Classification: Documented

University of Cosmic Intelligence: six missing people and the limits of a connection

An online spiritual community, six people missing in Missouri, and two children still sought. What the records establish and what the link to Rashad Jamal cannot explain.

Berkeley, Missouri, Estados Unidos · See stories from this place and nearby

In August 2023, four adults and two children ceased to be seen in the St. Louis area of Missouri. Their families contacted police. An FBI poster records their names, their last known location, and signs that the people had left their shared home unexpectedly. Investigators found connections to the University of Cosmic Intelligence (UCI), an online spiritual platform created by influencer Rashad Jamal. A shared online interest is a lead. The reason for the disappearance remains unknown.

A university on a screen

Despite its name, the UCI describes itself on its website as an “online university” offering lectures, videos, music, books and merchandise. The site does not describe a conventional academic institution. It addresses Black and Latino people as divine beings and calls Earth “Ki.” This is evidence of how the movement presents itself, not evidence that its cosmic claims are true.

Rashad Jamal, also known as Divine Insight, gathered an audience on social media and at meditation events. His teaching combines esoteric spirituality, ideas of Black self-determination and conspiracy claims about science and government, according to VICE reporting and the UCI's own material. Spiritual practice or a follower's racial identity is not evidence of criminal conduct. The relevant questions concern particular people and the investigation into where they went.

From a spiritual journey to silence

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) interviewed two families. According to the organization, Ma’Kayla Wickerson moved with her daughter Malaiyah to Berkeley, Missouri, in November 2022, calling it a spiritual journey. Gerrielle German and her son Ashton Mitchell came to the same house in July 2023. The grandmothers said calls grew infrequent and then stopped. Their accounts establish the families' concern. They cannot establish the reasons behind every choice the adults made.

Mikayla Thompson and Naaman Williams were also part of the group. The FBI names all six and says the four adults lived with the children in a rented Berkeley house. Reporting based on relatives' interviews described members' interest in spiritual influencers, including Jamal, and posts in which Thompson recommended UCI lectures. The same investigation found a broader spiritual circle rather than a single creator. Describing a formal membership without documentation would erase that distinction.

The last verifiable trail

The FBI poster gives August 6, 2023 as the date the six were last seen together, at a hotel in nearby Florissant. Berkeley police conducted a welfare check at the house on August 12, according to the FBI. There was no sign of forced entry, but there were signs of an unexpected departure. NCMEC describes footage of three of the women at a shop on August 4 and a hotel stay from August 2 to 6. It says there have been no confirmed sightings since they checked out.

Public records differ on a narrower point. NCMEC's narrative places the police visit to the house on August 14, while the FBI poster dates it August 12. Both support the crucial point: there has been no confirmed contact after the Florissant stay. The individual NCMEC posters are separate records too. Malaiyah's lists August 6 as her missing date, while Ashton's lists July 6. For the last sighting of the group as a whole, this dossier follows the FBI document.

Two children and an ongoing search

Malaiyah and Ashton were about three years old when the group disappeared. In 2026, NCMEC released age-progression images to aid recognition and kept their individual missing-child posters active. It interviewed their grandmothers and said local and federal agencies were still investigating. These are valuable records because they offer authorized images and official channels for tips. Age-progressed portraits are estimates, not recent photographs or proof that either child has been seen.

In June 2026, NCMEC again highlighted the case at a public session with a grandmother and a Berkeley investigator. The continuing search contrasts with online speculation that the six have been found or that their location is known. The official materials reviewed for this dossier, as of October 2026, confirm neither claim.

Rashad Jamal and a separate prosecution

In 2023, Rashad Jamal White was convicted in Georgia of child molestation and cruelty to a child. VICE, citing court documents it reviewed, reported a sentence of 18 years in prison followed by 22 years of probation, and an acquittal on another molestation count. This is a real prosecution, but it is not a prosecution for the six disappearances. Jamal denied knowing the missing people and denied being a cult leader. According to VICE, Berkeley investigator Steve Runge said he had no evidence that Jamal directly participated in the disappearance, while examining the online influences the group followed.

Another episode is frequently folded into this story. In August 2022, student Adam Simjee was killed during a robbery attempt in Alabama's Talladega National Forest. The US Department of Justice records a 35-year sentence for Yasmine Hider and a life sentence for Krystal Pinkins. Reporters identified both as followers of Jamal's content. The judicial release assigns responsibility for the crime to the convicted women; it does not establish that the UCI ordered or caused the killing. Jamal's conviction, the Alabama murder and the Missouri disappearances are distinct events. Treating them as one proven operation would go beyond the record.

Where the evidence ends

Documented: six people appear in the FBI notice; the last reported group sighting is August 6, 2023, in Florissant; NCMEC still carries missing-child posters for Malaiyah and Ashton; Jamal and the two women in the Alabama case were convicted in separate proceedings.

Under investigation: where the six went after the hotel, the children's welfare, and whether shared beliefs played any part in the decision to leave.

Not established: that Jamal directed the disappearance, that the group was abducted, that its current location is known, or that the Alabama crimes were part of a UCI plan. This case calls for attention to missing people and the documentary trail rather than a ready-made answer. Anyone with information can use NCMEC's official posters or send a tip to the FBI.

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