Samantha Rose Sperry
Sperry, circa 2018; Rhen Hendrickson; Dusty Holden
- Missing Since 03/28/2018
- Missing From Graves County, Kentucky
- Classification Endangered Missing
- Sex Female
- Race White
- Date of Birth 08/20/1992 (32)
- Age 25 years old
- Height and Weight 5'6, 120 - 130 pounds
- Clothing/Jewelry Description A gray hooded sweatshirt, gray stretch pants with a red waistband and sneakers.
- Medical Conditions Sperry was struggling with drug addiction at the time of her disappearance. She had been through a rehabilitation program before, and her aunt had planned to suggest she go into rehab again.
- Associated Vehicle(s) Four-wheeler (accounted for)
- Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Blonde hair, hazel eyes. Sperry has the following tattoos: 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. Her ears are pierced and her eyebrow may be pierced. Some accounts refer to her as Samantha Jones-Sperry.
Details of Disappearance
Sperry was last seen in Graves County, Kentucky on March 28, 2018. She and her boyfriend, Rhen Lee Hendrickson, got into a verbal altercation in the 4200 block of Tim Road. Hendrickson decided to take Sperry's car back to her home to spend the night, and Sperry left with his father, Dusty Holder, on a four-wheeler. Photos of Hendrickson and Holder are posted with this case summary.
Holder later said he and Sperry got lost after the four-wheeler got stuck in the mud and then ran out of gas, and they spent the night in the woods and began walking out the next morning.
According to Holder, the two of them came out of the woods at the Kaler Bottoms by the bridge near Highway 131 and Highway 849. They were cold, wet and tired. He suggested they walk to the Kaler Mart to warm up and get something to eat, but Sperry told him she was going to her cousin's house nearby.
They parted ways; Holder went to the Kaler Mart and she was last seen walking toward Highway 849. She never showed up for her 9:00 p.m. shift at work and has never been heard from again.
That evening, after Holder told Hendrickson what happened, Henrickson called his mother and told her he had taken pills and was going into the woods to die. The next morning, police launched a search for both him and Sperry. Her car was found abandoned at the intersection of Highway 131 and Dooms Chapel Road, south of Symsonia, Kentucky.
Authorities found Holder's four-wheeler during a ground search. There was only one set of footprints around it, and one set of footprints leading out of the woods. Investigators also found two cellular phones, both of which belonged to Holder, in the ashes of a small fire. They stated the evidence at the scene didn't match Holder's story and there was no sign that Sperry had ever been in the vicinity.
Hendrickson resurfaced on April 1, when he went to Holder's house, dehydrated and hypothermic, and asked for assistance. He was taken to the hospital for treatment. A photo of him is posted with this case summary. In his account to police, he stated he'd taken items belonging to Sperry and to himself into the woods, and had lost them. These items were never recovered.
Both Holder and Henrickson were questioned multiple times about Sperry's disappearance, and both men passed polygraph tests about it. Sperry's sister doesn't believe she got lost in the woods prior to her disappearance, as she had lived in the area her whole life and was very familiar with the woods. Police later found blood in Sperry's home and her vehicle and sent it to a lab for analysis.
She was separated from her husband at the time of her disappearance and they shared joint custody of their children. Her family fears Sperry became a victim of foul play, but the circumstances of her disappearance are unclear. Her case remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
- Graves County Sheriff's Office 270-247-4501
Updated 2 times since October 12, 2004. Last updated March 28, 2021; date of birth and medical conditions added.