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OGDEN — Prosecutors believe they've finally found the man raped and killed an 11-year-old girl nearly 30 years ago. They believe Becky Lemberger was grabbed on the way to school by then 15-year-old Gregory Seamons.
"She was nice, always smiling," said William Burton. He lived just two houses down from Lemberger in Ogden.
Lemberger was last seen walking to school. She never made it to Edison Elementary and never came home. The next day, her body was found covered in a tarp inside a nearby barn.
"My heart just sank. Just dropped to the floor. Man, that's just hard," Burton said.
It's a case that he hasn't forgotten. "I was always scared that something like that was going to happen to me, after that point."
Seamons is being charged with rape and murder. He's already serving out a sentence for kidnapping at the Idaho State Prison. Burton says he knew Seamons too, but never suspected him.
"Why would anybody? He was just a kid, going to school," Burton said.
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Charges have been filed in connection with a 29-year-old unsolved murder.For Burton, it's not easy looking back on that part of his childhood. Two people he knew as a child, one tragedy that's never left him. But he is glad to hear that police never gave up on the case.
"They feel like they owe it to victims of violent crimes to not just let their cases go, so they continue to look at these cases, years after the fact," said Dee Smith, a Weber County attorney.
He said it's never been easy for Lemberger parents, but at least now they have some answers.
Seamons still has until the end of 2017 to serve out his current sentence. Prosecutors here, hope to have him in Ogden to face charges within a couple of months.
