A 10-year-old child from Utah has been reunited with her biological mother after federal authorities say the child’s transgender parent and partner took her to Cuba without consent, amid family fears of gender reassignment surgery, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Federal authorities allege the child’s biological father, Rose Inessa-Ethington, 42, who also goes by Eri, and the father’s partner, Blue Inessa-Ethington, 32, also known as Carly Ann Crosby, took the child across multiple international borders without the mother’s knowledge or court approval. The case is now at the center of a federal international parental kidnapping case.
The two were found in Cuba on April 16 with FBI assistance and brought back to the U.S. on Monday, where they appeared in federal court in Richmond, Virginia. They are expected to be transferred to Utah, where the case will proceed as they face charges of international parental kidnapping.
According to court documents, on March 29, 2026, the group crossed the U.S. Canada Border and took a flight from Vancouver, Canada to Mexico City, Mexico. On April 1, 2026, the group took another flight from Merida, Mexico to Havana, Cuba. Mexican immigration authorities confirmed their arrival and departures utilizing their U.S. Passports.
As alleged in court documents, interviews with the 10-year-old’s family provided significant concerns for the minor’s well-being, as the child was born male, however, identified as a female child, which family members largely believed to be due to manipulation by Rose. Concerns existed that the child was transported to Cuba for gender reassignment surgery prior to puberty.
On April 13, 2026, a Utah State Court ordered the 10-year-old to be returned to the child’s mother immediately and granted the mother exclusive custody of the child. On April 16, 2026, Cuban law enforcement located the group in Cuba.
“We are grateful to law enforcement for working swiftly to return the child to the biological mother,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa Holyoak for the District of Utah.
“Our priority in every parental kidnapping case is the safety and well-being of the child,” said Special Agent in Charge Robert Bohls of the Salt Lake City FBI. “This case reflects the strength of partnerships in locating victims, supporting reunification, and ensuring accountability.”
The U.S. Department of Justice on April 21 announced the child had been reunited with her biological mother. FBI Director Kash Patel also weighed in on the case, saying agents and their partners “acted quickly and saved a young child who was kidnapped and ended up in Cuba,” adding that the child is now “safely home.”
The trip began March 28, when the child left for what the mother, who shares custody of the child, believed was a camping excursion to Calgary. The next day, the group crossed into Canada on foot through the Peace Arch border crossing in Washington state, but never checked into their hotel or campsite, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah said.
Court filings show the FBI’s Violent Crimes Against Children unit in Salt Lake City investigated Inessa-Ethington and her current partner, Blue Inessa-Ethington. The child, according to the complaint, was assigned male at birth but identifies as female, and had been splitting time between Rose and the child’s biological mother under an existing custody arrangement.
The charges don’t say if the couple actually planned on getting the child gender-affirming surgery in Cuba or how they would get it because that surgery isn’t legal for children in Cuba.
The FBI said that Blue Inessa-Ethington withdrew $10,000 from her checking account before leaving. Agents also found at their home a note with instructions from a mental health therapist in Washington, D.C., “to send the therapist the $10,000.00 and instructions on gender affirming medical care for children.” That note didn’t mention Cuba.
The case is being investigated by the FBI Salt Lake City Field Office. The U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Services and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations in Havana played a key role in recovering the minor victim safely, along with the FBI’s Mexico City Law Enforcement Attache Office.
Assistant United States Attorney Carlos Esqueda for the District of Utah is prosecuting the case. Prosecutors say the case is being brought as part of the Justice Department’s Project Safe Childhood initiative, a nationwide effort launched in 2006 to combat child exploitation and better coordinate resources to locate victims and prosecute those who endanger them.
The use of the Department of Justice plane in a parental kidnapping investigation comes after the Trump administration sought to block access to gender-affirming care for minors and pressured health care providers over the issue.
