October 28, 2024 | By: Logan Kennedy, PCC Intern

Samayah Barker Lee was one of a kind. She put others before herself and embraced everyone with open arms. Her loved ones remember her as a loving, funny, and all-around good person.

Tragically, Samayah was taken from the world far too soon. She was just 17 years old when she was the victim of a hit-and-run on April 4, 2021, in Fort Wayne, Indiana at the intersection of McKinnie Avenue and Lafayette Street. Samayah’s homicide remains unsolved to this day. Her friends and family continue seeking judicial resolution for Samayah and ensuring she is always remembered.

Samayah Barker Lee was born on March 1, 2004, in Indiana. She was raised by her mother Rheanna Lee and was the youngest of all her sisters. Samayah’s mother Rheanna spoke about all of her daughters being very introverted and very easy kids. However, Samayah was significantly different from her siblings. Growing up Samayah was “always on the go and never sat still,” Rheanna said. She always had so much energy and sometimes her mother couldn’t keep up with her.

As a child Samayah was very active and adventurous; she loved being outdoors and doing all kinds of different activities. Rheanna recalls times when Samayah would bring all kinds of different animals into their home. She played soccer throughout elementary and middle school but sadly had to stop due to a knee injury, but that did not stop her from still being an active person. Samayah loved roller skating, fishing, being in the snow, and she adored snowboarding. Rheanna, Samayah’s mother, explains some of the activities Samayah and her siblings enjoyed, “I usually took the girls to concerts, fairs, river boating, camping, fishing outside of our town, and roller skating.”

Samayah had such a fun and free-spirited personality. She loved being a tomboy and dressing down but she also loved all things girly and feminine as well. “She loved anime, her favorite show was Naruto ” Samayah was known for her big eyelashes, her hair, and her nails. Rheanna talked about how Samayah’s cousin did her hair and makeup for her funeral and how it almost didn’t feel like her. “Samayah didn’t wear makeup, she said you didn’t need makeup if you had good hair,” Rheanna said. Her close friend who Samayah often referred to as her cousin Adashia talked about how much Samayah loved her hair but also had that carefree mindset.  Rheanna remembered a time when Samayah had been growing her hair out for a year and the second one of her teachers bet Samayah fifty dollars if she shaved it, “the next day Samayah went to school with no hair and got her fifty dollars” Rheanna and Adashia both remember fondly.

Adashia expressed her best memories with Samayah “involved music and just spending quality time with one another, especially listening to Rod Wave”. She mentioned how Samayah was the type of friend you didn’t need to do anything with, you could just sit there in silence and still have fun. Rheanna and Adashia have kept in touch following Samayah’s tragic passing, they have always been and always will be family.

Samayah was only seventeen years old when she passed, she had her whole life ahead of her. Samayah was an extremely hardworking and dedicated young woman. Her mother Rheanna recalls her wanting to be a mother when she got older. She said that career-wise Samayah did not have a specific career in mind but she always had a “big entrepreneurship mindset” Samayah and her friends used to sell ice cream around their neighborhood, starting that entrepreneurship mindset at a young age.

Samayah had expressed interest in attending a party with her boyfriend and some friends on April 3, 2021. Rheanna initially expressed some hesitation and discomfort but ultimately decided to allow her daughter to attend the party. After Samayah called her mother and told her she and her friends were on their way home from the party their car was struck by another vehicle and Samayah was killed. The vehicle responsible for causing the crash and Samayah’s death fled the scene. The crash happened at the intersection of McKinnie Avenue and Lafayette Street in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Rheanna found out her daughter had been killed in the early hours of April 4, 2021, by a local deputy who came to her home. He could not provide her with any further details about the incident. The medical examiner was the one who told Rheanna what happened to her daughter. Rheanna continues to be a voice for Samayah to ensure her daughter is never forgotten.

Rheanna talked about how she is “just trying to live her life day to day without Samayah.” Rheanna and Adashia have done a tremendous amount of work to get Samayah’s story out to the world. Samayah’s World on Facebook has been a great community for people to talk about Samayah and spread the word about her case, along with stickers that have QR codes on them that Rheanna and her family put all over their town. Rheanna, Adashia, and so many others who loved Samayah continue to go to the roller park every year on her birthday and death day to honor Samayah. “Samayah is like the sun,” said Adashia. Rheanna described her daughter as “everybody’s somebody”

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Anyone with information concerning Samayah Barker Lee’s unsolved homicide is asked to call the Fort Wayne Police Department at (260)427-1222. To remain anonymous and possibly be eligible for a reward, call Fort Wayne Crime Stoppers at (260)436-7867.

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