News 12 is probing the case of a missing woman who allegedly disappeared after her roommate was murdered years ago.

Karen Savnik's mother, Valerie Buchanan, of Carmel, says her daughter was afraid for her safety after she found her roommate, Jessica Springman, dead in their Bronx apartment in January 2021.

“She was acting really nervous. She just wasn’t herself on the phone,” says Buchanan, while recalling how her daughter said she discovered the victim, who was an exotic dancer. “She found Jessica in the bathtub with the shower curtain wrapped around her neck.”

Savnik, who was 37 years old at the time, stopped communicating with her family weeks later, according to her mother. She says Savnik, who grew up in Putnam County, is developmentally disabled and has mental health needs. The case made headlines at the time when the NYPD confirmed the death was a homicide. Savnik was interviewed before her disappearance by the Daily News about what she allegedly saw.

“She said that she was going to be next to be found in a bathtub dead,” Buchanan says.

Buchanan says the last time she heard from her daughter was March 30, 2021, when Savnik alleged by text that she was sexually assaulted, being “gang stalked” by “dangerous men,” and wanted her mother to know incase she was found deceased in a similar manner to her roommate or shot.

Savnik’s mother believes her daughter, who she says claimed to clean houses and model, is still alive but could be sex trafficked.

“I think she’s being controlled by somebody, may have a drug habit and they have her running drugs for her own use and theirs,” Buchanan says, adding that prior to her daughter’s disappearance, “I’ve had a pimp call me to burn my house down if I didn’t come up with $1,500 to buy her back.”

Buchanan says she tried to report her concerns to the NYPD, state police and the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office for years, but no one would take the case.

“The police departments looked at me like she’s 40 years old, so she doesn’t want to be found, and I said that’s not true. She always calls the kids on birthdays, and she hasn’t called since Jessica was murdered,” says Buchanan.

She claims it wasn’t until she reached out to News 12, and we started making calls, that the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office took the case.

“I’m very grateful to you,” she says.” They gave me an apology and said, ‘Can you please come in, we’ll take the missing person’s report.’”

The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office confirms that it is investigating her disappearance.

News 12 has learned that while she may not have communicated with family, Savnik was alive in 2023 when she was arrested by Nassau County police on Long Island for allegedly possessing drugs and stolen property.

Police say she didn’t show up for court and has a warrant out for her arrest.

Buchanan says that after all this time, she just wants to know what happened to her daughter.

“My heart’s broken. She has two children that also have broken hearts. They want their mommy back.”