Ex-Husband Of Murdered Nurse Found Dead In Miami
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - The ex-husband of Kimberly Lindsey, the school nurse who was found dead in a Glades sugar cane field last week, is also dead.
Dr. Albert Lambert died in Miami, of a narcotics overdose, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said Sunday.
Lindsey's blood was found on his clothing at a residence Lambert owned in Miami, according to the Palm Beach Post. He was transported to a local hospital where he died.
"The bottom line is we were going to charge him with first-degree murder, no doubt," Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said at a news conference Sunday afternoon.
Bradshaw said his office put Lambert under 24-hour surveillance as soon as learning the case was a homicide instead of a missing-person investigation. He credited his crime scene investigators for cracking the case and said 25 detectives worked the case, along with the U.S. Marshal's Office.
He and Lindsey had been embroiled in a difficult divorce that became final in February. Tensions continued after the divorce and surfaced at a child-support hearing last week, sources said.
Bradshaw noted that the couple's three children Sarah Lambert, 20, Sofia Lambert, 18, and Savannah Lambert, 16 — lost both of their parents in one week.
"I hope that they take some comfort that an entire community grieves for them and is praying for them," said Palm Beach County State's Attorney Dave Aronberg, who joined Bradshaw at the news conference.
Kimberly Lindsey's body was found Wednesday in a Hendry County sugar cane field, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said late Friday. Lindsey, the nurse at Bak Middle School of the Arts, appears to have been attacked and killed Oct. 27 inside her home in Palm Beach Country Estates.
Lindsey's body was located in an area about seven miles south of Clewiston's main street along State Road 80. She had last been heard from Sunday, when she returned from a trip to Florida's west coast.
Expressions of love and support poured out for Lindsey throughout Saturday, including a Facebook page her daughters set up in her honor that had garnered nearly 7,300 likes by Sunday morning, some from as far away as South America.
"It breaks our hearts to have to write this, but our mom has passed away," Lindsey's daughters posted on the Facebook page at about 11:45 p.m. Friday, an hour after the sheriff's office made its disclosure and four hours after a vigil in her honor drew 100 people to the 9/11 memorial on Northlake Boulevard.
"There are no words to describe how we feel. This is an extremely tough time for us but we will try to stay Kim strong. Thank you everyone for all your help in the search, and please keep Kim alive in your hearts. She will always be a part of us."
Lindsey was the school nurse at Bak Middle School of the Arts. School officials said they would rename the clinic at the West Palm Beach school in her memory and would have grief counselors at the school Monday for students and staff to "help both children and adults cope with this senseless act of violence and loss of life," said Sally Rozanski, its principal, in a letter to parents. A Boca Raton attorney also pledged $2,500 as a reward for information regarding whoever killed Lindsey.
Evidence points to the slaying having happened in Lindsey's home in Palm Beach Country Estates, a wooded community of large homes on large lots west of Interstate 95 and north of Donald Ross Road where sheriff's office crime scene investigators arrived in large numbers Thursday night. There was also evidence that her body had been driven 85 miles south and east to the sugar cane field.
Lindsey's daughters had never been optimistic about Lindsey being found alive, given the circumstances surrounding her disappearance, neighbors said. There were signs of a disturbance in her home, and her purse, keys and car had been left behind.
Workers doing maintenance in the sugar cane field found Lindsey's body Wednesday. Word that a woman's body had been found surfaced Thursday night, after sheriff's office detectives had begun working with Hendry County officials to identify the body. An autopsy was done Thursday, although its full results have not been released.
Lindsey's acrimonious divorce from Albert Lambert was finalized on Feb. 8. However, disputes over unpaid attorney fees, car payments, real estate and college funds continued through the summer. On Oct. 29 — two days after Lindsey disappeared and the day before her body was discovered in a sugar cane field — a judge found Lambert, her ex-husband, in contempt of court, saying he had "engaged in stonewalling tactics" and "acted in bad faith … with a complete disregard for judicial efficiency."
"From what I understand, he (Lambert) was very distraught, screamed at the magistrate, told her to go ahead and put him in jail," said Brian LaBovick, recalling what his law partner, Joseph Fields, told him about a recent court hearing. LaBovick said Fields was distraught and did not want to speak with the media.
Investigators have not identified anyone, including Lambert, as a suspect in the case. Neither Lambert or his attorney returned calls for comment. Lambert's brother, Dr. Paul Lambert of Virginia, declined comment Saturday.
She was married to the girls' father from May 1991 until the end of their bitter, 2-1/2-year long divorce in February.
