Lonn Hartman of Auburn Hills was brutally wounded and suffered neck injuries at a Blissfest campsite over the weekend. The family demands answers while the attack remains under investigation.
Traumatic Attack: Lonn Hartman has been hospitalized and underwent surgery for serious injuries.(Photo/Courtesy of the Family)
At approximately 8:30 a.m. on July 12, during the closing day of Blissfest Music Festival in Emmet County, 37-year-old Darryl “Lonn” Hartman was found unresponsive, lying facedown in the open doorway of his tent in the festival campground.
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He had been stripped completely naked. His neck lacerated twice. His body had already lost 8 pints of blood.
Yet strangely, most of that blood discovered at the scene, had been somehow dried or absorbed. Security would later find a blood-soaked towel, discarded in a different area of the festival.
Hartman is currently being treated for his injuries by medical professionals and has undergone emergency surgery to his neck.
Hartman in the hospital (Courtesy Photo)
Multiple witness accounts state that around the hour of 4 a.m., they heard loud grunts and groans, but brushed it off.
Another attendee who camped on grounds overnight reported hearing blood-curling screams, coming from within the campground. This was also clocked at approximately 4 a.m.
Later in that morning, bystanders reported seeing Hartman in the early morning hours, stumbling out of his tent, apparently naked, and managing to make it only a few feet before collapsing to the ground.
An official police statement from the Emmet County Sheriff’s Department indicates only that the case is still under investigation.
While the family has made repeated efforts to request updates on the ongoing investigation, by phone and in person, those attempts were quickly and quietly shut down.
When they visited the Emmet County Sheriff’s office in-person, all doors had been locked during the middle of business hours by 2 p.m.
Multiple efforts by the family to contact Blissfest officials for further details have gone unanswered, they say. Official Blissfest social media accounts have turned off all comments and tagging visibility.
Blissfest did post the following statement on Facebook on Friday: “We are deeply saddened to share that on the morning of Sunday, July 12, a serious medical incident was reported in the Blissfest campground that required an emergency response.
Blissfest works collaboratively with Emmet County EMS, RFC Fire & Rescue, the Emmet County Sheriff’s Department, and the Office of Emergency Management throughout the year to prepare for emergencies of this nature. We all share a commitment to prioritizing safety during the festival and appreciate the prompt and professional response rendered by all parties.
Out of respect for the privacy of those involved and the ongoing investigation, we are unable to provide additional details at this time. Our thoughts and heartfelt condolences are with the individual involved, their family, and their friends during this incredibly difficult time.”
Terace E.C. Garnier has known Hartman since the 9th grade, when the pair forged a strong friendship between studies.
As an independent journalist by vocation, Garnier became one of the first to sound the alarm on social media about the events that occurred during and after the festival.
“Obviously, someone getting their head almost cut off is not a medical emergency in the same way as a heart attack. He was violently attacked. And the festival is actively trying to cover this up,” says Garnier over the phone on Tuesday.
“They’re actively dodging us. They won’t return our calls. They lied in their official statements, saying they have been in contact with the family, when in reality they have not. We even showed up at their office. They requested we write them a letter. We did everything they asked. We showed up at their office, wrote them a letter, put it in their mailbox, and let security know. Nothing. Crickets.”
The Campsite (Courtesy Photo)
The day unfolded as many summer festivals do: with a calm and unhurried pace. Attendees slowly emerged from their tents. Methodically packed their belongings. Folded clothes and tapestries. Lit camp stoves for breakfast.
Soon enough a sequence of unsettling discoveries would send an undercurrent of unease through the campground.
One witness, who was camped directly across a footpath from where Hartman was camped, remembers the exact moment that word of an emergency began circulating around camp.
Standing outside their own tent canopy while making coffee, “I started to hear some vague concerns about one of my camp neighbors, but nothing sounded serious or urgent. Just a debate over whether or not they should open up his tent to check on him,” the witness reported.
When they peeled back the doorway to his tent, it revealed Hartman, unconscious, severely injured, but still breathing. Commotion quickly followed. 911 was called, an ambulance summoned. Spectators flagged down any nearby volunteers or security.
“It was clear that no one really knew Lonn that well at all. The people nearby had to ask around to even find out his first name to relay to staff and medics.”
When an ambulance arrived, Hartman was lifted from his tent, onto a cot, and placed into a designated Blissfest vehicle to be transported to meet the ambulance at the gates.
Once the Emmet County Sheriff’s Department arrived, officers cleared foot traffic from the immediate area and blocked the pedestrian walkway with their patrol cars. They taped off the perimeter surrounding Hartman’s tent.
Witnesses say that law enforcement remained on-scene and active until the mid-afternoon. They questioned multiple festival-goers and searched the area. They carefully disassembled Hartman’s tent into various pieces that were then marked and bagged as evidence.
Police left the festival grounds around 4 p.m. Sunday. Meanwhile, performances and workshops continued to take place as scheduled for the remainder of the day.
“They say they’re all about love and unity, brotherhood and community, yet when something awful happens to one of their own people, it’s brushed under the rug,” says Garnier.
“They obviously do not care if they allowed this to happen. A person was seriously hurt and they didn’t even alert others at the festival about the possibility of there being be a killer amongst them. They’ve now placed their own attendees in danger. They didn’t care. And they still don’t. They’ve yet to contact the family, even after falsely claiming that they had.”
Selfie: Hartman took this photo on Saturday night before the attack. (Courtesy Photo)
Hartman departed his home in Auburn Hills on July 10 to attend Blissfest, located north of Harbor Springs. He attended the festival for the first time in 2025.
He returned again this year, this time with a dance partner. The pair were set to perform a duo routine on two separate occasions that weekend. First on Friday night, then Saturday night.
Following their Saturday evening performance, Lonn told his group around 8 p.m. that he was tired and didn’t get enough sleep the last two nights. He was going to get some rest, so he started back towards his campsite.
Hartman also sent a photo of himself to Garnier late Saturday night. A simple selfie where he’s pictured smiling and lying in bed fully clothed — several hours before he was found.
Local Spins was referred to a media representative when it contacted Blissfest, but there was no immediate response.
Blissfest — founded in 1981 — attracts about 5,000 attendees every year at a festival site near Cross Village, long regarded as one of the state’s most beloved music celebrations, taking place amid what’s generally been considered a safe community and family-friendly environment.
News of the attack came just a few weeks after another high-profile incident at a Michigan music festival. The body of a newborn infant was found in a portable toilet at Electric Forest in Rothbury near the end of the festival that took place July 25-28. That investigation remains ongoing.
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