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The director of the FBI, Kash Patel, who was kidnapped and taken to Cuba by their transgender biological father and his partner.
"The FBI and our partners acted quickly and saved a child who ended up in Cuba, with the alleged kidnapper father intending to subject the minor to a gender transition," Patel stated.
Who are the people involved in the crime?
Rose Inessa-Ethington, also known as Eri Ethington, 42 years old, and Blue Inessa-Ethington, also known as Carly Ann Crosby, 32 years old, both from Cache County, Utah, are the individuals charged with taking the minor out of the country without the mother's consent.
The court documents indicate that they crossed the Canadian border from the state of Washington and then traveled to Cuba.
How did you proceed to extract the minor from the United States?
A report from the Department of Justice indicates that it all began on March 28, 2026, when the 10-year-old boy set off on a road trip to Calgary, Alberta, Canada, with his biological father, Rose Inessa-Ethington, his partner, Blue, and Blue's 3-year-old child. They were going on vacation. That day marked the last communication with the biological mother to inform her that they had arrived in Canada.
The original plan was never fulfilled. The group didn't even make it to the hotel they had planned in Calgary or to the campsite where they were supposedly going to stay from March 29 to April 2, 2026. Instead, the group left Canada for Mexico.
According to court documents, on March 29, they crossed the border between the United States and Canada and then took a flight from Vancouver to Mexico City. On April 1, 2026, the group took another flight, this time from Mérida, Mexico, to Havana, Cuba.
Mexican immigration authorities verified the entry and exit of the group using their U.S. passports.
The mother was supposed to receive the minor back on April 3, according to the custody agreement issued by a court, but that did not happen. The family's concern grew; they believed that Rose had significantly influenced their child's gender identity and feared that he had been taken to Cuba for gender reassignment surgery before puberty.
On April 13, a state court in Utah ordered the immediate return of the minor and granted sole custody to the biological mother. Three days later, on April 16, Cuban authorities located the group on the island and began collaborating with the FBI for the arrest and deportation of those involved.
Who currently has custody of the minor?
The first assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Utah, Melissa Holyoak, thanked law enforcement for their swift action in returning the minor to her biological mother.
Robert Bohls, the special agent in charge of the FBI office in Salt Lake City, stated that in cases of parental abduction, the priority is always the safety and well-being of the child. He emphasized the collaboration between agencies to locate the victims, facilitate family reunification, and hold individuals accountable.
The rescue operation was described by experts in parental kidnappings as an unprecedented case, given the level of diplomatic and logistical coordination required to recover the minor from Cuban territory.
What was the deportation process from Cuba like?
For the return trip to the United States, a Boeing 757 from the U.S. Department of Justice landed in Cuba to repatriate the minor on a mission that attracted international attention.
Experts in parental kidnapping cases have described the deployment of the U.S. government plane in Havana as unprecedented. "This is strange, highly unusual. I've never heard of anything like this happening," they noted.
The accused appeared before a federal judge in Richmond, Virginia, where they face charges of international kidnapping of minors.
The child was returned safe and sound to his mother in Utah, bringing an end to a situation that kept authorities on edge for days.
The United States Government stated that "this case was presented as part of the Safe Childhood Project, a national initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice."
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