HORN LAKE, Miss. — A Mississippi 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 in the St. Louis area.
Horn Lake police said Gerrielle German and her son Ashton were reported missing by German’s mother in early July.
German’s mother, Shelita Gipson, is frantic and in tears, anxious to know the whereabouts of her daughter and 3-year-old son Ashton Mitchell.
“I just want to know if she’s okay, if the baby is okay, if they need anything,” Gipson said. “Are they cold, are they hungry, is she dead, is she alive? That’s all I need to know. Her choices are her choices and I can’t do anything about her choices.”
According to Gipson, her daughter chose to leave Horn Lake with Ashton in July of 2023 and travel with a friend to Berkeley, Missouri.
“She kept saying, like, she was getting ready to go because she was on this spiritual journey and all these things, and she was kind of acting a little weird,” Gipson said.
Gipson believes that this “spiritual Journey” has some connection to Rashad Jamal, a self-proclaimed new age influencer and prophet with an online cult following on several social media platforms.
Capt. Jody Keene with Horn Lake Police said German’s ex-husband told them his wife left to go on a “spiritual journey.”
Keene said German and the child 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. Neighbors reported seeing members outside the house naked, worshipping the sun.
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.
Police say Rashad Jamal is currently serving an 18-year sentence in Georgia for child molestation.
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.”
Gipson hasn’t spoken to her daughter since last July and said she left behind her 4-year-old daughter.
“All of this is just out of her character. I just, I don’t have no answers. Just, it’s not her,” she said.
Anyone with information about the missing group is asked to contact the Berkeley Police Department at 314-524-3311.
