The Trump administration took the extraordinary step of sending a U.S. government aircraft to Cuba to recover a 10-year-old American child at the center of a disturbing custody battle involving gender identity and plans for medical transition.

According to court filings and a DOJ announcement, 42-year-old Rose Inessa-Ethington, the child's biological father, who identifies as a transgender woman and previously went by Eri Ethington, along with partner Blue Inessa-Ethington, 32, took the 10-year-old boy (and reportedly Blue's 3-year-old child) under false pretenses during what was supposed to be a family camping trip to Canada.

Instead, the pair allegedly fled to Mexico and then on to Havana, Cuba, with $10,000 in cash, raising immediate alarms that the boy was being transported for "gender reassignment surgery prior to puberty."

A Utah court had already granted the biological mother, identified as "LB," exclusive custody and ordered the immediate return of the child. But the trans couple ignored the ruling and went on the run.

The FBI, under the Trump administration's direction, coordinated with Cuban authorities, who actually assisted in locating and arresting the pair on April 16, and sent a Department of Justice Boeing 757 directly to Cuba on Monday to bring the boy home safely. He has now been reunited with his biological mother.

The two suspects face federal charges of international parental kidnapping.

The DOJ announcement reads:

Two Utah persons are in federal custody and charged in a federal criminal complaint of International Parental Kidnapping. The pair is accused of allegedly skipping out on a planned camping trip to Canada with a shared custody child and instead took the 10-year-old to Havana, Cuba, without the biological mother's knowledge or court approval.

Rose Inessa-Ethington aka Eri Ethington, 42, and Blue Inessa-Ethington, aka Carly Ann Crosby, 32, both of Cache County, Utah, were deported from Cuba on Monday with the assistance of the FBI.

Upon landing in the United States, the two defendants appeared in court for an arraignment in Richmond, Virginia, and will be transported to the District of Utah at a later date for the remainder of their court case at the Orrin G. Hatch United States District Courthouse in downtown Salt Lake City.

According to court documents, on March 28, 2026, a 10-year-old child was supposed to be traveling by car to Calgary in Alberta, Canada, for a planned camping trip with the minor victim's biological father Rose Inessa-Ethington, Rose's partner Blue and Blue's 3-year-old child.