Samantha Sperry gave the best hugs. That’s what her friends and family will tell you. She was a hugger.
Samantha was also described as athletic and stubborn, and a girl who had a penchant for cheesecake. Her favorite television show was the sitcom, ‘Roseanne’, and she loved her friends and family.
And everyone loved Samantha.
Growing up in rural Kentucky did have its challenges. As a young adult, Samantha did some dabbling in drugs. She was back and forth with it, but her family had high hopes that she would beat it.
By the time she was 19 years old, she was out of rehab and stayed sober for six years.
In 2018 Samantha was living in Murray, Kentucky. She was also dating a man named Rhen Henderson, something that her friends and family were less than thrilled about. At this time, however, Samantha is 25 years old and has to make her own choices.
It’s worth noting, at this time, that Samantha is also a mother to two young children.
On March 27, Samantha and her boyfriend argued. They were at Rhen’s father's house in Kaler, Kentucky and Rhen stormed off, got into Samantha’s car, and left, leaving Samantha at the home with his father, Dusty.
He said he saw Samantha go off into the woods, and Dusty following behind her on an ATV.
That was the last time he said he saw Samantha. That was the last day that anyone saw or heard from Samantha. She had vanished.
Samantha Rose Sperry was born on August 20, 1992. She grew up in rural Kentucky with her close-knit family.
Samantha was a likable child. She was outgoing. She was friendly. She was athletic. She is also described as stubborn sometimes. Sounds like a girl we could all be friends with, doesn’t it?
Samantha went back and forth in the drug scene for a while as a teenager, until she finally went to rehab when she 19 years old. When she got out, she was clean and sober for almost six years. During this time, Samantha married and became a mom to two children.
Samantha and her husband would separate, and Samantha would fall back into the drug scene. Was this the cause of the separation? Or a result of the separation?
I can’t say for sure, but it doesn’t matter. Because of her actions, Samantha would lose custody of her two kids.
Drug use is no joke.
But her family and friends still maintained hope, as many do.
After Samantha’s separation, she contacted an old friend, Rhen Hendriskon, through Facebook. Pretty soon, Samantha and Rhen began dating and became inseparable.
Rhen Hendrikson’s family had a reputation in the area. Many of them had a long rap sheet that included charges of drugs- including possession, distribution, and manufacturing. Many of them also had several charges of burglary and theft.
During this time, Samantha was living in Murray, Kentucky, and Rhen was with her most of the time. Her family was working towards convincing Samantha to go back into rehab, but she was resisting.
They weren’t giving up, however.
THE DISAPPEARANCE.
On March 27, 2018, Samantha and her boyfriend, Rhen Hendrikson went over to his father’s house on Tim Road in Symsonia, Kentucky. Rhen’s father, Dusty Holder, was also well-known to law enforcement, and not in a good way.
There was an alleged argument, between Rhen and Samantha, and Rhen left the home, taking Samantha’s car. Samantha also took off into the woods surrounding the home, and Dusty, Rhen’s father followed her with the four-wheeler.
These accounts by the way, of the timeline and what happened, were initially provided by Dusty himself.
What Dusty alleges, is that he found Samantha and she got on the four-wheeler with him. They rode until they ran out of gas. Because this was supposedly late at night, both Samantha and Dusty decided to sleep in the woods, next to the ATV to stay warm. He kept the aTV running as long as he could, and then he attempted to make a fire.
In the morning, just after daybreak, they started walking back towards the road. When they reached the highway, Highway 131, they split up. Dusty said Samantha wanted to walk towards her cousin's home nearby, while he wanted to walk to a store to warm up and get something to eat.
Meanwhile, Samantha’s family tried to reach Samantha on and off all day. Despite their disapproval of her drug activity, they were still a close family and they worried about her.
Samantha always stayed in contact with her family.
By that evening, the night of March 28, Samantha’s mother, Tina, called Samantha’s place of employment in a desperate attempt to talk to her daughter.
They told her that Samantha was a no-call, no-show for her shift that day. This had never happened before, and her mom was panicked.
Where was her daughter?
The next day, March 29th, Samantha’s mom called the Graves County Sheriff's Department to report her daughter as missing.
THE SEARCH.
Graves County Sheriff's Department took the call that Samantha was missing on March 29, 2018. They declined to do anything about it at first, however, because Samantha was just a ‘drug addict’ out on a binge.
