Calif. Man Vanished in 2017 Under Odd Circumstances — Was His Disappearance Linked to a Religious Group

California authorities are investigating the disappearance of a man linked to a religious group.

Ruben Moreno, 41, was last seen in December 2017 at a residence on the 3900 block of Swarthmore Court in Claremont, where members of the religious group His Way Spirit Led Assemblies lived at the time.

Moreno was residing at the property alongside other group members when he went missing.

Police confirmed that the religious group no longer occupies the residence.

His family reported him missing in August 2019.

“The circumstances surrounding Ruben’s disappearance remain under investigation, and at this time, the Claremont Police Department is not commenting on whether foul play is suspected,” authorities said.

Moreno is not the only person associated with the group to disappear under mysterious circumstances. In May 2023, Emilio Ghanem vanished during a business trip in Southern California, according to ABC7.

Redlands police stated that Ghanem was a former member of His Way Spirit Led Assemblies and worked for their pest control company, per ABC7. Before his disappearance, he had left the group and relocated to Nashville, the report added.

Police revealed that Ghanem had planned to meet a potential client at a Starbucks on the day he disappeared, ABC7 reported.

“A short time later we did get video surveillance of a rental truck he was driving in Grand Terrace, but then that truck also disappeared,” Redlands Police Department spokesperson Karl Baker told ABC7.

In a statement released on August 6, Claremont Police addressed public interest in possible links between the two cases. They noted that “the only known similarity between the two cases are the individuals’ ties to His Way Spirit Led Assemblies. The cases are being investigated separately by their respective agencies.”

Representatives of His Way Spirit Led Assemblies were not available for comment.