'Someone knows what happened to Samantha': Hope remains to solve '07 Derry Township homicide | TribLIVE.com
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'Someone knows what happened to Samantha': Hope remains to solve '07 Derry Township homicide

Renatta Signorini
| Monday, March 28, 2022 2:01 p.m.
Courtesy of Lang family
Samantha Lang

Whoever killed Carol Polo’s daughter has had 15 years of freedom.

She hopes that will end soon.

“We pay for it every day, the last 15 years we have paid for it,” she said. “Now it’s time for somebody else to pay for it — and they need to.”

Investigators renewed pleas Monday for information about the March 27, 2007, death of Samantha Lang. The 22-year-old was killed inside her father’s home on Route 982 near the Derry Township village known as Peanut. Her throat had been slit, and she was found about 9 p.m. in a pool of blood between the kitchen and living room.

Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli said state police are committed to solving the case.

“We are very hopeful — with modern advancements and science and technology and some new information in this case — we are hopeful,” she said. “And we’re hoping that somebody out there knows something that they can tell us because someone knows what happened. Someone knows what happened to Samantha, and we’re not going to rest until we solve this case.”

Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers is offering a $10,000 reward for information.

“If this was your daughter, your sister, your mother, I’m sure you would want what we want,” Polo said. “If you know anything, whether it big, small, you don’t know if it matters, it does matter. Call. Call and give us some justice, give Sam the justice that she deserves.”

The home — which police described in court papers as a hub for drug activity — was ransacked and had a strong odor of marijuana. Police said a rear door apparently had been forced open, and a gray metal safe was left on a bed while a metal lockbox was found on the back porch.

Lang lived there with her brother and their father, both of whom were incarcerated on unrelated charges at the time.

A 2004 graduate of Greater Latrobe High School, Lang had started a new job the week she died and was taking courses to become a paralegal. Her mother described her as having an infectious smile and laugh.

“She was a great kid. If you met her once, you couldn’t forget her,” Polo said.

Over the past 15 years, rewards for information — as much as $50,000 — have brought in more tips but never enough for police to make an arrest. The family consulted psychics in 2014 at the crime scene in an effort to crack the case.

Eight years ago, a Butler County psychic stood in the yard outside her father’s home. She told Polo of a message she was receiving from her daughter: “Samantha says, ‘Mom, you know who did it.’”

Then, like now, the family sought answers to solve the case.

“Someone knows something and will come forward,” the psychic said in April 2014. “You will get closure.”

Lang’s family and state police again in 2018 publicly pleaded for help, saying that it was still being actively investigated and that a lot of information had been gathered.

Still, they wait.

Anyone with information can call state police at 724-832-3288 or Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers at 1-800-4PA-TIPS. Both Polo and Ziccarelli pleaded with anyone who has information to come forward.

“They might have that little puzzle piece that these guys need to solve it, to put it together, to put it to bed,” Polo said. “We’re ready.”


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