Missouri’s Cosmic Cult Disappearance: Unraveling the Enigmatic Vanishing of Six Members

Authorities in Missouri are intensifying their search for several local residents who have been unaccounted for since July. Investigations have suggested that the missing individuals may be connected to a group described as a ‘cult.’

The Berkeley Police Department is actively investigating the disappearance of four adults and two children, who vanished under mysterious circumstances. It has emerged that they might be linked to an online cult known as the ‘University of Cosmic Intelligence.’

The missing individuals include 28-year-old Ma’Kayla Wickerson and her five-year-old daughter Malaiyah, 30-year-old Gerielle German and her five-year-old son Ashton Mitchell, 32-year-old Naaman Williams, and Wickerson’s cousin, 27-year-old Mikayla Thompson. Their disappearance occurred in 2024.

The group was last seen leaving Wickerson’s rental home near St. Louis Lambert International Airport, with their final known location being a nearby motel.

“There’s no footprint whatsoever, no current digital footprint,” Major Steve Runge of the Berkeley Police Department informed Fox News, highlighting the challenges faced by investigators in tracking down the missing group.

‘We’re trying to find any lead. Common places they went, rental cars, phone records out of state, out of the country, trying to find any ties to give us a lead as to where they are.’

Rashad Jamal White – known as Rashad Jamal to his followers – leads the University of Cosmic Intelligence cult that preaches to African Americans and Latinos and believes they are the natural earthly beings, not white people. 

He claimed around that time through a jailhouse phone call that he, Blacks and Latinos, are ‘gods.’ 

The Berkeley Police Department are still searching for four adults and two children who mysteriously vanished, as ties to an online cult called the ‘University of Cosmic Intelligence’ have been discovered

Ma’Kayla Wickerson, 28, and her five-year-old daughter Malaiyah, Gerielle German, 30, and her five-year-old-son Ashton Mitchell, Naaman Williams, 32, and Wickerson’s cousin, 27-year-old Mikayla Thompson, all went missing in 2024

The University of Cosmic Intelligence leader Rashad Jamal White – who goes by Rashad Jamal to his followers is currently serving an 18-year sentence for child molestation and child cruelty

Jamal denied being a cult leader to the St Louis Post-Dispatch or of knowing the missing six people. 

He believed that he had ‘a target on my back’ by police after he learned of their disappearance from TV reports. 

‘I am pretty sure I have never met these people,’ he told the outlet. 

‘I get on my phone and I give a lecture. I go live, and then I get off the phone. I do not know the people that are in my live[stream]. It’s too many people.’

Police have continued investigating the group’s disappearance, and discovered new evidence leading them to believe the group were involved in the cult. 

‘We recovered a diary from one of the people that went missing, and the writings in that diary are something you would see with brainwashing, just repetitive, I am a god, I am a god, I am a god,’ Runge told the outlet. 

Runge described the cult’s beliefs as ‘very off the grid stuff,’ and added: ‘How to prepare for doomsday. A lot of it, the end of the world is coming. And they had a very solid belief that we’re not from here. We’re not from this planet.’ 

A new lead also emerged on TikTok, which Runge described as ‘very promising,’ after someone may have spotted Wickerson.

The group of six had been exhibiting strange behavior before their disappearance, including hanging out on the roof naked and worshipping the sun, neighbors said

Currently, the lead is being investigated and remains unconfirmed.  

The leader, Jamal,  garnered thousands of followers as part of the online cult and is currently serving an 18-year-sentence in Georgia for child molestation and child cruelty, Fox News reported. 

The group of six who went missing had been exhibiting strange behavior before their disappearance, including hanging out on the roof naked, neighbors said. 

‘Neighbors reported seeing these people outside daily, worshipping the sun,’ Runge told the outlet. 

‘When it was raining, they would come outside naked and run around the yard. They were digging up things in the yard.’

Other neighbors reported witnessing the group ‘sitting outside in tall grass with their palms upward on sunny days,’ hugging trees and burying coins. 

Runge told the outlet that the ‘cult’ is an anti-government group who believe in polygamy and encourages members to go off the grid. 

Cartisha Morgan, Wickerson’s mom, told Fox News that she hadn’t heard from her daughter, or her granddaughter, since March 2024. 

Cartisha Morgan, Wickerson’s mom, said that she hadn’t heard from her daughter, or her granddaughter, since March 2024

Jamal denied being a cult leader to the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch or knowing the missing six people. He believed that he had ‘a target on my back’ by police 

‘I was trying to let them know that something was not right,’ Morgan told the outlet, as she recalled calling for welfare checks and child protective services to intervene. 

‘She doesn’t usually do things like this. She’s usually very family-oriented. So for her to cut off everybody, quit her job, leave all her belongings behind is not the norm.’

Detective Sergeant George Ervin told the outlet: ‘I know that it seems like some stuff you’d see fresh out of a movie in Hollywood, but this is real life. These people are missing.’

In 2022, three alleged members of the same ‘cult’ were accused of two separate murders in Alabama. 

Damien Winslow Washam was accused of killing his 61-year-old mother with a sword and injuring his disabled uncle and brother.

In September 2023, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity, Fox News reported. 

Damien Winslow Washam was found not guilty by insanity for the murder of his mother with a sword and injuring his disabled uncle and brother 

Krystal Diane Pinkins, 36 (left) and Yasmine Hider, 20, (right) were sentenced to jail for murder

Krystal Diane Pinkins and Yasmine Hider were accused of murdering 22-year-old Adam Simjee of Apopka, Florida, when he tried to help them with their car. 

Hider was sentenced to 35 years in prison after pleading guilty to murder, kidnapping, and robbery in October 2023, according to the Northern District of Alabama US Attorney’s Office.

Pinkins was sentenced to life in prison, after being convicted of murder, robbery, and unlawful use of a firearm during a crime of violence in September 2023.