Two Rhode Island men held without bail in murder of Massachusetts woman

Attorney General Peter Neronha and Colonel Darnell S. Weaver announced Thursday that the Statewide Grand Jury returned an indictment charging two Rhode Island men with the murder of Leila Duarte DaLuz of Massachusetts, whose body was recovered from Carbuncle Pond in Coventry on December 21, 2022.

On September 6, 2023, the Statewide Grand Jury returned indictments charging 46-year-old Michael Lambert of Pawtucket and 36-year-old Gary Gromkiewicz of Lincoln each with one count of murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder.

The defendants are currently being held without bail at the Adult Correctional Institutions and are scheduled to be arraigned in Kent County Superior Court on September 29, 2023.

As alleged in court proceedings, at approximately 2:30 a.m. on December 21, 2022, Gromkiewicz and Lambert traveled to Brockton, Mass. to pick up the victim at her home. The victim was Gromkiewicz’s ex-girlfriend and was pregnant at the time. 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 as captured on surveillance footage.

As further alleged, at approximately 6:18 a.m., cell phone location data then tracked their travel to western Coventry, in an area where Carbuncle Pond is located, and where the victim’s body was later recovered.

The victim was found by a local fisherman in Carbuncle Pond, beneath the ice, with lacerations on her head. According to the medical examiner’s report, the victim sustained blunt force trauma to the head. The medical examiner also found water in her lungs, indicating she was alive when she entered the water.

A GoFundMe fundraiser was created to bring DaLuz’s body to her native Cape Verde to be buried with family.

DaLuz was described as a simple and nice person with a contagious smile.

Detectives James Hudson and Robert Hopkins of the Rhode Island State Police and Criminal Division Chief Stephen Dambruch and Assistant Attorney General John Corrigan of the Office of the Attorney General are leading the investigation and prosecution of the case.