QUEENS, New York (WABC) — Police are searching for a 47-year-old woman, with development disabilities, who went missing from a home on Long Island last Friday.
Nassau County Police said a missing persons report was filed by the family of Samantha Denise Primus, who was last seen around 3:30 a.m. at a home in Elmont on December 23.
Primus normally lives with her mother and doesn’t go anywhere without a family member.
According to family members, Primus, who is deaf, mute and has limited sign language abilities, was staying with her sister Joanna Peck and her family in Elmont for a few days when Primus walked out of the home.
Her family determined Primus left the home between 4 and 5 a.m. on December 23.
They say Primus was found later that night around 8 p.m. at 190th Street and Hillside Avenue in Queens about three and a half miles from the home.
A paramedic who saw a missing flyer would later remember responding to a call there for someone in need of help and taking her to Queens Hospital Center that evening.
NYPD officials said Primus wound up being discharged from the hospital on Saturday just before 2 a.m.
RELATED | ‘Missing’ investigates Leanne Marie Hausberg – a New York girl who vanished
According to the family, hospital staff thought she was homeless and gave directions to local shelters.
“They though she was homeless, so they gave her a list of shelters to go to,” Peck said. “Someone that’s non-verbal. She cannot read. I mean she cannot read, she’s not verbal, she doesn’t know how to navigate the system. The buses or public transportation. How could you send her away?”
Primus hasn’t been seen since.
“Another five days that she’s walking out there. She hasn’t eaten. She hasn’t taken a shower,” Peck said.
She says all of this could have been avoided if the hospital had made some phone calls to confirm the same woman had been reported missing in Nassau County.
“They were trying to backpedal to say, well the date of birth is different,” Peck said. “We had a non-verbal mute with the same description but the only thig that differs is the date of birth. We said she could not have given you the date of birth, she doesn’t know her date of birth.”
In response to Eyewitness News’ questions about why Primus would have been released, New York City Health + Hospitals cites patient confidentiality.
As for the Nassau County Police Department, they were notified that Primus was found after the paramedic that helped her saw the missing report and notified the authorities that she was taken to Queens Hospital.
The family said Nassau Police notified them that Primus was located and at a hospital, but by the time family arrived at Queens Hospital she had been discharged.
Primus is described as 5’3″, 130 pounds, with brown eyes, and black hair. She was last seen wearing a navy-blue coat, pink-hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans, and black sneakers.
Her family is urging anyone who sees her to call the police right away.
“She has a loving family. She’s a loved person. And we just need her to come back home,” Peck said.
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, or on Twitter @NYPDTips.
Nassau County detectives are also requesting that anyone with information regarding the missing person case to contact the Nassau County Police Department Missing Persons Squad at 516-573-7347 or dial 911.
———-
* Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts
Submit a tip or story idea to Eyewitness News
Have a breaking news tip or an idea for a story we should cover? Send it to Eyewitness News using the form below. If attaching a video or photo, terms of use apply.
Copyright © 2022 WABC-TV. All Rights Reserved.
