Episode 150: Kyle Buffum
23-year-old Kyle Buffum after his arrest
18-year-old Samantha Heath
19-year-old Kyle Buffum of Barnstead, New Hampshire had met 15-year-old Samantha Heath, also of Barnstead, in 2012, and the two quickly started dating. When Samantha’s parents found out, they attempted to end her contact with him out of concern for her well-being and the age gap between the two. Kyle purchased a cellphone for Samantha so they could keep in contact, and once she turned 16 he asked her to move into his home with him, his mother and his grandmother. The two soon moved into a duplex apartment together, and this is when they had a discussion about opening up their relationship so they could see other people.
The two got settled into their new home and their new relationship dynamic, and soon after, Kyle was arrested for throwing a house party where he was providing alcohol to minors. He received a 30-day jail sentence and was allowed to serve the sentence spaced out over several weekends. Enjoying her freedom, Samantha went out on these weekends to parties around the area with her good friend Andrea Halvorsen, also 16-years-old. The two girls were very close and Andrea regarded Samantha as one of her best friends. Kyle soon learned that Samantha had been sleeping with several of his friends, and despite their previously agreed upon open relationship, Kyle was angered by this. He blamed Andrea for being a bad influence, and began sharing his thoughts for wanting to harm her and anyone else that had hurt him.
On January 26th, 2014, Samantha and Andrea, now both 18-years-old, were hanging out when Samantha took Andrea to nearby Bear Brook State Park in Allenstown, NH. She then lured Andrea into an isolated area of the park and stabbed her sixteen times. A passing car seemed to take notice and Samantha left, leaving Andrea in the wooded area for dead. Andrea was found and miraculously survived, needing significant medical attention and surgery to repair the damage.
Samantha was arrested and agreed to testify against Kyle in court. Kyle was arrested on February 1st, 2014.
An arrest warrant shows that investigators did a forensic examination of Samantha’s cellphone, and they found that Kyle was the true mastermind behind this murder attempt. This was also premeditated, as evidenced by over 70 pages of text messages between Samantha and Kyle detailing their plans to murder Andrea as well as another male named Luther before robbing gas stations and fleeing to Florida.
Andrea bravely faced Samantha in court, stating "I remember screaming, 'Why? Why are you doing this to me?’ And you know what I got back? A cold-hearted stare. Every time someone innocently inquires about the 16 scars on my body, the scars that I have to wake up to every morning, every time, it reminds me of the friendship we had, or I thought we had, anyway.” Samantha eventually pled guilty to attempted first-degree murder, receiving a sentence of 20 years to life with the condition that five years of the maximum sentence could be suspended if she had good behavior and demonstrated genuine rehabilitation.
Kyle Buffum was indicted on one count each of conspiracy to commit murder, accomplice to attempted murder, and criminal solicitation and was going to be sentenced to the same sentence as Samantha, 20 years to life, in exchange for his guilty plea. Instead he pled not guilty by reason of insanity, which the jury quickly disagreed with. Kyle appealed this, but following the jury's verdict, Kyle was sentenced on the accomplice to attempted murder conviction to 35 years to life, with the option to "petition the court to reduce his minimum sentence by seven years if he has been of good behavior while in prison." He was also sentenced to concurrent 15 to 30 year sentences to run consecutively with the attempted murder conviction for the criminal solicitation and conspiracy to commit murder convictions.
Kyle again attempted to appeal and in 2019 asked for his sentence to be reduced, but remains at the state correctional facility in Concord, New Hampshire.
Image sources:
unionleader.com - “Accomplice gets 35 years to life in stabbing of Allenstown teen”
wmur.com - “Teen sentenced for stabbing woman in Allenstown park”