Horn Lake, MS woman and child reported missing after joining online cult

Melissa Moon
·2 min read

MEMPHIS, Tenn. –A Horn Lake woman and her three-year-old son are among at least six people who have been missing for months after reportedly joining an online cult.

Horn Lake police said Gerrielle German and her son Ashton were reported missing by German’s mother in early July.

Police: Online cult members, 2 kids vanish from St. Louis area without a trace

Capt. Jody Keene said German’s ex-husband told them his wife left to go on a spiritual journey.

Keene said German and Ashton Mitchell were last seen in August at a residence in Berkeley, Missouri.

“We have a friend who dropped them off at an address in Berkeley,” said Capt. Keene. “We did obtain her phone records. Her phone was shut off. Showed she made her last two calls in the St. Louis area which is basically near the Berkeley residence.”

WREG’s sister station KTVI in St.Louis said Berkely Police are investigating the disappearance of German and her son along with Ma’Kayla Wickerson, 36, of St. Louis; Ma’kayla’s 3-year-old daughter, Mikayla Thompson, 24, of St. Louis; and Naaman Williams, 29, of Washington, D.C.

Police there told KTVI they believe the group is part of a cult, and they’ve been looking for them for months.

A woman told KTVI her daughter had been manipulated by an online cult led by Rashad Jamal, a self-proclaimed prophet with tens of thousands of followers. He’s serving an 18-year sentence in Georgia for child molestation.

This week, the group Missing People of America posted pictures of the missing people on their Facebook page and referred to Jamal as a self-proclaimed prophet and TikTok influencer.

Horn Lake Police said Berkeley Police are now handling the investigation and also got the FBI involved.

“Just in case there was some sort of human trafficking component to the investigation,” Keene said. “They have been in contact with the mother regarding both Gerrielle German and the son Ashton.”

German and her son are listed on a national database as missing persons.

Anyone with information about the missing group is asked to contact the Berkeley Police Department at 314-524-3311.

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