A half-dozen persons reported missing in Missouri in August are suspected to have been drawn into a cult run by a convicted child abuser, according to authorities.
Rashad Jamal, the cult’s leader, is serving an 18-year jail sentence in Georgia after being convicted in August of one act of child molestation and one count of cruelty to children, according to Berkeley police.
Berkeley Police Department According to Maj. Steve Runge of NBC affiliate KSDK in St. Louis, authorities suspect the missing six have become followers of Jamal, a former rapper-turned-online guru who runs the University of Cosmic Intelligence.
On his website, he states that it is “GEARED TOWARDS ENLIGHTENING AND ILLUMINATING THE MINDS OF THE CARBONATED BEINGS A.K.A YOUR SO-CALLED BLACK & LATINO PEOPLE OF EARTH.”
“I just want to know they’re okay so I can get a good night’s sleep,” Shelita Gibson, whose daughter and grandson are among the missing, told KSDK. “I would like to know they’re not hungry, they’re not cold, that no one is making her do things that she would have to pay for in the long run.”
According to authorities, Gibson’s daughter, Gabrielle German, 26, and 3-year-old grandson, Ashton Mitchell, were last seen with the four other missing persons in August at a Quality Inn near St. Louis Lambert International Airport.
The four others — Naaman Williams, 29, Mikayla Thompson, 23, Ma’Kayla Wickerson, 25, and her three-year-old daughter, Malaiyah — were all living in a rented property in Berkeley before they vanished, according to authorities.
Wickerson’s mother, Cartisha Morgan, told KSDK that she hasn’t spoken to her daughter since August. She claims her daughter is “suffering from postpartum depression.”
“Meeting these people online, and they just preyed on her weakness,” Morgan was quoted as saying.
Jamal denied being a cult leader in a recent jailhouse interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, despite the fact that in videos with over 200,000 views, he frequently refers to himself as a deity, a prophet, or a messiah.
Jamal, who said he was an innocent guy and that the molestation allegations were the result of a child custody dispute, also denied knowing the six persons who vanished from a St. Louis suburb.
“I am pretty sure I have never met these people,” he told the tabloid. “I pick up the phone and give a lecture.” I go live and then hang up the phone. I’m not familiar with the folks on my live[stream]. There are far too many people.”