2 RI Men Indicted After Pregnant Woman Is Found Dead In Coventry Pond

COVENTRY, RI — Two men were indicted Thursday in Kent County Superior Court on murder charges for the death of a pregnant woman whose body was found in a Coventry pond.

Leila Patricia Duarte Da Luz, 34, of Brockton, Massachusetts, was found dead in Carbuncle Pond on Dec. 21, 2022, with several lacerations to her head, launching a months-long investigation, police said.

Gary Gromkiewicz, 35, of Lincoln, Rhode Island, who was the father of Da Luz’s unborn child, and Michael Lambert, 46, a known associate of Gromkiewicz's, were charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder in connection with Da Luz's death, prosecutors said.

According to court documents, Gromkiewicz and Lambert drove to Brockton to pick up the victim at her home. Prosecutors said they drove around Rhode Island throughout the morning, making numerous stops at gas stations and convenience stores. Many of those stops were captured on store security video.

Cell phone location data then tracked their travel to western Coventry, near Carbuncle Pond, where the victim’s body was later recovered, prosecutors said.

Da Luz's body was found by a local fisherman in the pond, beneath the ice.

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.

Both defendants are being held without bail at the Rhode Island Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston. They are scheduled to be arraigned in Kent County Superior Court on Sept. 29.

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