ST. LOUIS — A Lincoln County family is mourning the woman who was kidnapped in Clayton and found shot to death in north St. Louis on Wednesday.
Michelle Hampton's twin sister, Samantha Hampton, 37, is asking for the community's help to find the suspects after she watched in horror as two men took her sister.
"That's my twin sister. I'm nothing without her, and she was nothing without me. Like she's my everything. And I need help finding who did this to her, please," she said.
St. Louis police said Thursday afternoon that they found Michelle's car after the shooting and, later that evening, seized a vehicle of interest. However, investigators are still searching for a suspect.
Samantha said she was dropping her sons off at Michelle's home Wednesday morning around 7:15 a.m. That's when she said she saw her sister in her car with a masked gunman in the passenger seat and another man in a truck following close behind.
Samantha recounted the last moments she saw her sister alive. She said she felt like she lost half of herself when her sister was taken outside her home on Whitburn Drive near the St. Louis Galleria.
"I looked over at my sister. She rolled down on the window and screamed at me and said, 'Sam, no,'" Samantha said.
Samantha said her twin sister was held at gunpoint and forced to drive to various locations from Clayton to St. Louis, including ATMs, where she said the men made her withdraw cash.
Samantha said she was on the phone with 911 the entire time as she chased the suspects down while the truck followed close behind, trying to run her off the road.
"I was telling 911 that the truck is running me off the road, and she was telling me, 'Is this road rage?', and I'm telling them, 'No. Somebody has got my sister, and I'm following,' and she's telling me, 'No, you need to stop.' And I told her, 'I'm not stopping. If I stop, my sister will be gone.'"
Samantha continued chasing her sister's abductors with her frightened sons in the car. Then, a gunman shot at her car.
"As soon as we rolled down the window, the passenger in that vehicle of my sister's car shot fire. It went through Jalen's window, across his face, and went out my window."
Samantha and her sons were not injured.
"That's the last time I seen my sister drive away," she said.
It wasn't until hours later, at 11 a.m., that Michelle Hampton was found shot to death in an alley off Greer Avenue in North St. Louis.
Police believe the crime was a targeted act of violence and not random.
While the family said they don't believe this was random either, they don't know who the suspects are.
Samantha talked to dispatchers from St. Louis County and St. Louis city as she chased after her sister. Police confirmed dispatchers transferred her, but Samantha said she was hung up on multiple times. Samantha said her family feels her sister's death could have possibly been prevented if dispatchers took her pleas for help seriously and acted faster.
"The whole time, I was on the phone with 911 people multiple times, calling them to tell them to come right now. She needs help right now. They kept trying to get off the phone with me because I wouldn't stop."
St. Louis and Clayton Police are both investigating. If you know anything about the crime, please call CrimeStoppers at 866-371-TIPS.
The family set up a GoFundMe fundraiser to help raise money for funeral expenses and support for her 15-year-old daughter.