OGDEN — Idaho inmate Gregory L. Seamons, named by Ogden police as the prime suspect in the 1983 abduction, rape and homicide of 11-year-old Rebecca Lemberger, has portrayed himself online as an artist fond of drawing delicate pictures of peacocks, hearts and butterflies.
Until last week, Seamons’ sketches were available for sale on the Fine Art America website, www.fineartamerica.com, which helps artists market their work.
However, soon after being charged Sept. 28 by Weber County prosecutors with rape and first-degree murder in the cold-case slaying of Lemberger, his photo, autobiography and sketches were removed from the site.
Fine Art America did not respond to an email from the Standard-Examiner seeking an explanation why Seamons’ artwork has been deleted.
The website featured four of his drawings, “Peacock and Blossoms,” “Butterflies and Flowers,” “Hearts and Roses” and “Hearts and Ribbons.”
The “Hearts and Ribbons” drawing depicts three red hearts wrapped in white ribbon embossed with the phrase “With All My Love.”
Click here to see a bigger version of Seamons' artwork.
Karen Franklin, a forensic psychologist and an instructor at the San Francisco Bay-area campus of Alliant International University, declined to comment specifically on Seamons’ drawings.
However, it isn’t inconsistent for someone who has committed a heinous crime to have a more sensitive side, Franklin said in an email.
“There is a natural human tendency, when someone has committed a horrific crime, to focus only on that crime, and thus to regard the person as a monster, rather than to see the person in a more nuanced, holistic way, even though the crime itself was monstrous,” she said.
Idaho offenders are permitted to send completed hobby crafts, such as drawings and paintings, to someone else for resale.
Seamons’ autobiography on the Fine Arts America website did not mention that he’s an inmate but offered some insight into his background and boyhood in Ogden.
“I grew up in Northern Utah. My father was of Mormon pioneer stock,” he wrote on the site. “I have a love of the outdoors, and I like to draw mule deer and other wildlife. I helped design the mascot for my elementary school, the Edison Eagles. I’ve had three art teachers.”
Seamons also touted his purported royal ancestry on the website.
“I study British royal history because my 21st great grandfather was King Edward I of England, Longshanks, The Hammer of the Scots, and whose wife was Eleanor of Castile.”
Seamons also explained his plans for the future.
“I’m currently working as a barber, but I have a commercial driver’s license, so I’ll get back into truck driving soon in Boise, Idaho. I’d really like to live in the Sawtooth Range between Lowman and Stanley when I can.”
Seamons, 45, has been incarcerated in the Idaho Correctional Institution since 2007 for second-degree kidnapping and is scheduled to complete his sentence in December 2017.
It hasn’t been determined if Seamons, who was 15 at the time of Lemberger’s slaying, will waive extradition to Utah.
Ogden police obtained an arrest warrant for Seamons after they say DNA taken from him matched DNA evidence from the crime.
Detectives also determined Seamons was living in Lemberger’s neighborhood at the time of her slaying.
Lemberger was last seen on the morning of March 2, 1983, when she left her home to walk to Edison Elementary School at 935 E. 1050 North.
She never made it to school, and the next day, her body was found in a shed in a field west of 729 N. Mountain Road in Ogden.
Police say Seamons has been interviewed twice by detectives and has said he does not know Lemberger.
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