GALLATIN, Tenn. (Court TV) — A YouTube content creator who calls herself an investigative journalist has been ordered to stop reporting on the family of a missing 15-year-old boy.
YouTube content creator Andra Griffin, aka Bullhorn Betty, testified at a hearing on Oct. 10, 2024. (Court TV)
Sebastian Rogers disappeared overnight from Hendersonville, Tenn., on Feb. 26 and has not been seen or heard from since. For months, police have said there is no sign of foul play, but they have not found any clues to lead them to the missing teen. Rogers’ biological parents are divorced, and he disappeared from the home he shared with his mother and stepfather, Katie and Chris Proudfoot, as well as Chris’ other children. Police said Katie and Chris, as well as Sebastian’s biological father, Seth Rogers, have been cooperating with the investigation.
Katie and Chris, along with Chris’ parents, have accused YouTube content creator Andra Griffin, aka “Bullhorn Betty,” of stalking and harassing them. At a hearing on Thursday, Sumner County General Sessions Judge Ron Blanton upheld orders of protection for all four adults and Chris’ minor children.
Griffin, who testified at the hearing, identified herself as an “investigative reporter” and submitted to the court a homemade “media ID” that she had created to wear while out recording. In court documents reviewed by Court TV, Griffin is accused of approaching the family across multiple states and encouraging her followers online to harass the family. Chris testified at the hearing that Griffin had threatened to bring a gun from another state, as well as a machete.
Sebastian Rogers has not been seen since Feb. 26. (Tennessee Bureau of Investigation)
Chris’ attorney showed a compilation of Griffin’s videos during the hearing, which featured her asking her followers to get her information about the Proudfoots. In one, she appeared to threaten the family. “I’ve been very calm, very courteous,” Griffin said in one clip. “I was trying to do my job without making a ruckus. But if you want to push me? Honey, I’ll come out with a whole pile of ruckus you guys won’t even know what to do with and your law enforcement will not be able to stop.” When she was asked to clarify what that meant, Griffin said she simply meant that she holds all her protests on public property.
Griffin’s attorney, Terry Frizzell, told the judge, “What I saw here is offensive to me, but I believe Ms. Griffin has a right to make those statements as an American citizen.”
Judge Blanton disagreed, saying, “Somewhere along the line this turned into not a pursuit to find Sebastian Rogers, it turned into a personal vendetta.” While Griffin professed to have come to Tennessee from her home in Florida to assist the search for the teen, “there’s very little testimony by you of what you’ve done, other than harass [the victims],” Blanton said.
Chris and Katie Proudfoot sit in the courtroom during a hearing on Oct. 10, 2024. (Court TV)
As part of the protection order, Griffin is not allowed to have any contact with the families and must complete a firearms declaration. The judge also made explicitly clear that she is not to discuss the family on social media, saying, “These people are basically not in your world anymore.”
An angry Seth Rogers stormed out of the hearing after the order of protection was granted. He spoke to cameras outside of the courtroom, where he blasted the judge’s decision as a blow to free speech. “You’re not allowed to sit there and ask the questions, you know, as somebody would say, the hard questions, and get an answer,” Seth said. Seth, who is a supporter of Griffin’s, also said he remains suspicious of his ex and her family. “They haven’t shed a single tear for my son being missing. They haven’t looked and they’re doing everything they can to stop my son from being found. And if that doesn’t scream, ‘guilt,’ then I don’t know what does.”
Griffin is due to return to court on Nov. 20 for a hearing on charges that she violated the restraining orders six times.
