Organization deletes social media post falsely stating Maine athlete had died

The organization that wrongly announced on social media the death of a former Maine athlete has deleted the Facebook post three days after the Bangor Daily News first tried contacting the group.

Baseball for All, a nonprofit organization that supports girls baseball, posted on social media June 28 that Ghazaleh “Oz” Sailors, a standout baseball player at the University of Maine at Presque Isle, had died. It encouraged donations to its new Oz Sailors Baseball Opportunity Fund in her honor. The post was up Thursday morning, but by noon it no longer appeared on the page.

Sailors, who graduated from UMPI in 2015, was listed as director of player development on the Baseball for All staff page as of noon Thursday.

Multiple attempts this week to contact Baseball for All have not been successful.

Two separate online fundraising pages stopped accepting donations at some point between Wednesday and Thursday morning, after the BDN published a story saying Sailors was alive .

On June 5, a GoFundMe social media fundraiser was started by Kristan Hammonds under the title “Support for Oz Sailors.” “My friend, Oz Sailors, was thrown a life-sized curveball and her loved ones need our support,” Hammonds stated.

A sentence was later added that stated: “This gofundme is to help pay for funeral expenses.”

As of Wednesday, the campaign had raised $3,145. On Thursday morning, a message on the page stated, “This fundraiser is no longer accepting donations. If you are the organizer, beneficiary, team member, or donor, sign in to see additional information.”

Another fundraising platform called Spotfund listed a campaign for Sailors’ end-of-life expenses , which as of Thursday had raised $100 of a $5,000 goal. Bekah Good, who identified herself as a friend of Sailors and her family, reported Sailors needed help due to a diagnosis of a terminal brain injury.

A message appeared in the comments on Thursday that the campaign is no longer accepting donations.

The BDN reached Sailors by telephone Tuesday, but she declined to comment.

Aroostook County Sheriff’s Office Commander Forrest Dudley also confirmed on Tuesday that Sailors is alive.

“She does not want people knowing where she is, and she has that right,” Dudley said at the time.

There have been no complaints of fraud shared with the sheriff’s office, Dudley said Thursday.