Jun 17, 2007 9:21 pm US/Eastern
Search For Missing NY Woman Turns Up Few Clues
Family Members Say Stepha Henry's Disappearance Leads To 'Sleelpess Nights'
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MIAMI DADE (CBS4) ―
A woman whose niece went missing last month while visiting relatives in Florida says it's been nothing but "sleepless nights" for the family since the disappearance. Miami-Dade detectives continue their search for Stepha Henry, but so far leads have been sparse.
"It's sleepless nights," Daffodil Samuel said Sunday at the family's home in the East New York section of Brooklyn. "It's being hungry and can't eat. It's fasting and constant prayer."
Henry was last seen by relatives at their South Florida home on May 29th. She was seen getting into a black sedan with a man, after telling her sisters she was going to a nightclub.
Miami-Dade County police say they don't know if foul play is involved and Henry's case is under investigation. They have examined abandoned cars and traced signals from her cell phone.
Henry is black, 5-foot-2 and 110 pounds and has brown eyes and red hair that falls just past her shoulders. Relatives say she is an honors graduate of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, is fascinated by criminal cases and aspires to be a lawyer.
"She always wanted to be the lady Johnnie Cochran," Samuel said, referring to the late attorney who became nationally known after winning an acquittal of murder charges for O.J. Simpson.
Samuel, who is the sister of Henry's mother, described her niece as "very nice," "brilliant," "a leader" and "very strong-willed." She said her niece often took family children to see movies and baked cupcakes for them.
"She was a fighter," Samuel said. "I know they didn't take Stepha easily."
Henry's mother last spoke to her daughter over the telephone about 11:30 the night before she disappeared, Samuel said.
As Henry was getting dressed to go out, her mother asked where she was going and with whom, Samuel said. She hurriedly told her mother a friend's brother-in-law was picking her up, Samuel said.
"She said, 'Mommy, mommy, I gotta go. I gotta get dressed,"' Samuel said.
There is video of Henry at the club, and police have said they have questioned a man who told them he left her at the nightspot.
Samuel said her niece often resisted her mother's tendency to inquire about her whereabouts and who she was with and once asked a relative to ask her mother to ease up.
"We just pray that whoever has her will release her so that she can come home and continue her life," Samuel said just before bursting into tears. "We're trusting in God and believing that He will do what He says He will do."
Henry's mother, Sylvia, who traveled with her husband, Steve, to Florida the week their daughter went missing, remains in the state searching for answers and posting fliers seeking information.
"She's not coming back," Samuel said, "until this situation is resolved."
Anyone with information on Henry's whereabouts is asked to call Miami-Dade CrimeStoppers at 305-471-8477.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
