When Cartisha Morgan’s daughter said she was going on a “spiritual journey,” she was initially supportive.
But troubling signs soon appeared, namely when Ma'Kayla Wickerson, 25, distanced herself and her 3-year-old daughter Malaiyah from the rest of her family – a decision that Morgan said was unlike anything her daughter had ever done before. “She was so different,” Morgan told USA TODAY. “I didn’t understand.”
While she grew increasingly concerned, Morgan could never have known what they were caught up in.
Police say Ma'Kayla and Malaiyah have vanished, swallowed up with four other people by a "spiritual cult."
Authorities are investigating the disappearances, the alleged cult and possible ties to murders in other states, Missouri police say. Berkeley Police Maj. Steve Runge told USA TODAY he hopes spreading the word will help authorities find the missing alive and well.
In addition to the Wickersons, that includes 24-year-old Mikayla Thompson of St. Louis; 27-year-old Gerrielle German and 3-year-old Ashton Mitchell of Lake Horn, Mississippi; and 29-year-old Naaman Williams of Washington, D.C. They were last seen at a Quality Inn near St. Louis in August.
"There’s been no response from them whatsoever despite multiple attempts," Runge said. “Nobody’s heard anything, the holidays have come and gone, and these people, from speaking with the family members, they can’t believe that their family members wouldn’t reach out.”
Runge says the investigation has not turned up direct evidence that those missing are in imminent danger, and there is “no indication that this is a violent group," but the investigation is ongoing.
The adults are believed to be followers of Rashad Jamal, a convicted child molester who leads "The University of Cosmic Intelligence.” Police described the group as a "spiritual cult," which has some 200,000 subscribers on its YouTube channel and tens of thousands more across other platforms.
Authorities said believers have been active on social media and shared Jamal’s videos, disconnected from family and friends, quit their jobs, meditated outside without clothes and had polygamous relationships.
Morgan said she is holding out hope for her missing loved ones.
"We miss Ma'Kayla and Malaiyah so much," Morgan said. "Faith has been keeping us together as a family ... we still believe that everything's gonna be OK and they're going to come back home safely. I just wish I knew where they were."
Ma'Kayla Wickerson has four siblings and a large extended family who mostly live near St. Louis, where she was born and raised. Her mother said she excelled in school and was always independent.
For years she had lived on her own, but remained in constant contact with family. That changed in late 2022, when Wickerson moved with young Malaiyah into a house in Berkeley, Missouri, and became close with people she had met online, Morgan said.
She slowly withdrew from family, and, in March 2023, things came to a head. Morgan received a call from her daughter's boss, who told her Wickerson had suddenly quit her job. When confronted, Wickerson told her mother she was going to start her own business.
That same month, Morgan dropped by Wickerson's house and saw people she didn't recognize. Wickerson told her mother the people were "her family" and asked that she not come over anymore. Morgan listened, and from then on only drove by the house to make sure things looked "all right," she said. Morgan twice asked authorities to conduct a wellness check, but Wickerson answered all their questions and seemed OK to them, so nothing was done, Morgan said.
Since the group was last seen at the hotel in August, Morgan said she's been plagued by thoughts of what else she could have done for her daughter.
"Now that I look back, she was saying she was overwhelmed and needed a break," Morgan said. "There were signs I should have noticed."
She believes Wickerson suffered from long-term postpartum depression and was vulnerable to online manipulation.
"My granddaughter was her first child and that's overwhelming," she said. "There were probably some things that she was dealing with in silence, too."
The behavior Wickerson's mother described tracks with what authorities have seen from other followers of Jamal. Berkeley police said adherents have quit their jobs, changed their names to "a spiritual God or Goddess" and disconnected from families.
Other behaviors that have been red flags, police say:
Several of those behaviors appear tied to Jamal's teachings in his videos.
Jamal, whose full name is Rashad Jamal White, denied knowing the missing people or being a cult leader in an interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch by phone from a prison in Georgia, where he is serving an 18-year sentence for child molestation and cruelty to children in Georgia, the Post-Dispatch reported. He said the University of Cosmic Intelligence is an online platform he uses to share opinions, much like any social media influencer would.
In University of Cosmic Intelligence videos, Jamal says Black and Latino people are gods and goddesses, while people of other races and ethnicities are not originally from this planet. He also claims the weather is being controlled by weather machines disguised as "5G towers," and that elite families and presidents are "reptilian shapeshifters... who actually eat the blood of the gods."
His website and social media channels promote sales of "crystals," merchandise and rap music videos he also creates.
Jamal describes himself as a "Black activist, scientist, author, philanthropist... working hard to raise the vibration of the collective consciousness."
“I’m just giving you my opinion on a plethora of different subjects: from metaphysics to quantum physics to molecular biology to marine biology to geography to Black history to world history. I’m giving you my opinions on these things,” he told the Post-Dispatch. “That doesn’t make me a cult leader.”
In one of the last conversations Naaman Williams had with his mother, Lukeitta Williams, he told her she was not his mother, just a “shell” that brought him into the universe, police said.
Williams secretly moved to St. Louis after Mikayla Thompson, whom he had met on the internet, drove from her home in the St. Louis area to Washington, D.C., to pick him up. The Berkeley Police Department said in a news release that Williams “began his ‘spiritual journey’ around September of 2022.”
Ivory Hill, one of Thompson’s great aunts, told USA TODAY she and her family are “shocked” by her disappearance. Thompson has a young daughter who is being raised by another great aunt.
“She has a family she loves: a sister, three brothers, a daughter … it’s just so sad to see this happening,” Hill said.
Runge is asking anyone with information, including other law enforcement agencies grappling with similar cases, to contact Berkeley Police.
Vanished6 people disappeared without a trace from a Missouri hotel. Is an online cult involved?