Florida Non-Profit Pulls Video Falsely Portraying Carina Saunders

The head of a former Florida-based non-profit responds to criticism surrounding a fundraising video that falsely portrays an Oklahoma murder victim.

Out of the Life, Inc. mischaracterized the fate of Carina Saunders, the 19-year-old Mustang woman whose body was found dismembered and stuffed in duffel bags in 2011. The crime remains unsolved.

11/8/2013 Related Story: Legal Action Taken Against Florida Non-Profit Using False Carina Saunders Info.

Out of the Life's founder, Jesse Maley, spoke to News 9 on Monday by phone.

"The video was to create awareness," Maley explained.

Maley said the goal was to expose a problem, the growing threat posed by human traffickers. But Richard Saunders, Carina's father, said Maley and her group only created a problem.

"For these people to use her in this portrayal of a false life lived is wrong," Saunders stated in an interview a week ago.

In the fundraising video, Carina Saunders is presented as one of numerous victims of sex traffickers. Specifically, she's portrayed as "Asia," a prostitute who died when she overdosed on drugs.

News 9 learned about the false portrayal last week and tried on numerous occasions to reach Maley over the phone, through email, as well as through social media. On Friday, an attorney representing the Saunders family issued a cease and desist order, in an effort to have the video taken off line.

A lone response from the anti-trafficking organization explained that Maley was out of the country.

11/5/2013 Related Story: Florida Non-Profit Using False Details About Carina Saunders To Raise Money

On Monday, over the phone, Maley was apologetic, insisting the misrepresentation was unintentional.

"I was telling the stories of my clients," Maley said.

She said she didn't have photos, however, of all of her clients.

"But their stories were too compelling not to tell."

So, Maley says, she and the others producing the video searched an online photo storage site for sex trafficking images. She claims Saunders' picture came up.

There was initial speculation that Saunders may have been caught up in human trafficking, but it was never proven, and investigators have largely abandoned that as a possible motive or factor in the case.

Maley said she wasn't aware of the particulars of Saunders' case, and thought it was fine to use her likeness in the video.

"I assumed they were public use photos," Maley said.

Maley told News 9 the video was made in 2010. But when confronted with the fact that Carina Saunders wasn't murdered until 2011, she backtracked.

"I'm not...I'm not sure when [the project] started," Maley said.

Maley admitted she had not considered it would be wrong to attribute a random picture to another person's life story, until now.

"I want to be more responsible about something like that in the future," Maley stated.

Maley said she immediately pulled the video when she learned of the mistake, and said she plans to write an apology to the Saunders family.

Out of the Life, Inc. is listed as "inactive" on the Florida Department of State's business filing web site. Maley said all money raised through Out of the Life's gofundme.com project will also be returned to the donors.