The Murder of Samantha Folsom

Samantha Folsom (26) was found murdered inside her Lewiston, Maine apartment on November 9th, 2011. Her murder has baffled investigators, and it remains unsolved to this day.

Prior to her death, Samantha was making plans to turn her life around. After struggling with addiction for years, she wanted to finally get completely clean. Samantha had also recently broken up with her husband Jesse Folsom. The couple had gotten hooked on drugs years earlier, after they moved from Maine to California in 2005. Jesse was active duty in the Army at that time, and he had been stationed at Fort Irwin in Barstow. 

Samantha reportedly got hooked on heroin very quickly, but she began to turn things around after she learned she was pregnant with her son. She gave birth to a healthy baby boy in June 2008. According to Jesse, they were a happy family at that point in time.

Samantha with her ex-husband Jesse and their son

Things began to fall apart in 2009, when Jesse told Samantha that he wanted to move back to Maine. Samantha wanted to stay in California, but she eventually caved and ended up moving Jesse, her son, and herself back into her parents' home in Lewiston. Samantha began to abuse drugs again and her marriage with Jesse began to sour. According to Samantha’s parents, Jesse was abusive towards Samantha and had been for years. The two eventually split up, and Samantha’s parents gained custody of their son.

Samantha then moved into her own apartment near her parents' house. She began dating another man. Jesse was furious when he found out about Samantha’s new relationship. He eventually was arrested for assaulting Samantha’s new boyfriend during a confrontation. 

Much like Jesse, though, Samantha’s new boyfriend was unfortunately abusive as well. In fact, shortly before her death, Samantha’s new boyfriend was arrested for assaulting her. After the assault, Samantha decided she wanted to turn her life around—her plans were to get clean, and to eventually gain back custody of her son. 

On November 5th, 2011, Samantha asked her parents to drive her to a rehab facility the following morning. Despite this, her parents were unable to get ahold of her the next day. After days passed without hearing from their daughter, Samantha’s parents went to her apartment building and asked the manager if he would allow them to open Samantha’s apartment for a welfare check. 

A maintenance worker eventually let her parents into the apartment, and at first glance, it did not appear that Samantha was there. Samantha’s mother then began to look around for Samantha’s cat. Her mother went to the closet where she knew Samantha’s cat carrier was kept. When she opened the closet, she found a horrific sight: the body of her daughter. At that point it was clear that Samantha was dead—she had been killed and stuffed into the closet.

Samantha's apartment building in Lewiston, Maine (Portland Herald)

It took over a year for Samantha’s death to be classified as a homicide. It was initially classified as undetermined, but police later reclassified her death as a murder. Her exact cause of death has never been revealed. 

When the investigation into Samantha’s murder finally began, it seemed detectives had quite a few obvious suspects: Samantha’s new abusive boyfriend and her abusive ex-husband, Jesse. The only issue was, both men were in jail at the time Samantha was killed. Jesse was in jail for assaulting Samantha’s new boyfriend, and her new boyfriend was in jail for assaulting her. After both men were cleared, detectives stated that they had very few leads to chase. Samantha’s case eventually grew cold, and police have not released any information about a potential suspect to the public. 

However, a reporter for Maine’s Portland Herald was able to dig up some new details about the case when he interviewed the residents at Samantha’s apartment. Samantha’s next-door neighbor told the reporter that she was interviewed by the police, and she was shown a picture of a potential person-of-interest. 

The reporter stated that “detectives came to her door, and they showed her a picture of this person, and they asked her if she recognized this person”. Said person is described as a “man with a dark complexion who was wearing a shirt and tie, and some sort of badge.” It is unclear if this person is still being pursued by the police, and he has never been publicly identified. 

Years have passed, and no arrests have been made for Samantha’s murder. Maine State Police reportedly told journalists that they are still “closing in” on the investigation. However, they are also still asking for people to come forward with tips. If you have any information that could help the investigation, please contact Maine State Police at (207) 657-3030.
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Sources:
Portland Press Herald
True Crime Daily
True Crime New England