Cops: Missing Adults, Kids Joined Child Molester's Cult

Four adults and two children reported missing in Missouri in August are believed to have joined a cult run by a convicted child molester and online guru, police say. Rashad Jamal, born Rashad Jamal White, is serving an 18-year prison sentence in Georgia for child molestation and cruelty to children, according to police in Berkeley. In videos shared with hundreds of thousands of followers online, Jamal claims to be a god and messiah, per NBC News. He teaches crystal healing and the benefits of polygamy and claims elites cast magical spells over cities to create violence, among other things. A website for his organization, dubbed the University of Cosmic Intelligence, claims it's devoted to "ILLUMINATING THE MINDS OF THE CARBONATED BEINGS A.K.A YOUR SO CALLED BLACK & LATINO PEOPLE OF EARTH."

Naaman Williams, 29; Mikayla Thompson, 23; Ma'Kayla Wickerson, 25; Wickerson's 3-year-old daughter, Malaiyah; Gerielle German, 26; and her 3-year-old son, Ashton Mitchell, are thought to have joined the cult, Maj. Steve Runge tells KSDK. All had been living together in a rented house in the St. Louis suburb of Berkeley. A neighbor said she saw members of the group meditating naked in the yard before they all disappeared. They were last seen at a hotel near St. Louis Lambert International Airport. It's unclear where they are now, but investigators say Jamal's followers often disconnect from loved ones, go off the grid, and change their names, per KSDK.

Wickerson's mother, Cartisha Morgan, tells the outlet her daughter was "suffering from postpartum depression" and met people online who "preyed on her weakness." "I would like to know that they're OK so that I can get a good night's sleep," adds German's mother, Shelita Gibson. In an interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jamal denies he's a cult leader and claims not to know the six missing people. "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," he says. He also claims he's innocent of the child molestation charges, which he says stemmed from a child custody dispute. A Change.org petition claims "his wrongful conviction is one of the worst (cases) of racism in our generation." (More missing people stories.)