ROTHBURY, Mich. — Tens of thousands of music fans are in Rothbury this weekend, for the Electric Forest Festival. But Electric Forest's return, brings sadness for one family.
Kevin Graves disappeared from Electric Forest on July 1, 2018.
Almost four years to the day, his family made the trip to Rothbury from Howell, holding out hope they'll finally get some closure.
"It was a hard trip," says Gary Graves, Kevin's father. "Very hard trip."
Graves hasn't been here since 2019.
"I got up here, brought back a lot of bad memories," says Graves.
But it's worth it to find his son, who Graves says was always good to him.
"He'd drop whatever he was doing and come and help me." he remembers. "That's type of kid he was."
He last saw Kevin in 2018 before he left for Electric Forest. When Kevin's girlfriend called to say he was missing, he says something felt off.
"There's just too many things that didn't seem right with this whole situation," says Graves.
Each festival since, they've come back to hand out fliers and ask for information on their son's disappearance.
The family previously had help from a search and rescue leader, however that changed during the pandemic.
"They got COVID and passed," explains Graves. "So his team, more or less, nobody was able to take it over."
Now, in 2022, they're doing it on their own.
The Michigan State Police turned the investigation over to the Oakland County Sheriff's Office.
"Oakland County was where he was living with his girlfriend," says Graves.
But he also says not much has been done.
"We don't usually hear anything from them unless we call and start complaining," says Graves.
And for the first time since they started coming to Electric Forest, event organizers asked them to leave the grounds.
"They said we're causing, what do they call it? Bad PR or whatever," says Graves.
After four years, he says his wife still holds out hope Kevin is alive.
"Myself, I feel he's somewhere out there in that forest somewhere," says Graves. "I think he's buried."
For information in the case, the family offers a $10,000 reward.
Money, Graves says, is no object.
"You can't buy the love that we're missing," he says.
And if Kevin is still alive somewhere, all the family wants is to see him safe.
"Nobody will look down on you for what happened and why you left or anything," says Graves. "We want you back home. We all love you."
13 ON YOUR SIDE attempted to contact the Oakland County Sheriff's Office on Friday regarding the state of the investigation, but did not receive a response.
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