Remains found near Electric Forest festival ID’d as man who vanished in 2018, cops say

UPDATE: Human remains found near the site of the Electric Forest music festival in Rothbury, Michigan, have been identified as Kevin Graves, who disappeared in 2018, authorities say.

The remains, discovered Dec. 30, were positively identified through dental record comparison, Michigan State Police said in a Jan. 2 social media post.

“The cause of death has yet to be determined and may take several months, however there are no indications of foul play at this time,” state police said. “Please keep the family and friends of Kevin Graves in your thoughts during this difficult time.”

Kellie Graves, Kevin Graves’ sister, had mixed emotions about the discovery of her brother’s remains, she told WOOD-TV.

“I don’t know how to feel now,” she told the station. “The closure feels good but, you know, that hope we had that he might turn up one day is gone and it’s very sad and my parents are really struggling. There was that hope and when I had gotten the news I had forgotten my dad said ‘remains’ for a second and I thought that he was just found somewhere up in Northern Michigan.”

The sister said her brother’s wallet and phone were discovered near his remains.

The original story is below.

Human remains have been found near the site of the Electric Forest music festival, where a 28-year-old man disappeared in 2018, Michigan authorities say.

The remains, found Dec. 30 in a “wooded area” of Rothbury, have not been identified, Michigan State Police said in a Dec. 31 statement on X, formerly Twitter.

Authorities said “additional evidence” was recovered at the scene. An autopsy will be conducted to determine the identity of the remains.

Rothbury is the home of Electric Forest, an annual electronic dance music festival where Kevin Graves was last seen in 2018, according to a press release from his family.

He attended the music festival with his girlfriend but went missing after the two got into an argument, a missing person’s flier says.

The Detroit Free Press reported in 2018 that Graves left his campsite, then withdrew $200 from a bank account he shared with his girlfriend. His social media and bank account showed inactivity thereafter.

“The next thing we know, we get a phone call from his girlfriend on the first of July. She says that he went missing,” Gary Graves, the missing man’s father, told WXYZ.

Searches for the missing 28-year-old have come up empty, and the parents have made an annual trip to the popular music festival to distribute fliers and attempt to gather information, according to WXMI.

Kathy Graves, Kevin Graves’ mother, described her son’s disappearance in 2023 as having left “a big hole in (her) heart,” WXYZ reported.

In a Facebook post Jan. 2, the family said it has not received confirmation of the identity of the remains.

“I am waiting to hear for sure what they found,” Gary Graves told WXMI.

Kevin Graves is one of two people missing from Oceana County. The other is Rene Martinez Vazquez, who was 17 when he fled from a refugee resettlement program in 2017, according to a missing person directory.

Rothbury is about a 60-mile drive northwest from Grand Rapids.

This story was originally published January 2, 2025 at 10:57 AM.