A tragic update in the search for a 20-year-old man who disappeared in front of a Target just outside Atlanta: Authorities confirmed they have found a body not far from where the man disappeared.
East Point Police wrote on Facebook that human remains were discovered in the woods off of Redwine Road Sunday. A detective and the Georgia Emergency Search & Rescue team found them behind the Reserve at Redwine Apartments.
The remains have yet to be positively identified.
Atlanta Black Star reached out to the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office. The investigator said they are still working to identify the remains.
The family of 20-year-old Derek Samuel told WAGA it was him.
Samuel was last seen alive on April 29 at a Target at Camp Creek Marketplace on Marketplace Boulevard in the Atlanta suburb of East Point.
Atlanta Black Star mapped how far the apartments are from the Target. It’s about a five-minute drive.
WXIA reported surveillance video reviewed by the family shows Samuel walking out of the Target and heading down the sidewalk. His mother, Nishae Samuel, told WXIA he had gone to the store with friends but stayed behind after the group separated.
After some digging, our reporter found a man claiming to be Samuel’s friend who goes by “Messy Maj.” It appears he has been doing his own investigation into what happened.
According to videos posted on @thedereksamuelcase, Derek, also known as “Rek” by his friends, was hanging out with them at Target on April 29. One friend in a live video, Korde Manson, said the store was 10 minutes from Samuel’s grandmother’s house.
“We thought that’s where he was gonna go,” Manson said in the video.
Manson said in the video that he and another friend left for Target to go to a girl’s house, leaving Samuel behind.
Manson explained in the video that they reported Samuel missing the day after learning that his sister had never received a text from him.
@securiinq i just want the truth to unfold, all the fake detectives and people going live daily using your name for clout but not helping is weird. i hope you somewhere ducked off just taking time to yourself. the convo we had the day before you went missing gone stay with me forever. not clearing nothing up with media bc i know the truth always come to light. i hope you’re safe twin 🙏
♬ mistake – slowed – lots of hands
Another person in the car with Manson in the video said they thought Samuel wasn’t telling the truth about where he was going after Target.
“Personally, I think he had something second to do. He left his stuff in my car. His PS5, iPad, poster all in my car,” he said in the video.
“So he lied about linking up with someone and linked up with someone else?” Maj asked.
“That’s possible,” Manson said off-screen.
“Y’all just say you were out trading a gun though,” another person in the video said.
“We didn’t say that, we didn’t say that,” Manson and his friend quickly said in the video. “We know nothing about that.”
In the days leading up to human remains being discovered, Manson posted a video montage of him and Samuel.
“I just want the truth to unfold, all the fake detectives and people going live daily using your name for clout but not helping is weird,” Manson wrote. “I hope you somewhere ducked off, just taking time to yourself.”
Manson is referring to the huge amount of public interest online the case has garnered.
“The convo we had the day before you went missing gone stay with me forever,” he wrote. Adding, “I just want the truth to unfold, all the fake detectives and people going live daily using your name for clout but not helping is weird. Not clearing nothing up with the media because I know the truth always come to light. I hope you’re safe twin.”
Atlanta Black Star tried reaching out to Manson again, but he has yet to respond.
