your sister.
- I understand that. - Yes.
But he's got your prosecutor ready to move forward.
Maybe even without finding her, okay.
- I'd like to find her still. - I know, I know.
It is a needed thing for closure.
- I know. I understand. - Bringing her back home,
putting her beside my mom, that way we can heal.
Okay.
* There is light at the end *
I think we all hope
that some day Brenda's body is found
and that her family can finally take her home.
* Find peace in knowing you will be okay *
***