But Samantha’s mom insisted this was not the case, and her daughter might be in danger.
Interestingly enough, the evening before, on March 28th, Rhen Hendriksen had also been reported as missing.
I guess law enforcement could have taken this either way. They could have realized that something was wrong here, or they thought the two were just somewhere together.
Rhen’s mother had called 911 the evening of March 28, after she received a disturbing Facetime call from her son. He said that he had taken a bunch of pills and was going to go off into the woods to die.
He told her he was on the side of Dooms Chapel Road.
Samantha was already missing by now too, but no one had known this for certain yet.
Authorities took the report on Rhen, but they didn't go look for him that night. They knew his reputation in the area, and they had no interest in finding him in the dark if he had gone missing.
They would wait to search for both Rhen and Samantha until March 30th. Two days after Rhen was reported missing, and one full day after Samantha was reported missing.
Law enforcement did obtain a story from Dusty about what had happened the night of the 27th and the morning of the 28th.
He stated that Samantha and Rhen had a fight the night of March 27th and that Rhen left in Samantha’s car. He then told the story of how Samantha and he ended up in the woods for the night.
Detectives went out searching the wooded area for clues. They were looking for Samantha and Rhen, and this ATV that had broken down and run out of gas. They were looking for anything.
They didn’t find Samantha or Rhen, but they did find the four-wheeler.
Interestingly, they noticed that there was only one set of footprints around the ATV and leading away from it towards Highway 131.
They also noticed that there was a campfire nearby. Dusty had said it was cold that night, and he tried to get a fire going, but he struggled because everything was wet.
During the search of the campfire remnants, they found two partially burned cell phones. Immediately authorities were alarmed.
Why were there no signs of Samantha? And if a spontaneous fire had been started at night to keep warm, why would someone spontaneously burn two cell phones?
Both cell phones came back registered to Dusty.
This area- known as Kaler Bottoms- was a swampy, wet area, especially in late March.
Dusty told them that they started walking back home just as daylight broke, however, there were absolutely no signs that Samantha had been there with Dusty.
Now, Dusty’s whole story was called into question.
More red flags were discovered when Samantha’s home in Murray, Kentucky was searched.
Authorities searched her home on March 30th and found bloody clothes and blood on the ceiling. There have been no further details released on this blood.
Was it a lot of blood?
Was it Samantha’s blood?
Samantha’s car was also found, abandoned on Dooms Chapel Road, where Rhen said he was when he Facetimed his mom.
On April 1, 2018, authorities searched Kaler Bottoms again. On this day, Rhen would walk out of the woods and be taken to the hospital, dehydrated, but otherwise okay. He had been missing for five days.
Rhen’s story of what happened on March 27th and March 28th is a bit different than Dusty’s.
Rhen said that on March 27th, he took the car and went to Murray. He does not mention that they fought, but he does admit to using drugs that day. He left Samantha at the house with Dusty. When he returned to the house on the 28th, Dusty told him that Samantha was missing.
When he heard this, he says became exceptionally upset and drove off, calling his mom during this time. The car would be abandoned on Dooms Chapel Road.
A quick recap of the timeline, because I know this story takes many twists and turns.
On March 27th, Rhen and Samantha area at Dusty Holder’s house on Tim Road in Symsonia.
Rhen leaves to go back to Murray, Kentucky, taking Samantha’s car, but leaving her with Dusty.
That evening Dusty says that he and Samantha spent the night in the woods.
On March 28th, Dusty and Samantha, according to Dusty anyways, walked out of the wooded area they spent the night in, leaving behind their ATV which was out of gas. When they reached Highway 131, Samantha wanted to go one way toward her cousin's house, and Dusty wanted to go the other toward the store. They split up.
Samantha does not take any calls from her family or friends that day and does not show up for her scheduled shift at work. Something that had never happened before.
Rhen returns to his father’s house and asks where Samantha is. When Dusty tells him that Samantha is missing, Rhen panics and drives off, calling his mother on Facetime. He is extremely distraught and tells his mom that he swallowed a bunch of pills, and is going to walk off into the woods to die.
Rhen’s mother calls 911 to report this to authorities, who decide to wait to search for Rhen.
The next day, March 29th, Samantha’s family called authorities to report her missing.
It won’t be until March 30th that the first actual search for Samantha and Rhen takes place around Kaler Bottoms.
The ATV is found, and the remnants of a campfire, but other than that, there is no evidence to support Dusty’s story of Samantha being with him there.
