DAHLONEGA, Ga. -- More details are being released about the man accused of murdering a woman in Kentucky after attending an alternative lifestyles gathering in Georgia.
Authorities in Elizabethtown, Kentucky arrested 20-year-old Joseph Bryan Capstraw.
Capstraw is believed to have murdered the woman in Kentucky after they met at a Rainbow Family of Living Light gathering in Lumpkin County. Each year, the Rainbow Family holds a national festival at a different national park. This year it was at the Chattahoochee National Forest outside of Dahlongea.
11Alive learned Monday that the Jacksonville Beach Police Department in Florida arrested Capstraw in May 2017 for attempted murder. However, that charged was dropped.
Deputies credited social media with helping identify the victim who was last seen hitchhiking with a man she met at an alternative lifestyles gathering. Her name has not been released yet. The young woman was allegedly beaten to death.
According to Lt. Alan Roach of Lumpkin County, the murder happened in Elizabethtown, Ky.
According to the organization's website, the Rainbow Family describes itself as "the largest non-organization of non-members in the world. We have no leaders and no organization."
"The Rainbow Family means different things to different people," the website said. "We're into intentional community building, non-violence, and alternative lifestyles. We also believe that peace and love are a great thing, and there isn't enough of that in this world."
Those a part of the Rainbow Family say they stand for love and not hate or violence.
"We don't condone it, we don't accept it, we work against it, but we are part of the United States and when you invite everyone, you get everyone," said Clem Venson, of the Rainbow Family.
"You can count on one hand the amount of times something like this has happened," Venson said. "We don't have a systemic problem."
Below is a photo that Elizabethtown Police received of Capstraw at the gathering. The people 11Alive talked to about the event said they had never met him.
"Many of our traditions are based on Native American traditions, and we have a strong orientation to take care of the Earth," the website says. "We gather in the National Forests yearly to pray for peace on this planet."
The group held a march on Sunday to call for the release of Rainbow Family members who are being detained by law enforcement. Roach said a permit was issued for the gathering.
"Our family is largely made up of transient people, hitch hikers, people who don't have a home," Venson said. "As a family we look out for each other, we sometimes don't always get it right, but we really try."
