Local News

A Black man was found dead after he told his mother he was being chased. Police said there’s ‘no reason’ to suspect foul play.

After local officials declared they had “no basis” to suspect foul play in the guy’s murder, the family of a Black man who was discovered dead in Mississippi after warning his mother that he was being pursued by white men shouting racist slurs urged a federal probe on Monday.

Rasheem Carter, 25, was reported missing on October 2 after calling the police for assistance and anxiously calling his mother to claim that three white vehicles were chasing him. The last time Carter’s family heard from him was on that day.

His remains were reportedly discovered on Nov. 2 in a forested region south of Taylorsville, Mississippi, according to officials. A day later, the Smith County Sheriff’s Department released a post on Facebook claiming there was “no cause to assume foul play was involved,” despite the fact that the matter was still being looked into.

Carter’s family and lawyer Ben Crump attacked the local government on Monday, claiming they think Carter was the victim of a horrible hate crime and that they were stonewalled for more than four months. “This was a wicked deed. This was a bad deed, “At a press conference, Crump added. “We cannot allow whoever killed Rasheem Carter to escape punishment.”

When he unveiled images of Carter’s skeletal remains, including his skull and several vertebrae, Crump urged the Justice Department to take up the investigation as a civil rights matter. Crump declared, “This was not a natural death. “This is a picture of a dead young man.” Carter’s spinal cord was discovered in a different position from his head, according to Crump, who told reporters that he thinks Carter’s head was severed from his body.

“This is not natural in any way. Justice is demanded,” Crump stated. “What we have here is a lynching in Mississippi.” The top and bottom rows of Carter’s front teeth were gone, which, according to Carter’s relatives, may have been a sign of an attack before his passing.

Authorities’ original decision that no foul play was suspected or what motivated them to examine the forested area is both unknown. Requests for comment from the Smith County Sheriff’s Department went unanswered.

Carter’s family requested assistance early on, and the Laurel Police Department, which filed the missing person’s report, began working on the case, according to Chief Tommy Cox of NBC News. Cox, however, said that Carter had not sought his department’s assistance prior to going missing and that the Laurel Police Department turned over their investigation to Smith County after it became evident that it was outside its purview.

Cox declined to provide any details, only stating that his agency had reviewed certain phone records and may have spoken with some of Carter’s coworkers. “To put ourselves in their position, we attempted. It didn’t harm us to work on it a little bit, “added Cox. “We carried out what we believed to be the proper action. We handed it over to them once it became clear which jurisdiction would take the lead.”

Carter’s autopsy was concluded on February 2, according to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, which is supporting the sheriff’s inquiry. However, the MBI declined to comment more due to the “open and ongoing investigation.” According to a representative for the agency, the FBI is not actively involved in the matter. Authorities reportedly warned three of Carter’s family members that wild animals could have ripped his corpse apart.

“He was in so many different bits,” said Yokena Anderson, a cousin to Carter’s mother, Tiffany Carter. They wanted to inform us that he went there and died, and that the nearby animals were eating his remains. Carter’s mother, however, said that her son was honest with her about the dangers he faced during their last phone talks, that he was not intoxicated, had no history of mental illness, and that he was not using drugs or alcohol.

Even before she learned where his bones were discovered, she had suspicions that her son’s death was an accident. The Holy Spirit “struck me and said this is foul play when I arrived on the scene,” she claimed. “I realised someone had hurt him at that point,”

Carter, a welder from Fayette, Mississippi, was performing a temporary contract job 100 miles away in Taylorsville. His mother said that he was putting money aside to reopen his seafood business, Cali, named after his 7-year-old daughter, which had been shuttered because to the epidemic.

She stated, “That was his intention. “He returned to work because of that,” But, Carter was at the job site in October when he got into a fight with at least one coworker and ran away out of fear for his life, according to his mother. Carter’s mother recalls him stating, “I got these dudes attempting to murder me.

She suggested Carter to seek assistance at the neighbourhood police station but finally lost touch with him. Before his remains were found, Carter’s relatives and friends conducted their own search teams. Tiffany Carter remarked, “I never envisioned continuing to live without my kid. “I lost a part of me when I lost my son.”

According to Carter’s family and friends, he put forth a lot of effort to support his daughter, pay for her private school tuition, and make his friends and family happy. Cali’s mother, Justiss White, reported that he honoured all of his commitments. “He communicated daily. Like teenagers, they spoke on the phone nonstop for hours. She brings him up every day.” Tiffany Carter promised to keep pushing for solutions.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button