The Cavalier Daily
Serving the University Community Since 1890

Sage Smith search gets new attention on two-year anniversary of disappearance

Family and friends to hold vigil this Thursday

Thursday will mark two years since the disappearance of Charlottesville resident Dashan Smith, a transgender woman known to family and friends as Sage. She would now be 21 years old, and was 5-feet-8-inches tall, 130 pounds at the time of her disappearance.

Smith’s family and friends will host a candlelight vigil in her honor Thursday at 7 p.m. at 731 Orangedale Ave. in Charlottesville.

Friends and family created a Facebook page, “Find Dashad ‘Sage’ Smith,” which community members have filled with messages of hope for her return.

Smith was last seen talking on a cell phone by the intersection of West Main Street and 4th Street NW at 6:30 p.m. on the evening of Nov. 20, 2012. She had left an apartment on Harris Street and was walking to meet an acquaintance, Erik McFadden. The nature of the relationship between Smith and McFadden’s is under investigation.

“We believe they were acquaintances prior to Nov. 20, 2012, but we are not certain what type of relationship they had,” Charlottesville Detective Ron Stayments said. “Phone records from Nov. 20, 2012 indicate there was phone contact with McFadden.”

Phone records indicate Smith’s cell phone communication stopped shortly after her last sighting on West Main Street. McFadden left Charlottesville soon after Smith was reported missing, and despite having told authorities he would be returning to Charlottesville to speak with them the next day. He has not been seen or heard from since.

According to Stayments, the manner in which McFadden left Charlottesville makes him a person of interest “from a law enforcement standpoint.”

“We want to speak with him regarding the investigation,” Stayments said. “It would seem reasonable that if McFadden is not responsible for Sage’s disappearance nor have any information relevant to the case he would simply just come forward and speak with investigators about the facts and circumstances regarding this investigation.”

The reward for information about Sage’s disappearance was recently raised from up to $10,000 to up to $20,000. Late second-year College student Hannah Graham’s disappearance had a reward fund of $20,000 after U.Va. added $10,000 onto the Charlottesville Police Department fund.

“We added $10,000 to the reward fund, bringing it to $20,000, both because we hope to nudge someone into talking and also because to do what we thought we had already done, and that is to offer the same amount in each case,” Stayments said.

Speculation that Smith was attacked for being a transgender woman is under investigation, but Stayments said there is no evidence to support that reasoning at this time.

Comments

Latest Podcast

The University’s Associate Vice Provost for Enrollment and Undergraduate Admission, Greg Roberts, provides listeners with an insight into how the University conducts admissions and the legal subtleties regarding the possible end to the consideration of legacy status.



https://open.spotify.com/episode/02ZWcF1RlqBj7CXLfA49xt