The family of a Black man who was found dead in Mississippi after warning his mother that he was being chased by white men hurling racial slurs demanded a federal investigation Monday after local authorities said they had “no reason” to suspect foul play in the man’s death.
Rasheem Carter, 25, was reported missing on Oct. 2, 2022, after his mother said he had sought help from police and frantically called her to say white men in three trucks were pursuing him. That was the last day Carter’s family heard from him.
On Nov. 2, authorities said they found his remains in a wooded area south of Taylorsville, Mississippi. In a statement on Facebook a day later, the Smith County Sheriff’s Department said it had “no reason to believe foul play was involved” though the case was under investigation.
On Monday, Carter’s loved ones and their attorney Ben Crump slammed local authorities for stonewalling them for more than four months and for that initial determination, saying they believe Carter was the victim of a brutal hate crime.
“This was a nefarious act. This was an evil act,” Crump said at a news conference. “Somebody murdered Rasheem Carter, and we cannot let them get away with this.”
Crump on Monday urged the Justice Department to take over the investigation as a civil rights case, as he revealed photographs of Carter’s skeletal remains, including his skull and some vertebrae bones.
“This was not a natural death,” Crump said. “This represents a young man who was killed.”
Crump told reporters that he believes Carter’s head was severed from his body, and that his spinal cord was found in another location away from his head.
“There is nothing natural about this. It screams out for justice,” Crump said. “What we have is a Mississippi lynching.”
Carter’s front teeth were missing from the top and bottom rows, which Carter’s family said could indicate that he was assaulted before he died.
It’s unclear what prompted authorities to search the wooded area or what led…
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