Miami police have arrested two people in the mysterious death of a metro Atlanta woman who disappeared from a boat during a nighttime cruise in May.
Lauren Jenee Lamar, 26, was on a boat outing with 45-year-old Russell Matthew Bruce, a local nightclub owner, and Alicia Nicole Bartolotta on May 24.
Bruce reported he discovered her missing after he docked his 30-foot boat at Matheson Hammock on Biscayne Bay. But police found his behavior strange that night and, on Friday, arrested him and the 29-year-old Bartolotta on manslaughter charges, the Miami-Dade County police announced.
Bruce told authorities he thought Lamar was asleep in a below-deck cabin after a night of partying. But authorities said Bruce and Bartolotta waited 39 minutes to report her missing — with Bruce admitting he poured himself a vodka drink before calling 911, Jonathan Grossman of Miami-Dade County police wrote in an arrest warrant released Friday.
“Bruce advised that he then began to consume vodka because he was upset that the victim was missing,” Grossman said.
A police officer also saw Bruce and Bartolotta arguing on the dock, Grossman said. Investigators also noted the cabin was in clear sight of whoever was piloting the boat.
Lamar’s remains were found two days later in the bay. An autopsy ruled the cause of death was undetermined but a message found on Bartolotta’s cellphone said Lamar had jumped out of the boat drunk and that she and Bruce were in trouble with the police, Grossman said in the warrant.
Police charged the couple with manslaughter on the grounds that they left Lamar to die, the warrant said.
Lamar’s LinkedIn page listed her as a server at the JW Marriott hotel in Miami, as well as a team lead for an event staffing company and a sales representative for two other companies. She attended Clayton State University.
Atlanta resident Sheena Knight told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution she grew up going to church with Lamar in the Bankhead neighborhood. She kept in touch with Lamar via Facebook but wasn't sure why she moved to Florida.
“She was very independent,” Knight told the AJC in May. “Whatever she set her mind to, she went for it. Fearless. … She was very bubbly, the light in the room. And she was a little loud so you knew she was there.”
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