HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (PIX11) — The family of a Long Island man who disappeared in May 2020 learned on Tuesday that remains discovered in Hempstead Lake State Park last month were his.
Omar St. Hill’s sister, Kisha St. Hill, spoke with PIX11 News on Wednesday. DNA samples from St. Hill’s mother and sister helped make the identification.
“Nassau County and state police found remains in February that were positively identified as Omar,” Kisha St. Hill said.
PIX11 News first spoke with Kisha St. Hill in November. She said her brother disappeared “during the heart of COVID” in May 2020.
The family revealed that Omar St. Hill, 37, had struggled emotionally during the initial COVID-19 lockdown in New York when many people were confined to their homes and businesses were shuttered. His cause of death hasn’t been determined.
“A hiker stumbled across some remains,” Kisha St. Hill said. “They (police) said he was in the mulch.”
Kisha St. Hill said her brother had battled sadness for more than 10 years after he found their younger brother, Sidney, dead of natural causes at their home on West Marshall Street in Hempstead. Sidney St. Hill was in his mid-20s when he died.
“When you lose your best friend and your brother, how do you cope with that?” Kisha St. Hill asked last fall.
Omar St. Hill was a father of two and very close to his childhood friend, Omar Sampson, who recently organized a search for St. Hill in Hempstead Lake State Park, which is just a couple of blocks from St. Hill’s home.
Shortly after 10 p.m. on May 7, 2020, St. Hill left his cell phone and ID at his family’s house and walked out the door on West Marshall Street, up the block toward the Public Storage warehouse and a 7-Eleven. The state park is located across Peninsula Boulevard. Sampson said his friend had called him in the very early hours of May 7, 2020.
“He was trying to get a logo for some clothing he was thinking about selling,” Sampson recalled last November of their 2020 conversation. “He started getting a little frazzled because you can’t go here, you can’t do this, you can’t do that.”
The family was frustrated by the lack of media attention in St. Hill’s case. His disappearance was eventually profiled by the Black and Missing Foundation. The organization’s co-founder, Natalie Wilson, said 40% of all missing persons are people of color who deserve more press coverage.
“We’ve been sounding the alarm for close to 14 years now that people of color are missing at an alarming rate,” Wilson told PIX11 News last fall.
Sampson created a video for social media to highlight his friend’s case.
On Wednesday, Kisha St. Hill thanked the people who brought attention to the disappearance of her brother.
“You definitely gave him a voice when no one else did,” she said.
Nassau County police directed a request for comment on the case to state police, which did not immediately return PIX11’s calls.
