Second set of human remains found on rural property near Smiths Falls

Robert Lambert's remains have been found on the 40-acre property he owned outside Smiths Falls, eight years after he went missing in July 2018. The Ontario Provincial Police located him on July 20 and announced the discovery on Wednesday, August 5.

Lambert, 75 at the time of his disappearance, had been living in a large house on the Kelly-Jordan Road property in Montague Township when he vanished. "Foul play was suspected in his disappearance," police said in their statement.

This is the second set of human remains uncovered at the location. The OPP Criminal Investigation Branch has been searching the property intensively since October, when officers arrested three people and charged them with first-degree murder in connection with the death of 34-year-old Robbie Thomson. Thomson's remains were found the day after those arrests. The four people charged are Christopher Philip Fenton, 48, Erin Lynn Mackie, 41, Joshua Joseph Belfiori, 35, of Bath, Ontario, and Mark Fenton, 42, who faces charges of accessory after the fact to murder.

Lambert's disappearance has been linked to the property through his ownership and to at least two of the arrested suspects. Property records show that Fenton's name was added as co-owner of the Kelly-Jordan property alongside Lambert's in April 2018, months before Lambert vanished.

Lambert, originally from Brooklyn, New York, worked as a high-end kitchen appliance salesman and purchased the property in 2004 for $233,000 with no mortgage. His son-in-law, Jonathan Botham, who lives next door, said the discovery brought closure: "I was shocked, but not shocked. I'm still kind of processing right now."

A friend of Lambert's, Tina Sutton, expressed frustration with the timeline. "I knew, I just knew he was gone. There's no way he would have not been in contact with me, and it's been over eight years. It's taken them two years to finally figure this all out," she said.