Michigan State Police confirmed Thursday that human remains discovered on December 30th, 2024 near the grounds of Electric Forest have been positively identified as Kevin Graves, who was last seen at the festival’s 2018 edition.
Dental records were used to confirm the identity, according to local reports, with assistance from Western Michigan University’s Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine. Investigators collected additional evidence from a “wooded area” near the Double JJ Resort in Rothbury, where the remains were found.
Graves, 28, reportedly disappeared following a verbal altercation with his girlfriend on July 1st, 2018. He had told her that he was going to walk back to their campsite, but was never seen or heard from again.
UPDATE: Detectives from the Michigan State Police (MSP) Hart Post have confirmed that human remains located Monday, December 30, 2024, are that of Kevin Graves, of Highland Township, Oakland County, who was reported missing to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office in 2018 after…
— MSP Sixth District (@mspwestmi) January 2, 2025
The discovery ends a nearly seven-year search by Kevin’s family, who had tirelessly distributed flyers and even erected a billboard near the festival grounds in 2023, pleading for information.
Search efforts after his disappearance in 2018 included a volunteer team combing the area near the festival grounds. However, dense terrain and challenging conditions made the search difficult.
Oakland County Sheriff Department
MSP stated that while the cause of death has yet to be determined, “there are no indications of foul play” at this time. They’ve also asked the public to keep the Graves family in their thoughts during this difficult time.
“At least now we can have a little peace,” Kevin’s father, Gary Graves told FOX 17.
“Now that we have positive identification of the remains at least the family has some closure on where he is and now hopefully the next steps can determine what happened,” added Sheriff Michael Bouchard of Oakland County.
