The day Samantha Folsom’s parents were supposed to take her to a facility for drug rehabilitation she did not show. They repeatedly called her phone and did not receive a response. They went to her apartment, at Place Ste. Marie, on Oxford Street, in Lewiston. There was no answer.

Folsom’s father asked the landlord if he could do a welfare check. He was denied because her father was not on the lease. Her parents filed a missing-person report, and for the next three days they went back and forth between the landlord and the police. No one would listen.

Her father finally told the landlord that Folsom had a cat that had not been fed in a few days. Then, maintenance came and opened the apartment door. “It was November. All the fans were on, windows were open, television was full blast,” according to Folsom’s father Jon Turner.

Her mother Joline was looking for the cat and went to the closed to get the cat carrier. However, opening the closet door would change her life forever.

It was Nov. 9, 2011, and it had been three days since Folsom’s parents had reported her missing to the police. Her mother opened the closet to find the cat carrier and her daughter.

The 26-year-old mother and wife had been murdered and stuffed into her own closet. “When I saw, it was like almost I felt like her soul had gone through me and it threw me back six feet against the wall. Thank God for one thing, that her head was down, and I didn’t see her face, but still the memory of that haunts me,” said Turner.

According to the Turners, Folsom’s estranged husband had been abusive in the past. However, he was in jail for assaulting his wife’s new boyfriend when she went missing. Allegedly, the boyfriend was also abusive, therefore, Folsom broke up with him. He was in jail for assaulting her.

According to former reporter Scott Dolan, Folsom was described as a joyous person by her friends. She had an addiction, but she was determined to get clean and stay clean for her son, who was with another family member when she went missing.

Investigators had so little information that her death was not declared a murder. It was classified as “undetermined” for a year.

Dolan was working at the Portland Press Herald and discovered little had been written about her death, so he decided to investigate.

The lead detective told Dolan that it was still an open investigation, but the police had leads and were closing in.

Dolan interviewed Folsom’s neighbors. One neighbor told him that detectives showed her a picture and asked if she had seen this person. The picture was of a man with a dark complexion in a shirt and tie. He was also wearing a badge of some sort. This was the only person the police asked her about.

The neighbor told detectives the man in the picture knocked on Folsom’s door and called her name either the day before or the day she went missing. However, Folsom was too afraid to open her door.

The Maine State Police were present throughout Dolan’s investigation. They did not comment, however, they confirmed that after six years, the case is open and active.

If anyone has information that may help, investigators are asking people to contact the Maine State Police at (207) 657-3030 or submit a tip to Crime Watch Daily.

By Jeanette Smith

Sources:

Crime Watch Daily: Who killed Samantha Folsom? Investigators seek leads in Maine cold case