After reading about the disappearance of 7-year old Samantha Zaldivar, I found a page dedicated to her by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
There wasn’t much written about her life because she died at such a young age. There was one paragraph:
“Samantha was a beautiful child, full of life, and full of surprises. She was a good kid, her favorite colors were purple and pink. She played, ran and jumped with all of the kids, and was always having fun. She was and still is a beautiful child in our hearts. That will never change for anyone who knew her. It is amazing to me that in such a short life, and most likely, not very good homelife, she always wore a smile on her face, and that kid-like gleam in her eyes”
Samantha wasn’t stolen off the street by a stranger. She was a victim of her mother’s boyfriend, someone who was trusted to keep her safe. Even her own mother failed her in life and in getting justice for her after her death.
In No Safe Place, we are examining the disappearance of Samantha Zaldivar and the intensive investigation that led to the prosecution of Angel Colon, her mother’s boyfriend and the father of Samantha’s two younger siblings. What possible reason could there be for the murder of a 7-year old child and what is the appropriate punishment for her killer and for a mother who seemed more interested in protecting him than her own daughter?