Samaria Beckett, 14, from Forest Hills, New York, was last seen on Oct. 13 at home with her family.
Her family says she disappeared from the home in the afternoon and has never been missing this long.
Samaria is described as being 5 feet, 7 inches tall, with brown hair and brown eyes. She weighs approximately 157lbs.
Her family has been actively searching for her since her disappearance.
Octavius Beckett told Pix11 he’d spent thousands of dollars on gas driving his SUV through four of the five boroughs, even going out of state to New Jersey and Pennsylvania looking for his daughter. He has been raising her alone after her mother fell ill.
“I’ve been raising my daughter since day one,” he said. “I don’t need anyone else in the streets raising my daughter.” He does not leave his vehicle.
He thinks it’s likely she met somebody on social media.
Between 64,000 and 75,000 Black women and children in the U.S. are currently listed as missing. On average, it takes authorities four times the amount of time to find missing Black women compared to their non-white counterparts.
In 2020, 268,884 girls and women were reported missing. At least 90,333—nearly 34% of them, were Black, according to the National Crime Information Center. Black women make up just 15% of the population.
“The numbers are spiking,” Natalie Wilson, a co-founder and the chief operating office of Black and Missing Foundation Inc. (BAMFI), told Insider. “There’s this trickle-down effect. Intense early media coverage ensures the community looks for individuals, begets more media attention, and forces law enforcement to add resources to the case.”
National Center for Missing and Exploited ChildrenVice President John Bischoff said they are working hard to keep Samaria’s image in the public.
“Somebody has seen this little girl,” Bischoff added. “About 92% of our cases are listed as endangered runaways.”
If you see Samaria, please call 1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST) or the New York City Police Department at 1-646-610-5030. Or you can submit a tip to the Black & Missing Foundation.
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Originally posted 2022-03-03 06:00:00.
