ROTHBURY, Mich.-- The family of a missing man last seen at the Electric Forest Festival has teamed up with a volunteer search group to look for their 28-year-old son.
Kevin Graves was last seen on July 1. The Graves family tells FOX 17 Kevin and his girlfriend Kaela got into an argument at the festival before Kevin said he was going back to his tent but wasn't there later on. His family has since offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to finding Kevin.
On Monday morning, a group called "Shiawassee Search and Rescue" travelled three hours to Rothbury to help the Graves family search the Double JJ Resort grounds, where the Electric Forest Festival was held.
“At this stage, it’s a search and recovery," search manager Ron Adkins tells FOX 17.
Adkins says three days have gone into carefully planning this search.
“We train team leaders so each one of our people can take 10 to 15 people out by themselves and keep them organized and everything like that, so it’ll work out good," Adkins says.
The Shiawassee County group has done searches in every single county in the state of Michigan. In fact, this time last year Adkins says they found the body of a missing man. However, a successful search doesn't always feel that way.
“It’s hard sometimes, you know? But we actually adopted his family, so the family, they’re like our family now," Adkins says.
While Kevin's family holds out hope, the search crew is keeping every possibility in mind.
“If you set your mind to them being alive, you don’t search the same if they were dead so I always assume that they were passed away, especially this late in the game," Adkins says. "It’s been 21 days, so.”
Still, Adkins says it's not his job to judge or determine what exactly happened to Kevin.
“My job is to find them. That’s just how I look at it. It’s what I do," Adkins says.
Kevin Graves is described as 6' tall, 185 pounds, blue eyes, sandy blonde hair and has a "USMC" tattoo on his left shoulder.
Loved ones say he's friendly, considerate and wouldn't just randomly disappear.
Anyone with information on Kevin should call the Oakland County Sheriff's Department at 248-882-4279 or Michigan State Police Hart Post at 231-873-2171 or Mason-Oceana Central Dispatch at 231-869-5858.
