Community Pulls Together to Find Missing Transgender Teen

A 19-year-old transgender teenager has been missing since Thanksgiving weekend, when she was supposed to show up to her family's house as a surprise but never arrived.

Sage Smith, also known as Dashad Smith, last communicated with family on November 20. Erik McFadden, 21, was supposed to meet Smith that night, C-Ville.com reports. A week later, no one had heard Smith's whereabouts, so locals started to press the Charlottesville, Va., police to put greater efforts in their search for Smith.

Amy Sarah Marshall, the president of Charlottesville's LGBT organization C-ville Pride, said authorities have seemed somewhat dismissive over Smith's case.

"We want to make sure this gets as much attention and value from the community as a whole as any other disappearance would," she said.

Charlottesville Police Chief Tim Longo told concerned citizens during a city council meeting Monday night that authorities are doing all they can to find Smith.

"I see this as a member of mu community who is missing, and nobody knows why," he said. "Where we are in the process, we're really not in a position to share. And that silence, which has meaning and purpose, can sometimes be perceived as disinterest and inaction. That couldn't be farther from the truth."

For more information on the search for Smith, visit Facebook.com/FindSageSmith.

CORRECTION: An earlier report stated that Charlottesville was in West Virginia. It is in Virginia. We regret the error.