Name: Samiya Haqiqi
Case Classification: Endangered Missing
Missing Since: November 12, 1999
Location Last Seen: New York City, New York
Date of Birth: Unknown
Age: 24 years
Race: White
Gender: Female
Height: 5'5" to 5'6"
Weight: 128 lbs.
Hair Color: Brown/black, curly and long
Eye Color: Brown
Nickname/Alias: Sami; Sammy
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Slender build
Dentals: Not available
Fingerprints: Not available
DNA: Available
Clothing: White t-shirt; dark blue boot-cut jeans; chucky black platform shoes; Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) baseball cap, probably tan
Jewelry: Ring with diamonds worn on third finger of right hand
Additional Personal Items: Dark brown leather backpack
Quinnipiac College Law School student Samiya Haqiqi was last seen leaving the Quinnipiac campus after class at 14.30 on November 12. She left her Hamden, Connecticut apartment to visit family and friends in New York and had called a friend en route at 16.30 using a cellular phone. Haqiqi drove her black, 1997 Volkswagen convertible to New York.
Samiya Haqiqi had maintained close ties to her family in Queens since she moved from her family's home to Hamden, where she started her first year at Quinnipiac College School of Law in September. Ms. Haqiqi called every night at 23.00 and returned for weekend visits. Samiya had graduated from St. John’s University in 1995 and thereafter took classes at Queens College while working full time during the day as a paralegal for a Manhattan law firm. She had started her first semester at Quinnipiac College’s Law School two months prior to her disappearance.
Her locked 1997 Volkswagen Jetta was found in a Grand Union parking lot at Northern Boulevard and Marathon Parkway in Little Neck on November 15.
In April 2006, a jury found Farid (John) Popal guilty of second degree murder, evidence tampering, falsifying business records and conspiracy in Samiya Haqiqi's death. He was sentenced to 26 years to life. Police believe Popal killed Haqiqi in his car and took her body to a Long Island auto shop. There, he and his brother allegedly disposed of Samiya's body, personal effects and clothing and concealed and destroyed blood evidence on the front passenger seat of his 1997 Pontiac Grand Prix.
Popal thereafter requested an unsuspecting employee to clean up evidence of a fire at a transmission shop, where his brother was employed, and assist him in obtaining a replacement front passenger seat for his car.
On November 16, 1999, the defendant, according to the testimony, filed false reports with the 102nd Precinct and the Blue Ridge Insurance Company claiming that his automobile had been stolen. Nearly from the beginning, Popal had been a suspect, and was questioned several times.
In December 1999, detectives discovered a clump of hair in an auto-repair garage on Long Island where the Popal brothers worked. DNA analysis determined it was Samiya's hair. Samiya had a relationship with Farid Popal. Police alleged he killed her because she was planning to break up with him and return to an old boyfriend.
With no body, the case was largely circumstantial but included incriminating statements Popal made to former coworkers and police. Popal insists he had nothing to do with his former girlfriend's disappearance. Haqiqi's body has never been found.
Agency Name: New York City Police Department
Agency Contact Person: N/A
Agency Phone Number: 212-694-7781
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: KNMP08882
NamUs Case Number: 8502
Added: 2/12/09; Last Updated: 11/11/21 - By: kc
Questions or comments? Please contact appropriate member of the Area Team
** Listed information is from the time of disappearance.
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