Thirteen years after Dashad "Sage" Smith went missing, Charlottesville police say they have tracked down a person of interest in the case.
Erik McFadden is believed to be the last person who saw Smith before she was reported missing in 2012. Smith, who started to identify as a transgender woman shortly before her disappearance, was last seen the night of Nov. 20, 2012, headed to Charlottesville Union Station on West Main Street to meet up with McFadden. She was never seen again.
The case was officially declared a homicide in 2016 due to the suspicious nature of Smith’s disappearance and how much time had passed without sign of Smith.
McFadden also disappeared.
He initially agreed to cooperate with law enforcement, but after brief contact with investigators, McFadden vanished. For years, police searched for him without luck. And in 2019, McFadden’s own family reported him missing.
But Charlottesville Police Chief Michael Kochis announced a breakthrough in the hunt for McFadden on Thursday.
In October, detectives were able to track down McFadden in Los Angeles, where he was attempting to change his name.
“While in Los Angeles, CPD detectives interviewed him, and the information obtained is now being carefully reviewed and incorporated into our ongoing investigative actions," Kochis said at a press conference at CitySpace in downtown Charlottesville. "This is an important step forward, but we have a lot of work that remains still, and we cannot do that alone. Let me be very clear, the Dashad ‘Sage’ Smith case remains an active investigation."
Kochis said he was not prepared Thursday to release any details from the hourlong interview with McFadden. And he emphasized that McFadden remains only a person of interest in the case and not a suspect.
“We did get information. I’m not going to release that at this point, because again, it’s still a very fluid investigation and we have to follow up on a lot of that on that information from the interview," Kochis said.
Kochis said the information McFadden provided in Los Angeles is being incorporated with the information police already know.
“When you go back and look at a case that has gone on for this long, you have to go back and re-interview individuals, identify evidence, forensics, a lot of stuff that was looked at back then, because there’s new technology that is out there now, new forensic techniques that are out there that weren’t maybe 13 years ago," Kochis said. "It is a lot of work. We have a detective specifically assigned to this case.”
Kochis is asking for the public’s assistance gathering information on McFadden.
"If you have had any contact with Erik McFadden since 2012, if you knew him, lived with him, worked with him or were in any form of a relationship with him, we need to hear from you. You may remain anonymous. Even something you believe is insignificant may be a significant piece of information that helps move this case to a resolution,” Kochis said.
According to what police already know, McFadden has spent the years between Smith’s disappearance and today traveling the country, with stops in Baltimore, Maryland; Joppa, Maryland; Lake City, South Carolina; Columbia, South Carolina; Atlanta, Georgia; New York City, New York; and Rochester, New York.
Although McFadden was in the process of changing his name when police found him in Los Angeles, they believe he had already traveled under different aliases, including Frank Hargrave, Shiloh Mathis and Miles Bakari.
When reporters pressed Kochis how the police would find McFadden again after losing him for years, the police chief replied, "We found him this time. We’ll find him again."
“I want Sage’s family and this community to hear directly from me: We have not forgotten Sage, we will not forget Sage and we will continue to seek justice with persistence, compassion and transparency to this community,” Kochis said. "Sage was someone’s child, a friend, a beloved member of this community. Sage deserves answers, and Sage deserves the dignity of the truth."
The Smith case has been the subject of criticism over the years because it has attracted far less attention than other similar cases in the Charlottesville area, including those of Morgan Harrington, Hannah Graham and Alexis Murphy — all young women first reported missing and later determined to be murdered.
"We’re not sure why," Kochis said. "Cases such as Hannah Graham, for example, certainly received more national coverage."
But others say they know why: Smith was a Black transgender woman who went missing at a time when even the word "transgender" was not widely used or known.
Smith’s transition has also complicated the case, as her family has said she sometimes presented as a man and other times as a woman.
During a June 27, 2019, press conference, Smith’s mother Latasha Dennis implored the public not to get caught up in her child’s gender identity. Instead, Dennis said, people should focus on finding out what happened.
On Thursday, Kochis urged the press to use Smith’s full name, Dashad "Sage" Smith, but he did not elaborate further.
Anyone who has had any contact with McFadden since 2012 is asked to contact the Charlottesville Police Department at (434) 970-3373 or email cpdtips@charlottesville.gov.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com
Be First to Comment