Men, including father of unborn baby, charged in death of pregnant woman to face judge

WARWICK. R.I. (WLNE) — Two men, including the father of an unborn baby, charged in the death of a pregnant woman found dead in Coventry last year are set to face a judge Wednesday.

Rhode Island State Police said Tuesday they arrested Gary Gromkiewicz and Michael Lambert on murder and conspiracy charges.

Police said Gromkiewicz, 35, is the father of Leila Duarte Da Luz’s unborn child. He was on probation from a 2015 felony assault with a deadly weapon conviction.

Rhode Island State Police are seen at Carbuncle Pond in Coventry after a woman’s dead body was found, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2022. (WLNE)

Duarte Da Luz’s body was found on Dec. 21 by a fisher at Carbuncle Pond. The Department of Environmental Management deemed the death suspicious.

She was found with several cuts to her head, said police. The Medical Examiner’s Office conducted an autopsy and ruled her death as a homicide and that she was pregnant.

Police said the victim, who’s 34 years old and from Brockton, Massachusetts, was identified six days later, when a missing person report was filed with the Brockton police.

The George Lopes Funeral Home shared this photo of Leila Patricia Duarte Da Luz.

Police said Lambert, 46, is currently at the Adult Correctional Institutions for violating his parole.

They said at the time of Duarte Da Luz’s murder, Lambert was out on parole from a 1995 murder conviction.

Police said they conducted an extensive investigation, which included the execution of 53 search warrants for evidence connected to the murder.