Did missing partygoer join a 'CULT' that sells energy bars, granola and soap? Fears Michigan man, 28, who went missing from music festival has joined a Christian sect that 'recruits drunk and stoned youths at concerts'
- Kevin Graves, 28, of Highland Township has been missing since early July
- He was last seen at Electric Forest music festival in Rothbury
- Graves' family has launched a desperate search for him using the internet
- Tips from people who were at the festival have poured in
- Some say Graves may have ended up with Christian sect known as Twelve Tribes
- Secretive group has been branded a 'racist and misogynistic' cult
The family of a Michigan man who disappeared from a music festival three months ago believes he may have joined a cult.
Kevin Graves, 28, of Highland Township went missing after he attended the Electric Forest music festival in Rothbury in July.
Investigators with knowledge of the case and one person who was with him at the festival believe that he is still alive, according to MLive.com.
‘It's hard for us to believe, because he's not the type of person to just up and disappear that way,’ said his sister Kellie Farley.
Kevin Graves, 28, of Highland Township went missing after he attended the Electric Forest music festival in Rothbury in July
Investigators with knowledge of the case and one person who was with him at the festival believe that he is still alive
Graves' sister said her brother, a mechanic, was on good terms with his family the day he disappeared. ‘Everything is good,’ he texted to Farley on July 1 - the last time there was communication. ‘I love you the most’
Farley, 34, has been searching for her brother using the internet.
She says scores of people have left messages saying that it’s possible Graves joined a secretive religious group known as Twelve Tribes.
The group is a Christian sect that is reported to recruit new members at concerts and music festivals.
Twelve Tribes reportedly targets young people who are either inebriated or under the influence of other drugs, according to The New Yorker.
The group has been known to seek new recruits at Bob Dylan and Grateful Dead concerts.
Twelve Tribes is said to travel around a double-decker brown and white bus known as Peacemaker.
The sect, which has been branded a ‘cult,’ has been accused of indoctrinating its members with racist and misogynistic beliefs.
In June officials in New York state announced they were opening an investigation after a video emerged showing a six-year-old boy picking potatoes at an upstate farm run by Twelve Tribes.
Tipsters who were at the music festival have told his family that they believe Graves may have ended up with Twelve Tribes, a Christian sect that is reported to seek new recruits at music concerts. The group is known to operate double-decker buses like those seen above
The video also allegedly showed other young children being put to work at a cosmetics factory operated by members of the sect.
Michigan police say that as of yet they have seen no evidence to indicate that Graves has joined Twelve Tribes.
Twelve Tribes operates Bear Creek Farm, a small commune and organic commercial farm in Marshall, Michigan that sells energy bars, granola, and soaps.
‘People had messaged me that were at the festival and said, “Oh, yeah, I saw one of those (buses) up there”,’ Farley said.
‘My gut was like, this is it.’
Farley said she researched Twelve Tribes and contacted an ‘extremely nice gentleman’ who said he was based in Denver.
According to Farley, the man called around other Twelve Tribes communities and said that nobody with Graves’ name turned up.
A Twelve Tribes member reached by MLive.com told the site: ‘Just so you know, when people come in, they don't disappear off the face of the Earth.
‘They can communicate with their relatives.’
Farley was initially of the opinion that the Twelve Tribes group may provide a clue as to her brother’s whereabouts, but now she is not sure.
She said her brother, a mechanic, was on good terms with his family the day he disappeared.
‘Everything is good,’ he texted to Farley on July 1 - the last time there was communication.
‘I love you the most.’
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