This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Ogden • A preliminary hearing has been set for the man accused of raping and killing an 11-year-old Ogden girl in 1983.
Gregory L. Seamons, 46, is charged Ogden's 2nd District Court with first-degree felony counts of murder and rape for the slaying of Rebecca Lemberger, who went missing while walking to Edison Elementary School on March 2, 1983.
On Monday, Seamons appeared in 2nd District Judge Mark DeCaria's courtroom, where an April 17 date was set for a preliminary hearing. At that time, DeCaria will hear evidence in the case and decide whether there is probable cause for the man to stand trial on the charges.
Nearly 30 years after Lemberger's death, a DNA match led police to Seamons.
According to court documents, a DNA sample taken from Seamons in July 2011 matched DNA from the 1983 murder scene. Police have also determined that Seamons, who was 15 at that time, was living in the same Ogden neighborhood as Lemberger.
The girl's body was discovered by classmates in a wooden shed. She was underneath an old mattress, wrapped in a blanket. Police said her head had been smashed at least eight times with a rock, according to news accounts at the time.
In a 2012 letter sent to The Salt Lake Tribune, Seamons admitted to "fooling around" with the 11-year-old victim prior to her death, but said he isn't a murderer. He suspects that his father, Larry Bingham Seamons, likely killed the girl. Larry Seamons died nearly a decade ago.
"One morning [my dad] picked me and this girl up at the Circle K on Monroe and said he would take me to school first then drop her off on his way back because he wanted to talk to my Mom. I never saw this girl again and a few days later it came out on the news that she had been killed," Seamons wrote in a letter sent from the Idaho prison where he was incarcerated at until last month, when he was extradited to Utah. He was serving time for a second-degree felony kidnapping conviction.
Ogden Major Crimes Sgt. Tim Scott has said that Seamons pointing the finger at his father is "convenient" considering that the elder Seamons is dead. But he said police are confident the right man has been charged with the girl's rape and murder.
Twitter: @jm_miller