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In the summer of 1992, a young mother celebrated her son’s first birthday at her home in a small West Virginia town and then mysteriously vanished without a trace.
The party for Brenda Lambert’s one-year-old, nicknamed “June bug,” wrapped up around 9pm on July 26, 1992, according to the West Virginia State Police.
It was the last time the 22-year-old mother was seen. Her car was parked in the driveway at the Bluewell home and all her belongings had been left behind.
When Brenda’s estranged husband Raymond Lambert later filed a missing persons report, he stated that he left the house around 8pm that same evening and went to stay with his mother. Only when he returned the next afternoon did he allegedly discover that Brenda was missing.
Friday marked 32 years since anyone has seen or heard from Brenda.
Her sister, Christy Kennedy, was only 14 years old at the time. She’s been fighting to bring her home ever since.
“For years, I was told to be quiet,” Kennedy told The Independent. “But I’m done. It’s time to tell her story. It’s time to bring her home.”
Kennedy believes her sister is no longer alive and that she died at the hands of a killer. But that hasn’t stopped her fighting to get her sister back — even if it’s her remains.
“I know a lot of people out there who know what happened,” she said. “But they say nothing.”
Brenda was a victim of domestic violence, according to Kennedy, who said her sister was preparing to divorce when she went missing.
“Brenda was amazing. Knowing her was the best part of my life,” Kennedy said tearfully. “Nobody in this world deserved what happened to her.”
To add to the mysteriousness of Brenda’s disappearance, nearly six months after she went missing, on January 14, 1993, her friend Mark Anthony Cook, 24, vanished after leaving a bar called Pedro’s at the Airport Square Shopping Center.
Darrell Bailey, the former chief deputy of the Mercer County Sheriff’s Department, who has since passed, told the Bluefield Daily Telegraph in 2006 that he believed the two disappearances were connected and that foul play was suspected.
Their bodies have never been found and both cases remain under investigation, police said.
“It’s been life-changing and it doesn’t get better — you don’t get used to it,” Kennedy said. “But you can’t give up, you have to advocate for your person”
Kennedy believes her sister’s remains are just within a few miles of where she was seen.
“If someone would just give me her remains, just tell me where she is buried,” Kennedy pleaded. “We just want to bury her.”
The trauma of losing Brenda led to their family grieving themselves to death.
Their mother died in 1996, just a few years after Brenda disappeared.
“Her case was cold for so long. It did a lot of damage,” Kennedy said. “People were not interested, people didn’t care. It was up to me to advocate for her.”
“Meanwhile, my family was just wasting away,” she added. “Dying from heartbreak.”
Brenda was legally declared dead in September 2022.
Last year, a billboard was placed along Route 52 with the help of the AWARE Foundation, Inc.
It featured her photo and asked anyone with information to contact the Mercer County Sheriff’s Department at 304-487-8364.
“The person who did this can still spend the holidays with their family,” she said. “Brenda will never have that again.”
“They got 30 years carefree,” We have 30 years of heartbreak.”
Kennedy told The Independent that Private Investigations for the Missing has hired a Private Investigator to help with the case.
“I’m hoping that someone will come forward with information,” she said.
Any information can be sent via email to PIFTMtips@gmail.com or toll free tip line 1-866-331-6660.
A candle vigil was held for Brenda on Friday.
“I’m not stopping, it’s been 32 years,” Kennedy said. “I’m ready to bring Brenda home.
“I’m hoping, because I’m not going to quit until I get my sister back.”
