One trip to Virginia Beach. One final phone call. Then nothing. Former New York Giants and Western Michigan cornerback Sam Beal disappeared in July 2025, leaving behind a trail of unanswered questions and a family desperate to find him. A missing person report was eventually filed with the Kentwood Police Department in Michigan. Fifteen months later, Beal remains missing, and his family is still waiting for answers.
After dropping his girlfriend off at a family member’s home, Beal borrowed her car and headed to work. He later drove to Virginia Beach and has not been seen since. On July 13 last year, Beal told his girlfriend over the phone that he was planning to head home. Those were the last words anyone ever heard from him.
According to police, Beal’s car was later recovered in Virginia Beach. Inside, authorities found his shoes and socks, along with traces of sand scattered across the passenger-side floor. The missing-person report stated that the only thing the former NFL star brought with him was his clothes, a pair of slides, and his wallet.
The family has been searching for answers since the day of his disappearance. Back in January this year, his sister shared a Facebook post in an attempt to find her brother, including Beal’s driver’s license photo, a missing persons report, and a receipt from the day he was last heard from.
“Tomorrow makes it seven months since we’ve last heard from or seen my brother,” Essence Zhane wrote. “We’ve done everything we could on our end to piece things together and at this point we’re in desperate need of support on all ends.”
“I’m not here to answer a bunch of whys and hows,” she continued. “I just need this to land in the right direction to gain some form of answers or closure. I’m a Big sister, and I need my brother to know that We Love You and miss you and this has been a heavy feeling for months to carry around.”
Recruited out of Ottawa Hills High School in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Sam Beal joined Western Michigan for its class of 2015. The CB featured in all 12 games of his true freshman season. In total, Beal spent three years at the Broncos, playing 36 games. Before the 2018 NFL draft, he was being considered a top-10 pick. However, he wanted to return to Western Michigan, but that didn’t materialize over academic eligibility issues.
A third-round pick in the 2018 NFL Supplemental Draft, Beal was highly touted as one of the league’s highest supplemental picks since 2012. The Giants were excited to have him on the team, but fate had a different story in store. Severe injuries derailed his professional football career almost from the very beginning.
He missed his entire first year after undergoing surgery to repair a badly torn labrum in his shoulder. He then opted out of the 2020 football season entirely due to health concerns. All in all, he appeared in just nine games for the Giants, recording 27 tackles.
In November 2021, the Giants eventually waived him, marking the beginning of a devastating downward spiral. After his NFL career came to an end, Beal tried several different paths, but nothing seemed to work. Hard times continued to follow him, and in September 2024, he was jailed over unpaid child support for a child from a previous relationship. He remained behind bars until February 2025.
His mental health went from bad to worse. He began taking medication but eventually stopped because it only seemed to make him feel worse. Police reports suggest that he was working at Amazon in Kentwood.
Investigators tried everything, from contacting Beal to asking people around Virginia Beach, but they got nothing. Even hospitals in the area were notified, but there have been few, if any, leads.
“I love you, and I would do anything to get one of those hugs from you,” said Zhane In an interview with WTKR in Virginia. “Your babies miss you; they act just like you. I’m sorry if you ever felt like I didn’t check for you enough, but I was always checking for you.”
Day and night, Beal’s family has been waiting for him to come back. They have pleaded with everyone to come forward and tell them anything they may know about his whereabouts.