Police in Berkeley, Missouri, are searching for six individuals, including two children, who went missing in August 2023. Some of the victims’ family members believe their disappearance is in connection to an alleged online cult run by a spiritual social influencer and convicted child molester.
According to Missing People in America, the missing persons whom the Berkeley Police Department is looking for include 25-year-old Mikayla Thompson of St. Louis, Missouri; 30-year-old Naaman Williams of Washington, D.C., 27-year-old Gerrielle German of Lake Horn, Mississippi, Ashton Mitchell, 2, of Lake Horn (German’s son), 26-year-old Ma’Kayla Wickerson of St. Louis, Missouri; and her daughter Malaiyah Wickerson, 3, of St. Louis.
All six were publicly spotted at a Quality Inn Hotel in Florissant, Missouri, on Aug. 13, 2023. But police revealed they disappeared after staying at a rental home near Lambert St. Louis Airport.
Police released a photo capturing four from the group, including Williams and one of the minor children, seemingly meditating in the grass.
Neighbors have reported to police seeing some of the missing people worshipping the sun while naked outside.
They also noted how the group members drastically disconnected from their family and friends and quit their jobs, a pattern police recognize as common cult behavior.
Additionally, cult members unplug from societal norms and go by aliases. Williams reportedly referred to himself as Anubis Aramean.
Berkeley police detected a common thread among Thompson, German, and Ma’Kayla — they followed spiritual influencer, rapper, and convicted child molester Rashad Jamal (White). In an interview with WJTV, German’s mother recalled her daughter deciding to leave Horn Lake with her son, Ashton, in July 2023 to travel with a companion to Berkeley.
“She kept saying, like, she was getting ready to go because she was on this spiritual journey and all these things, and she was kind of acting a little weird,” the 27-year-old’s mother, Shelita Gipson, said.
Gipson believes Jamal, a self-proclaimed prophet and the founder of the University of Cosmic Intelligence (UCI), and his cult had something to do with her disappearance. But Gipson isn’t focused on her daughter’s decision to join a cult; she just wants to know if her baby girl and grandchild are okay.
“Are they cold? Are they hungry? Is she dead? Is she alive? That’s all I need to know,” Gipson exclaimed. “Her choices are her choices, and I can’t do anything about her choices.”
Jamal amassed a large social media following on TikTok, X (10.8K), and Instagram (92.3K) with his ludicrous (and outdated) beliefs about people being “avatars,” the birds are government-operated drones, the Mississippi River is the Nile river, NBA players are synthetic robots, Blacks and Latinos being gods and goddesses and the government controlling the weather.
Amid his gaining support, a Georgia judge sentenced Jamal to 18 years in prison on charges of child molestation and cruelty to children. Jamal received an additional 22 years of probation. His conviction stemmed from his abuse of the son of his ex-lover, Darshell Smith, who reported his abuse to the police and was subject to threats and harassment from his followers.
Jamal’s followers have reportedly been arrested. Follower Jasmine Hider was accused of shooting a motorist, Adam Simjee, at an Alabama state park during a confrontation in August 2022.
Another follower, Krystal Pinkins, witnessed the shooting from the woods and fled. Both are behind bars.
