A teenage girl’s teacher gave her an assignment on serial killers and told her to research a list of their names. When the girl got to one man’s name, she decided to Google him. Suddenly, she saw the picture that came up in the results — and that’s when she became sick to her stomach.
When 14-year-old Samantha Bryan was instructed to research notorious crimes connected to her hometown, she never dreamed that the assignment would lead her to an earth-shattering discovery. However, that’s exactly what happened after she was given a list of names to choose from.
Samantha chose the name Ian Huntley, a man who was arrested in 2002 for murdering 10-year-old girls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. When Samantha Googled Huntley’s name, a picture of two women came up: she and her mother. “I knew instantly one was my mum. And, the little girl standing beside her was me at about 10,” Samantha recalled.
“The shock was painful,” she added. “A thousand questions ran round in my brain. I didn’t want to be associated with a killer. Was there anything of this monster in me? This Ian Huntley who had killed two little girls.”
The daughter of the Soham killer, Ian Huntley, has disclosed she only found out the true identity of her father after being given a school project on the murderer.Aged 14, Samantha Bryan was in a citizenship class when she discovered her natural father was Huntley, who was jailed for life for murdering the 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in 2002.Instructed to research “notorious crimes” connected to the Grimsby area, Miss Bryan, of Cleethorpes, Lincs, was given a list of names and found a photograph of herself and her mother on Google in relation to the murder, the Mail on Sunday reports. [Source: Telegraph]
“It was like being thumped in the chest,” Samantha Bryan said, recounting the moment she learned that Huntley was actually her biological father. “I began to shake, I couldn’t stop the tears.”
Samantha was only four at the time of the murders and had never met Huntley. Her mother left the killer while pregnant after he physically abused and raped her. She later married Martin Bryan, Samantha’s step-father.
Bryan, whose mother Katie Webber was violently abused and raped by Huntley, whom she left while still pregnant, thought her biological father was Webber’s partner, Martin. [Source: International Business Times]
“I try not to even say his name, as to do that is to acknowledge his existence,” Samantha said. “I hate him. He’s never been my dad, he’s nothing more than a sperm donor. To know he is genetically connected to me sickens me.”
“I’m speaking out, as I refuse to be ashamed for existing, otherwise I’d become just another of his victims,” added Samantha Bryan. “To acknowledge him as anything else would be to give him a power I will never let him hold over me,” she said.
“I didn’t cause the pain, suffering, and anguish he has caused to so many people, although I think of his victims and their families,” Samantha said. “I feel so terribly sorry for Holly and Jessica’s parents for what he’s done. Especially with young sisters myself. Ever since I found out about the girls I’ve thought about what they must have felt.”
“He is pure evil,” Samantha said. “What he is like hasn’t been passed on to me. I refuse to let something like him take over my mind or my life. I will make a positive difference with my life, I want to help others… the exact opposite of everything he stands for and ever will.”
They say that ignorance is bliss, and in Samantha Bryan’s case, that is certainly true. Her world got a whole lot heavier with the realization that her biological father was a notorious serial killer.
However, they also say that the truth will set you free. That has also been true in Samantha’s case. She has been able to move on and create a meaningful life for herself. The power of human resolve is truly incredible.
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