On this day, Samantha’s home in Murray is also searched, and there were allegedly bloody clothes found and some blood on the ceiling. Authorities have declined to give any more details on this evidence.
On April 1st, just after Samantha’s car is found abandoned on Dooms Chapel Road, Rhen walks out of the woods and is taken to the hospital. He is dehydrated, but otherwise okay.
While his story differs slightly from his father’s, there are still no clues as to Samantha’s whereabouts.
Some questionable clues were found during the search and investigation:
Only one set of footprints in and around the ATV, and waking out of Kaler Bottoms.
Blood in Samantha’s home.
Cell phones were found in the campfire near the ATV, both phones were registered to Dusty.
Mismatched story details between Rhen and Dusty.
Searches continued around Symsonia, with a focus on Kaler Bottoms, but Law Enforcement began to wonder if she was even there that day.
Her official missing date also varies depending on which file you read. Technically, Dusty claims to have seen her the morning of March 28th, but many consider her missing on March 27th, the last say anyone else has seen her.
On April 2, the search for Samantha took authorities to an area near Dooms Chapel Road and Bell Road when the K9s led them to a certain location.
There they found an underground bunker, and inside the bunker was 41-year-old Earnest Hendrikson, a man authorities have been looking for since November of 2018. He was wanted on several charges, including manufacturing methamphetamine, fleeing and evading authorities, possession of a fireman, and several other charges.
He was taken in without incident.
The search turned up so signs of Samantha, however.
Most areas of focus for Samantha Sperry are taking place in Graves County, Kentucky, in a few different small town areas.
Graves County is specifically located in the southwest corner of Kentucky. The population is just over 36,000 residents- in the entire county. The county seat is Mayfield, Kentucky, which might sound familiar to you as a major tornado hit the town of Mayfield in December of 2021.
At first, it was believed that Samantha vanished from the Kaler Bottoms area of Grave County.
Kaler Bottoms is an area of land, just around 1900 acres, owned and managed by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife. It is described as ‘swampy’, and statistics show that 91% of Kaler Bottoms is considered swamp or wetlands.
This is the area where Samantha allegedly rode off on an ATV with her boyfriend's father, Dusty Holder. Samantha and Dusty allegedly walked out of this area and onto Highway 131 when they split up.
The only problem, according to many people, is that this was in broad daylight, just after 7:00 a.m., and according to Dusty, they were both soaking wet, covered in mud, and quite the sight to see. Highway 131 was a busy highway which would have been in the middle of morning rush hour.
No one claimed to have seen a wet and muddy young woman walking down the side of the road.
Another area of interest is Murray, Kentucky, where Samantha lived, and possibly Rhen.
Google Map of Symsonia, KY & Murray, KYPhoto byGoogle Maps
Rhen claimed he drove back to Murray that day, in Samantha’s car, but without Samantha and didn’t return until the following day.
There is also the odd blood evidence allegedly found in her apartment.
Did something happen to Samantha there, and she was never in Kaler Bottoms at all?
Many people think that is very likely.
Murray, Kentucky is about 30 miles to Kaler Bottoms, a 37-minute drive according to Google Maps.
The area is so sparse and rural, that there are so many hiding areas. There are dense woods, there are creeks and rivers, and there are even swamplands.
A fugitive was on the run for five months living out there in the wilderness before he was found. And, if searches weren’t out there looking for Samantha with K9s, he might not have been found at all.
To the east, about a 30-minute drive, is Kentucky Lake. The Lake is substantial and covers over 160 acres. It's a popular destination for vacationers and boating enthusiasts.
There is no evidence that Samantha had left the areas of Murray or Kaler Bottoms. There is no evidence that she is still in Murray or Kaler Bottoms either.
What do you think happened to Samantha Sperry?
Samantha is described as a Caucasian female, about 5’6” tall and weighing around 120 pounds when she was last seen in March 2018. She was 25 years old then, and would today be 31 years old.
She has blonde hair and hazel eyes. She also has a few tattoos, including a rose with a skull on her right shoulder, two roses and the word "Rose" on the right side of her lower abdomen, and a tiger lily and a sunflower on her left thigh.
She was last believed to have been in the area of Symsonia or Kaler Bottoms, Kentucky, but she was living in Murray, Kentucky.
Anyone with any information on Samantha Sperry, is asked to contact the Graves County Sheriff's Office at 270-247-4501.
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