Akiane Kramarik, the artist known for painting a portrait of Jesus at age 8, says a childhood disappearance in Missouri that triggered a search by family, neighbors and police was actually a journey into another realm.
Kramarik, now 32, described the episode during an appearance on the “Hang Out with Sean Hannity” podcast. She said she was 5 years old and living in Missouri when she vanished for what her parents later told her was roughly six and a half to seven hours.
“My parents told me it was about six and a half, seven hours, something like that,” Kramarik said.
She recalled the panic that followed as her mother searched the house, her brothers looked around the property, and her father was called home. Neighbors, friends and police eventually joined the search, with her photo circulated around town amid fears she may have been kidnapped.
“The police come, their dogs come, everybody is around the whole neighborhood searching for me. I’m missing, and no one knows where,” Kramarik said.
Kramarik described her own perspective during that time as detached from her body, watching the search unfold from above.
“I recall I am in this entire zone, I’m seeing my whole family and all the dogs and all of the police below,” she said. “It’s as if I have like an eagle-eyes perspective.”
She said her body seemed to “zoom out” before everything went dark, and that during the hours she was gone, she experienced what she described as God showing her extraordinary sights and imparting knowledge to her — an experience she said felt longer than the nearly seven hours that had actually passed.
Three years after the disappearance, at age 8, Kramarik painted “Prince of Peace,” the portrait of Jesus that brought her international attention as a child prodigy.
Kramarik said the experience also changed her family. Her parents, who had raised their children without religion, began reconsidering their beliefs afterward.
Her full conversation with Hannity is available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and iHeartRadio.
