This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A resolution may be near for a man charged with 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.
During a hearing on Monday, attorneys told a judge that they are attempting to reach a settlement in the case, according to court records. Another hearing was set for April 18.
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 also have 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 until November, 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