Erik Tyquan McFadden

McFadden, circa 2012

  • Missing Since 11/23/2012
  • Missing From Charlottesville, Virginia
  • Classification Endangered Missing
  • Sex Male
  • Race Biracial, Black, White
  • Age 21 years old
  • Height and Weight 5'10 - 6'1, 180 - 190 pounds
  • Distinguishing Characteristics Biracial (African-American/Caucasian) male. Black hair, brown eyes.

Details of Disappearance

McFadden was reported missing on June 26, 2019, six and a half years after his disappearance from Charlottesville, Virginia on November 23, 2014. His disappearance may be connected to the disappearance of Dashad "Sage" Smith, a transgender woman whom McFadden knew.

Smith disappeared from Charlottesville on November 20. She and McFadden had been exchanging texts and calls for weeks prior to Smith's disappearance. They had met in person before, and Smith accepted money in exchange from the promise to keep herself a secret from McFadden's girlfriend.

On the day she disappeared, Smith had plans to meet McFadden near the Charlottesville Amtrak station. She has never been heard from again and her disappearance is being investigated as a homicide.

On November 23, McFadden, who lived in Charlottesville and had a job at a paint store, abruptly left town. His girlfriend reported him missing on November 24.

McFadden called the police on November 27 and spoke to them on the phone, saying he was in New York. He said Smith never showed up for their planned meeting and he didn't know what happened to her. When the police told him he should return to Virginia, he hung up on them.

On November 29, McFadden's girlfriend told police he was taking a bus back to Charlottesville and expected the police to pick him up. The next day, however, McFadden's girlfriend said he had changed his mind. He emailed his girlfriend saying Smith had been blackmailing him, threatening to tell the girlfriend they had had sex. He said he did, in fact, meet with Smith on the day of her disappearance, but he did not know what happened to her and that Smith "had a lot of enemies."

The last sign of McFadden was an email he sent to his girlfriend in May 2013, from an untraceable email address. He has not been seen or heard from since.

Investigators interviewed McFadden's mother in June 2019. She said she'd assumed her son's father had filed a missing persons report for him. When she found out this wasn't the case, she filed a report herself, on June 26. Both McFadden's mother and his stepmother believe he may be deceased.

McFadden attended Lincoln University in Oxford, Pennsylvania from 2009 to 2011. He may have traveled to the following places: Baltimore, Maryland; Joppa, Maryland; Lake City, South Carolina; Columbia, South Carolina; Atlanta, Georgia; Rochester New York; New York City; or possibly somewhere on the West Coast.

He is a "critical person of interest" in Smith's disappearance and presumed homicide. Both cases remain unsolved.

Investigating Agency

  • Charlottesville Police Department 434-970-3280

Updated 1 time since October 12, 2004. Last updated June 28, 2019; casefile added.