Remains found near Michigan music fest site, 6 years after fan disappeared

ROTHBURY, MI — Authorities are trying to identify human remains discovered near the site of an annual music festival in northern Michigan, the same area where a Detroit-area man disappeared while attending the 2018 event.

“A positive identification of the remains cannot be made at this time pending autopsy results and further investigation,” said state police on X.

Investigators were dispatched Monday to a wooded area near Rothbury in Oceana County, the site of the popular Electric Forest music festival. Forensic anthropologists from Western Michigan University also joined the effort.

State police have not offered an update since Tuesday.

Kevin Graves, 28, was last seen in Electric Forest in 2018. After some tension with a girlfriend, he said he returned to his tent, investigators said.

At the time, the police searched with dogs and dozens of volunteers, while divers checked the lakes in the area. By 2023, a billboard with Graves’ photo called on festival visitors to call the police if they have any tips.

“Whatever it takes,” his father, Gary Graves, said at the time. “I don’t care if I go bankrupt. I will continue to do my best.”