{"id":20376,"date":"2024-01-16T11:40:12","date_gmt":"2024-01-16T16:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=20376"},"modified":"2024-01-16T12:24:10","modified_gmt":"2024-01-16T17:24:10","slug":"missouri-police-search-for-6-missing-people-who-follow-alleged-social-media-prophet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2024\/01\/missouri-police-search-for-6-missing-people-who-follow-alleged-social-media-prophet","title":{"rendered":"Police Search For 6 Missing People Who Follow Alleged Social Media Prophet"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Missouri police say a group of six people, including two young children, who follow a well-known online spirituality influencer disappeared from the St. Louis area on Aug. 13, 2023. The Berkeley Police Department is searching for Mikayla Thompson, 25, of St. Louis; Naaman Williams, 30, of Washington, D.C.; Gerrielle German, 27, of Horn Lake, Mississippi; 2-year-old Ashton Micthell of Horn Lake; Ma’Kayla Wickerson, 36, of St. Louis; and 3-year-old Malaiyah Wickerson of St. Louis. According to a press release from police, they disappeared from a rental home near Lambert St. Louis Airport.<\/p>\n

Berkeley police said in the release, “The investigation revealed these individuals had become a part of a spiritual cult, and they follow the teachings of a man named Rashad Jamal (White). Rashad Jamal has tens of thousands of followers across multiple social media platforms. It should be noted he was recently convicted of various crimes in the State of Georgia and is serving a lengthy prison sentence.”<\/p>\n

The group was last seen on Aug. 13, 2023, at a Quality Inn Hotel in\u00a0Florissant, Missouri. Police told Fox News Digital that the four missing adults have one thing in common. They all openly follow Rashad Jamal White, a self-proclaimed “prophet” and rapper who created The University of Cosmic Intelligence, an\u00a0online religious group\u00a0with thousands of followers across the United States. A Barrow County judge sentenced Jamal to 18 years in prison in August 2023 after a jury found him guilty of\u00a0child molestation and cruelty to children,\u00a0according to court documents.<\/p>\n

On Aug. 25 of last year, Jamal filed a motion for a new trial, citing “the State’s failure to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” He has nearly 190,000 followers on TikTok, more than 10,000 followers on X and 90,000 followers on Instagram, where he shares videos expressing his beliefs that people are “avatars,” birds are government-operated drones used to spy on civilians, Arizona is a gateway to Africa and the Mississippi River is actually the Nile River, among other claims.<\/p>\n

After publication, several of Jamal’s followers reached out to Fox News Digital insisting upon his innocence, not only in relation to the murder cases, but in Jamal’s molestation case filed in Jackson County, as well.\u00a0Now, Berkeley police are shining new light on Jamal and The University of Cosmic Intelligence as it relates to the disappearances of the six aforementioned people, who originate from different states but met and lived together in St. Louis for a brief period before they vanished.\u00a0Neighbors reported seeing the group of six, including their children, meditating naked in the yard outside their rental home, police told Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n