Samantha Valentine Humphrey is a teenager from Schenectady, New York, who is missing, according to her family and police.
According to a GoFundMe page created by her mother, Samantha, 14, “went missing on November 25th, 2022. She was last seen at Riverside Park in Schenectady, NY around 11 PM when she snuck out to meet her ex-boyfriend. He was the last person to see her. Her coat was found in the river with what appears to be blood on the hood.”
News Channel 13 reported that Humphrey was “good friends with another missing teen, Hajile Howard,” although police “don’t believe Hajile is in any danger.”
Here’s what you need to know about Samantha Humphrey:
1. Police Wrote That Samantha Humphrey Was Last Seen ‘in the Area of Riverside Park’
On November 27, 2022, Schenectady police asked for the public’s help in finding Humphrey, writing on Facebook:
The Schenectady Police Department’s Youth Aid Bureau is asking for the public’s assistance in locating a missing child- Samantha Humphrey. Samantha is a 14 year old female. She is 4’11, 95 lbs., last seen wearing a black and pink puffy jacket, bell bottom jeans, and tan Timberland boots. Samantha was last seen Friday night, 11/25/22, at approximately 1130 PM in the area of Riverside Park in the Stockade neighborhood. If you have any information please call 518-630-0911.
On November 30, 2022, Schenectady police wrote,
The search for the missing 14 year old female, Samantha Humphrey, is still ongoing and extremely active. Due to the location of where Samantha was last seen, the Schenectady Police Department has enlisted the help of the State Police Aviation Unit and Dive team in addition to our own drone unit. We have also deployed our K9 units and the State Police K9 units to search the vicinity of where she was last seen. We have received numerous tips and leads that we continue to investigate and follow up on. We are working around the clock to find Samantha and bring her home; this remains a missing persons case.
As always, we ask the community to call with any information that will lead to the safe finding of Samantha. Additionally, we are asking the community to avoid any speculation via social media or other outlets.
2. Humphrey’s Mother Has Started a GoFundMe Page to Help Find Her
Humphrey’s mother, Jaclyn Humphrey, has started a GoFundMe page to help find her. The headline reads, “Help us find my missing daughter Samantha.”
It’s raised about $1,800 as of December 10, 2022.
She wrote:
Hi. My name is Jaclyn, and my 14-year old daughter went missing on November 25th, 2022. She was last seen at Riverside Park in Schenectady, NY around 11 PM when she snuck out to meet her ex-boyfriend. He was the last person to see her.
Her coat was found in the river with what appears to be blood on the hood. Needless to say the entire family is distraught and not working right now. We would like to hire a private investigator and an attorney as we feel the current search protocol with the police is moving too slowly on this time sensitive matter.
Please share or continue donating to help us raise money to hire outside resources that will help us to find our beloved Samantha and bring her home safe, and to also help support us at home while we process this grief and the trauma it is causing us. Thank you.
3. Humphrey’s Grandfather Doesn’t Believe She’s ‘Hiding Somewhere’ & Opposes the Fundraising Efforts
John Matarazzo, Samantha Humphrey’s grandfather, told the Daily Gazette of Schenectady that they are against the GoFundMe efforts and support the police search.
“Her mother is distraught,” Matarazzo told the newspaper.
“But she just doesn’t understand — we don’t need money to find the girl. A private eye is not going to find the girl. She’s not hiding somewhere. My wife and I raised her brother [Mattox] for the longest time. We’re the closest to them of anybody. If Samantha was alive, she would have at least let us know that she was alive. Because she cared about us. So there’s no way that I believe that she’s hiding somewhere. I hope that I can be proven wrong, but I don’t have that feeling.”
4. Relatives Are Asking for the Public’s Help to Find Humphrey
Wendy Allen, a relative, wrote,
My cousin’s sweet granddaughter, Samantha Valentine, inexplicably disappeared Friday evening from the Stockade section of Schenectady. She is 14 and very petite—4’11” and less than 100 pounds—and her parka was found along the Mohawk River. Hoping that the Schenectady Police are investigating all possibilities…14 year old girls shouldn’t just not come home.
Her mother wrote on Facebook:
UPDATE: We are more desperate now. They found her coat in the river and it is was so cold Friday night.
My daughter, Samantha Valentine Humphrey has been missing since Friday evening. We have filed a missing persons report. She was last seen at Riverside Park in Schenectady, NY.
Her phone was last pinged at the river before her phone died and has been off ever since. None of her friends have heard from her.
She has a history of sneaking out but has always called someone to say she was safe. And has never been gone this long without telling someone.
Please help us find our daughter. She is 14 1/2, about 4’11” and weighs about 85 or 90 lbs. She has a pink streak in her hair currently and was last seen wearing a black puffer jacket with pink fur hood, velvet bell bottoms, and tan timberlands.
Please share this to help us get her face out there and help bring her home. Anyone who has seen her or know where she might be.
5. Humphrey Was Involved in a Physical Altercation, Reports Say
According to WNYT, Humphrey and her ex boyfriend “met up on or near an old railroad bridge at the south end of the park” the night she went missing.
Sources told the television station “that Samantha was involved in a physical altercation with the ex-boyfriend that same night she went missing.”
The boyfriend has not been named. “According to Samantha’s mother, her daughter bit the ex-boyfriend on his arm during the altercation. The mother’s suspicion only grew from that moment on,” the television station reported, noting that police were searching the Mohawk River.
READ NEXT: The University of Idaho Students Who Were Murdered in Moscow, Idaho