Over the last few months, Brian Rothstein found himself falling for a woman he never met.
Her name is Sam and she lives in Michigan – three time zones away from his home in Oregon.
From what he could tell from her social media and the several phone conversations they had daily, the beautiful blonde, Samantha Booth, seemed to possess the rare mix of empathy, insight and gentleness Rothstein wants in a partner.
After first connecting on TikTok, the two planned on finally meeting in person in November, with Booth intending to move 3,000 miles to Rothstein’s hometown, Bend. She told him she wanted to start a new life far from the long string of trauma, abuse and disappointments she faced in Michigan.
But those plans went awry when her phone went dead as they were Face Timing and the grandfather of the child showed up so she could take a break from her nanny job in Royal Oak, just north of Detroit.
That was when she allegedly snapped and stabbed the grandfather of the two-year-old girl to death with a screwdriver.
‘It’s all so surreal,’ Rothstein, 36, told the Daily Mail. He believes he was the last person Booth spoke with before the tragic incident.
‘I knew she was going through some stuff, and I knew she was tired, but never would it have occurred to me that something like this could happen involving the person I was falling in love with.’
Booth, 35, has been accused of killing David Ong, 83, on October 24. It is alleged that she fatally stabbed him with a screwdriver in the basement of the home where his granddaughter lived with her mother, 48-year-old Katie Ong.
The whirlwind online romance between Brian Rothstein (left) and Samantha Rae Booth (right) was full speed ahead. The pair fantasized about a fresh start together despite never meeting in person, with Booth preparing to leave her troubled past behind and move to Oregon to be with him
On October 24, 83-year-old David Ong (pictured alongside his wife Jacqueline) was found dead inside the basement of his daughter’s Royal Oak home after Booth allegedly stabbed him to death with a screwdriver
According to a police report, Booth then stripped off all her clothes. She was naked and covered in blood by the time police arrived.
Police say Ong had gone to check on the toddler after his daughter, Katie – a psychologist who was allegedly out of town that day – couldn’t reach Booth by phone.
But Rothstein tells a different story.
He said Booth was expecting Ong, and that he was scheduled to come to the home to relieve her for a meal break.
Katie Ong (pictured), David’s daughter and the toddler’s mother, had employed Booth since her daughter was a newborn
Rothstein told the Daily Mail he spoke with Booth twice via FaceTime on that Friday afternoon: once from Katie’s home while she waited for Ong to arrive, and again, after the grandfather showed up from her car during her break.
He said that second call was cut off unexpectedly and he has no idea what interaction she and Ong had after that. He assumed Booth’s phone had run out of battery.
When he still hadn’t heard from her hours later, Rothstein began to worry – especially because she had been acting erratically and had told him that the distress of ending her other relationship had caused her to lose sleep.
He learned from her roommate later on Friday that Booth had been arrested, although neither knew what for. It wasn’t until four days later on Tuesday that he said both found out it was in connection with Ong’s death.
The horrific murder unfolded inside Ong’s daughter Katie’s $513,000 home in Royal Oak, seen here
In the days leading up to Ong’s death, Rothstein said Booth had been ‘in a state of fear’ following the end of a toxic relationship and was severely sleep-deprived
Rothstein said he FaceTimed Booth twice that day. During their second call, she was by her car on a meal break when the call suddenly cut off – he assumed her phone had died, later learning the terrible truth from her roommate
Douglas Smith (top left), 58, was unmasked as the hero uncle who saved his toddler niece from Booth when he arrived after his father-in-law stopped answering Katie’s calls
Rothstein told the Daily Mail that police briefly questioned him this week about their phone conversations from that day.
‘She was a little destabilized when I last talked with her. I know she was sleep deprived. But nothing would have led to this in my mind. I just figured she needed a nap,’ he told the Daily Mail.
‘I feel horrible for him,’ Rothstein, an audio engineer, said about Ong. ‘I feel horrible for [Sam], and I feel horrible for that child.’
As Rothstein tells it, he and Booth bonded online several months ago over their shared experiences of being neurodivergent – she identified as having ADHD, and he identified as having ADHD and autism.
‘We’re also both spiritual and witchy,’ he said.
They had been growing increasingly close over their phone calls in recent weeks, and were discussing her plans to leave metro Detroit, as had long been her hope, and move to Oregon in November.
He said Booth had been distraught after cutting ties on October 22 from a man in Massachusetts with whom she had allegedly been in an abusive relationship.
The breakup and related trauma had left her sleepless and ‘in a state of fear’ in the days leading up to Ong’s killing, Rothstein told the Daily Mail.
Regarding the discovery of the crime scene, police have said that when she couldn’t reach Booth or her father, Katie called her brother-in-law to ask if he could check on her daughter.
The Daily Mail has identified that brother-in-law as Douglas Smith, the husband of Katie’s sister and Ong’s daughter, Kelley.
Smith described Booth as bloody and manic upon his arrival, telling police that he escaped her attempts to lunge at him and his young niece, screwdriver in hand, by running to shelter at a neighbor’s house and calling 911.
Smothering the little red-haired girl with kisses and running through a well-kept yard, the love this blonde-haired nanny had for her charge appears obvious in two videos exclusively obtained by Daily Mail
Booth was arrested shortly after. As she was being hauled away, police claim she told them, ‘I f***** him the f*** up, and yes I did it. God, it was too easy,’ ClickOnDetroit reported.
According to the official report, Ong was stabbed to death while trying to shield the toddler from her deranged nanny.
For his part, Rothstein defended his new love.
He described her to the Daily Mail as a gentle soul deeply committed to championing the rights of neurodivergent people, healing from her own traumas and helping others do the same.
He urged the public not to jump to conclusions about Booth and her motives, nor to rule out the possibility that she may have been provoked.
Smith declined to speak to the Daily Mail when approached at his home in nearby Bloomfield Hills on Wednesday. But his bravery in escaping to a neighbor’s house to call 911 is credited with saving both his and his niece’s lives
David’s son Patrick told the Daily Mail on Wednesday that detectives requested they refrain from commenting to the media while the homicide is being investigated, but confirmed the family was reeling from the alleged murder
‘I care about this girl. I can’t even express to you how gentle she is. I can’t see her harming a fly. She literally picks leaves and talks to birds,’ Rothstein told the Daily Mail.
‘I don’t see how this escalated. It just doesn’t compute.’
Referring to them both being neurodivergent, he said that ‘people like us don’t cause harm unless we have to. We have a very large sense of justice – like standing up for the little guy kind of deal if and when we’re provoked.’
The Daily Mail was unable to reach Katie Ong for comment. Her brother, Patrick Ong, told the Daily Mail on Wednesday that detectives had asked the family not to speak with media about the case.
When reached for comment by the Daily Mail, Smith refused to discuss the scene in which he allegedly discovered his father-in-law’s bludgeoned body in his sister-in-law’s basement.
Booth faces first-degree murder, second-degree child abuse and felony assault, plus three counts of resisting and obstructing, according to a press release from Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald.
As seen on video from the jail, Booth stripped down in her jail cell and refused to put clothes on for a Tuesday court appearance. She is being held without bond and is next due in court on November 7.
Booth’s mother, Holly Booth, hung up the phone when reached by the Daily Mail to discuss the case.
