College student admits abduction, rape story was hoax

“She presented this abduction scenario, but I’m not sure what she wanted to gain other than some attention,” said Sgt. Jeff Mitchell of the Lebanon Police Department.

Lamb’s father, Mark Lamb, said his daughter, an University of Cincinnati student, had undergone a number of stressful events recently, including a breakup with a boyfriend, pressures from college and jealousy over a brother’s wedding.

“She made some bad decisions,” Mark Lamb said. He said his daughter had never been in any trouble before.

Lamb allegedly left her home at approximately 4 a.m. Monday, May 24, taking a small pillow case, blue bandana and four zip ties to aid her story, Mitchell said. She claimed to have walked into a wooded area north of her home where she stayed for close to 18 hours, before returning to her house around 10 p.m. Monday.

On Thursday, Lamb took detectives to the wooded area and showed them the pillowcase and one zip tie. Lamb said she acted alone and no one had knowledge of her plan.

In her initial story, Lamb claimed she was grabbed by a group of men and taken to a wooded area and raped, but was able to escape. Lamb was reported missing by her parents around 2:30 p.m. Monday and found in her parents’ yard around 10 p.m. Monday.

Mitchell said the lack of details caused police to “be more inquisitive” of her story.

“It wasn’t there were holes in the story as much as the lack of detail,” Mitchell said. “There are certain things you are inclined to remember. In this event, there was nothing.”

Mark Lamb said he noticed holes in his daughter’s story and alerted police he was starting to question the entire scenario.

He said he would stand by his daughter but understood she would have to face the consequences of her actions. “We’re sorry we put the fear into people that we did,” Lamb said. “We hope they can stick with us, but if they can’t, I understand. I’d be a critic too if I was in somebody else’s shoes.”

Mark Lamb said his daughter is receiving professional counseling.

“She’s more depressed now than before,” Mark Lamb said.

Mitchell said police are still investigating the incident. No charges have been filed.

Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4544 or jmcclelland@coxohio.com.