The sister of missing former Giants cornerback Sam Beal made an emotional plea to her brother in a new interview published Wednesday.
Beal, who was selected by the Giants in the 2018 supplemental draft, has been missing since July, with few details to explain his disappearance.
The case grew new legs this week when his sister, Essence Zhane, made an appeal to the public on Facebook for any information that could help locate her brother, and in an interview with WTKR in Norfolk, Virginia, she made a heartfelt statement toward Beal.
“I love you and I would do anything to get one of those hugs from you,” she told the outlet. “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.”
Zhane also painted a picture of her brother that went beyond just the football field, describing him as a “great father, he was a role model for my son, he was my little big brother.”
Beal hasn’t been seen since July 12, when he dropped off his girlfriend at work in Michigan. He hasn’t been in touch with anyone since the following day.
The former NFLer’s girlfriend thought Beal was going to work, but he never went, and his family later learned that he had driven across the country to Virginia Beach without letting anyone know. The location of the car wasn’t known until Beal’s girlfriend used OnStar to pinpoint it following his disappearance.
Beal’s family initially thought he might have gone out of contact on purpose since, as Zhane explained, he had been “known to take time for himself.”
“We just thought he wanted to be left alone,” she said.
Beal’s family filed a missing persons report with the Kentwood Police in Michigan in August, but Beal wasn’t put into the national database for missing or unidentified people until October.
The family has also grown frustrated by the investigation and Zhane told WTKR that Virginia Beach police had not reached out to the family directly, even though the department had promised officers would.
“It didn’t feel like they were trying, it didn’t feel like it was even a concern, it felt like oh it was just another missing person,” Zhane said.
Kentwood Police did not have any updates to provide on the case when reached by The Post this week and the Virginia Beach Police Department told The Post in a statement that it “is aware of the situation and is actively supporting the department of record, the Kentwood Police Department, in their ongoing investigation.”
A spokesperson for the NFL Players Association told The Post that it was aware of the “unfortunate situation,” but that it had no further comment.
The NFL did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Attempts by The Post to reach Zhane through Facebook were not successful.
Beal played his college football at Western Michigan University and was with the Giants organization from 2018-21.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
