Robert Lambert, then 75, was last seen in the summer of 2018 in Montague Township near Smiths Falls. Photo by Ontario Provincial Police /Handout

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Eight years after he went missing, Robert Lambert’s remains have been located on the property he owned outside of Smiths Falls, according to a statement released by Ontario Provincial Police.

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Last seen in July 2018, when he was 75 years old, Lambert had been living in a large house on the same wooded, 40-acre property in Montague Township where police unearthed his body.

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Investigators located Lambert on July 20, according to a police statement released on Wednesday, Aug. 5. They announced their latest discovery only after identifying him.

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“Foul play was suspected in his disappearance,” the release said. “This is the second set of human remains located at this property.”

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Apart from a break during the winter months, the OPP Criminal Investigation Branch has been searching the Kelly-Jordan property since October, when three people were arrested and charged with first-degree murder in connection with the homicide of 34-year-old Robbie Thomson.

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Police had not yet located Thomson when they laid those charges.

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Thomson’s remains were uncovered the day after those arrests at the Kelly-Jordan property. Now a related probe has led police to locate Lambert’s remains on the same wooded grounds.

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Lambert’s friends and family have been bracing for this news in part because Lambert’s disappearance has been linked via his ownership of the Kelly-Jordan property to Thomson’s death and to at least two of those recently arrested and charged in connection with that homicide.

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“I was shocked, but not shocked,” said Jonathan Botham, the son of Lambert’s late wife, Kathryn, who lives next door to the Kelly-Jordan property. “I’m still kind of processing right now. Yeah, but it is closure.”

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Tina Sutton, a friend of Lambert’s who lives in California, wondered why it had taken authorities so long to locate the remains.

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“I knew, I just knew he was gone. There’s no way he would have not been in contact with me, and it’s been over eight years,” she said. “It’s taken them two years to finally figure this all out.”

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A photo of Robert Lambert posted to the Facebook account of his wife, Kathryn Ann Lambert, who died in 2016.

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Lambert, originally from Brooklyn, N.Y., purchased the house on Kelly-Jordan in 2004, about the time he married Kathryn Ann Botham, whose parents were then living in Montague Township.

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The couple met while playing an arcade version of eight-ball pool on Yahoo! Games, part of the Yahoo! website that also allowed gamers to chat with each other during play.

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Lambert, who worked as a high-end kitchen appliance salesman, had never been married before.

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Property records showed that Lambert bought 572 Kelly-Jordan Rd. for $233,000, with no mortgage registered against title.