2025 Case Updates

A note from Dawn regarding 2 big updates to cases covered recently on Method & Madness.

Listen to the original episodes here:

Samantha Humphrey

John Umberger

Thank you for listening.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Hi, it's dawn, stopping in to share a couple of
updates to cases recently covered here on Method and Madness.
In April of this year, I sat down with a
family of fourteen year old Samantha Humphrey, who had been
murdered in the fall of twenty twenty two, her body
discarded in the Mohawk River in her hometown of Schenectady,

(00:31):
New York. During that episode, Samantha's father, Jeff and aunt
Nika discussed their fight for justice and how they would
not stop advocating for the teenager, whom they described as brilliant, funny,
and empathetic. Jeff and Nica also shared they were confident
that Samantha's on again, off again boyfriend was responsible for

(00:53):
Samantha's death. Just weeks after the episode aired, an arrest
was made. Fourteenth, twenty twenty five, the DA of Schenectady County,
New York held a press conference and announced that a
suspect was arrested for murder in the second degree. I
have to.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
Remind you that an indictment is just a formal accusation.
This defendant is presumed to be innocent and lessen until
his guilt is proven beyond a reasonable doubt in a
court of law. Although I cannot talk about the evidence
in this case, I can comment.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
On the motive. District Attorney Robert Carney so that after
a two and a half year investigation, authorities arrested the
former boyfriend of Samantha Humphrey, now seventeen years old. Investigators
believe that Samantha thought she might be pregnant, and after
confronting her on again, off again boyfriend, he strangled the
fourteen year old and threw her body in the river,

(01:49):
and autopsy revealed no signs that Samantha was pregnant.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
He wanted nothing to do with her baby and insisted
that she get rid of the baby. Samantha told him
that she want wanted to keep the baby. That night,
they walked together to the area of the railroad bridge.
They argued with each other. The argument turned physical and
he caused her death by strangulation and asphyxiation. He then
disposed of her body in the river.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
Because the suspect is a minor, his name has not
been released. The boy was identified as Michael throughout the
recent podcast episode. He has pleaded not guilty. The DA
is satisfied with the amount of evidence gathered throughout the investigation,
leaving him confident that the correct person was arrested, despite

(02:37):
the boy being the only suspect. Since the beginning, the
case was complicated by the distraction of social media posts
that led police down a quote rabbit hole to disprove
theories based on rumor and gossip.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
Almost none of that was of any use, but took
time away from more important work. I'm not saying that
there was no help from the public. Useful leads were
generated by members of the public who contacted the police
with his social media on slot I referred to as
something altogether different.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
Samantha's ant Nika tells me that the news is overwhelming,
but nothing will feel like closure because Samantha is still gone.
In another update to a case covered last year here
on the podcast, thirty three year old John Umberger died

(03:30):
in an Upper East Side townhouse in Manhattan in May
of twenty twenty two. In July of twenty twenty four,
I sat down with John's mother, Linda Cleary. John, a
political consultant, had spent the night dining with friends before
heading over to a nightclub on West forty eighth Street.
Security camera footage captured John leaving later with two men.

(03:53):
An investigation revealed that John had been drugged by the
men he'd met at the club. They then took him
back to the townhouse where he was staying. As he
lay dying on a bed, the men robbed John by
withdrawing more than twenty thousand dollars from his accounts. Shockingly,
one of the killers recorded a thirteen second video of
himself smiling next to an unconscious John. A month earlier,

(04:18):
twenty five year old Julio Ramirez, a social worker, had
met a similar fate. Julio died in the back of
a taxi cab after being drugged and robbed. In both cases,
the men had spent the money on shopping for liquor
and luxury clothing. Jiquan Hamilton thirty seven, Robert Demayo thirty six,
and Jacob Barosso thirty two were all convicted of murder, robbery,

(04:42):
and conspiracy in the murder of Julio Ramirez. Hamilton and Demayo,
who were also convicted of burglary and murder in the
death of John Umberger, just received forty years to life
in prison. Brosso, who faced charges only in Julio's death
received a sentence of twe years to life. At a
recent hearing, one of John Umberger's friends, Neil Chatterjee, spoke

(05:06):
directly to the killers. He said, quote, you didn't have
to kill him. You didn't even have to rob him.
If you needed money, he would have given it to you,
He would have hung out with you. Instead, you chose
to go down the malicious path and now your lives
are forever ruined. John's mother, Linda, is dedicated to volunteering

(05:28):
in New York City periodically helping the LGBTQ community. She said, quote,
there is no doubt in my mind that I will
be together with John again. You can find the original
episodes featuring both Samantha's story and John story on the
website at method at madness podcast dot com or on

(05:48):
your favorite podcast app. I look forward to sharing more
updates as justice continues for victims and their families. Thank
you for listening.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
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