Body found in search for missing New York teen Samantha Humphrey

A body has been found in the search for missing New York teenager Samantha Humphrey.

While there hasn’t been an official confirmation from police, family members have said on social media that they believe the remains to be that of the 14-year-old.

Samantha has been missing for three months. A body was found in the Mohawk River in upstate New York on Wednesday afternoon, according to Newsweek. The body was located close to the Front Street pool in Schenectady, where she vanished in late November.

The authorities were called to the area by two fishermen who saw something in the water on Wednesday.

The Schenectady Police Department retrieved the body from the water later on Wednesday. The body is reported to have been tied to a shopping cart.

Police say that while an autopsy has been performed, the results won’t be made public at least until Monday.

Family members have indicated on social media that the search for the 14-year-old has concluded.

“When a s*** day becomes an even more terrible day, but at least now there is closure of sorts. We’ve all dreaded this day and here it is,” one family member wrote in a post on Facebook, according to WNYT.

WNYT reporter Dan Levy tweeted: “Family member of Samantha Humphrey tells me she ‘was prepared for this day (when Sam would be found).’ And acknowledges, ‘Obviously she didn’t tie herself up in a shopping cart and sink herself. It is almost certainly a homicide’.”

Stephanie Kegley, cited in reports as a family friend, wrote on Facebook on Wednesday evening: “This is SAMANTHA HUMPHREY. Her body was located today. Know her name, her face, her story. A 14-year-old child was taken violently from this earth. We will stand by the family as we get justice for Sam. Please give the family time. Please send prayers, good vibes, everything.”

Ms Kegley said the family requested that she write the post.

“They need to focus on grieving and holding onto one another,” she said.

Samantha disappeared in late November when she left home at about 11pm to meet with an ex-boyfriend in Riverside Park. He was the last person to see her alive and the last person that Samantha is reported to have called, according to Newsweek.

They had a chaotic relationship and physically fought previously that same day, WNYT reported.

The teenager’s mother, Jaclin Humphrey, told the local TV station that Samantha told her family and counsellors at her school that the former boyfriend had been abusive.

Divers searched the river for evidence on Thursday.