A community in Atlanta wants to know what happened to a 20-year-old man who disappeared in front of a Target almost a month ago. But now, some of his friends are saying thereâs more to the story.
Derek Samuel, 20, was last seen on April 29 at a Target at Camp Creek Marketplace on Marketplace Boulevard in East Point, Georgia.
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.
Samuelâs mother told WXIA she became more concerned when he stopped texting his twin sister, which is highly unusual.
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âFrom there, I guess Derek was supposed to be meeting someone there,â his mother said.
Samuelâs mother told WXIA the footage made it look like her son simply disappeared.
âHe walked through, came out of Target, walked down the sidewalk, and down towards Commerce Road, and that was it,â she told WXIA. âLiterally. Itâs crazy.â
The family is offering a $15,000 reward for information that leads authorities to find Samuel.
After some digging, our reporter found a man claiming to be beSamuelâs friend who goes by âMessy Maj.â It appears he has been doing his own investigation into what happened.
According to videos posted on @thedereksamuelcase, Derek, also known as âRekâ 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 Samuelâs grandmotherâs house.
âWe thought thatâs where he was gonna go,â Manson said in the video.
Manson said in the video that he and another friend left for Target to go to a girlâs 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.
âWe thought he was waiting for a ride,â Manson said.
Another person in the car with Manson in the video said they thought Samuel wasnât telling the truth about where he was going after Target.
âPersonally, I think he had something second to do. He left his stuff in my car. His PS5, iPad, poster all in my car,â he said in the video.
âSo he lied about linking up with someone and linked up with someone else?â Maj asked.
âThatâs possible,â Manson said off-screen.
âYâall just say you were out trading a gun though,â another person in the video said.
âWe didnât say that, we didnât say that,â Manson and his friend quickly said in the video. âWe know nothing about that.â
In a different video, someone named âDesmondâ said he was able to see Samuelâs location last Thursday.
The video shows screenshots of the chat with Samuel, which were inactive from early May until last Thursday.
âThatâs weird, right? Why would that happen?â he asked.
In another video, Maj is on the phone talking to someone about the case.
âI think Rek was just trying to be sneaky,â he said.
According to Maj, investigators were unable to recover any information from Samuelâs iPad because someone else had already logged in.
Atlanta Black Star called the East Point Police Department multiple times and left a voicemail with the lead detective.
Our reporter wanted to verify whether the friends’ statements were accurate and whether they were included in the investigation. No one has responded.
Our reporter also reached out to Samuelâs friends to learn more about the accusations. Most of them have left her on read.
Anyone with information regarding Samuelâs location is asked to call East Point Police at 404-765-1142.
