Michele, Sage’s mother, told Reduxx that she believes that her daughter was groomed online by adults who used the concept of a gender identity to get close to her, promising that they would be her new “family.” She says Sage had met the adults, who were posing as children, via Instagram and Snapchat.
Just over a week after running away from home, Sage was located by the FBI.
She had been sexually exploited by an adult man she had met over social media and who believed her to be 16. A Virginia man had picked her up and transported her to Washington, DC. When she arrived in DC, the two men took her to Maryland, telling her she’d be going to stay with their family. Upon arrival, Sage was sexually abused repeatedly.
But when Michele and Roger arrived at the detention center where their daughter was being held, they were told they would not be allowed to see their child.
Instead, they were required to appear in court that same afternoon, as they were being investigated for child abuse over alleged “misgendering.”
Michele and Roger would later discover that the investigation had been requested by the public defender, who had contacted two school counselors to testify against them. The counselors would argue that Sage should not be returned to her home due to a lack of a sufficiently “gender affirming” environment.
Pending the outcome of the investigation, Sage was initially held in juvenile detention. During a second hearing, Michele pleaded for her daughter to be placed in a more comfortable environment. Instead, the state transferred Sage to the boy’s ward of a Children’s Home in Maryland on September 6.
The only girl in a male unit, Sage was again sexually abused by boys in the Children’s Home and was relocated to a private room within the boys’ section.
On November 9, a Maryland judge finally ruled for the state to release Sage back to her family in Virginia. However, this decision was immediately appealed by the juvenile attorney representing the girl for the state who wanted Sage placed in a foster home, again on the basis of protecting her “gender identity,” bolstered by a claim of ostensibly abusive “misgendering.”
Three days later, Sage was reported missing for a second time.
“Sage had been sent by another predator from Maryland to Dallas, Texas,” Michele recounted. “This man held her there in a locked room and used her for pornography, sold her body for money, starved her, beat her, and drugged her.”
Ultimately, it was a tip from one of Sage’s Instagram friends led to her recovery. Using a photo sent to him by the teen, a Texas Marshall was able to ascertain her whereabouts.
The Blairs were finally reunited with Sage in Dallas on January 24, 2022.
Little more than two weeks later, Michele took her daughter to North Springs Behavioral Healthcare Center, a facility that specializes in the treatment of psychological distress and trauma in children and teens. Michele says that while an inpatient at the Center, counselors continued to try and “affirm” Sage’s “gender” despite the fact she said she no longer identified as a boy.
It is very sad. What I don’t understand is why the parents haven’t filed a complaint with the State, since it breached its duty to protect her while in custody.
Es desolador. Lo que no entiendo es por qué los padres no han planteado una querella al Estado, ya que incumplió su deber de protegerla estando en custodia.