Dexter Wade’s family’s attorneys have released the initial results of an independent autopsy on his body and revealed the extent of his injuries and decay of his body.
Wade was killed in March on a Mississippi interstate after being run over by an off-duty corporal in a Jackson police car. Authorities never notified Wade’s family or the public about his death. Instead, they secretly buried him behind a penal farm in a grave marked by a number, leaving his mother to search for him for months, according to NBC News.
Even when Wade’s mother, Bettersen Wade, contacted police and filed a missing person’s report more than a week after her son disappeared, police told her no one had been able to find him.
However, autopsy results revealed that Wade had several forms of identification on him in a wallet in his front pocket, including a state ID with his home address, his credit card, and a health insurance card, which calls authorities’ claims into question. It’s unclear whether Wade was buried in his clothes or if his clothes were returned to the family.
Reports did reveal that three days after Wade’s death, the Hinds County coroner’s office attempted to call his mother once, but Bettersten said she never received a call.
“There was a lack of communication with the missing person’s division, the coroner’s office, and accident investigation. Because of that, they were unable to find (Dexter Wade’s) family within an expeditious period of time and he was later buried once the coroner went to the Hind’s County Board of Supervisors in order to get permission to do so,” Jackson Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba said in his 2023 State of the City address last month.
Wade’s case has drawn national attention due to the total lack of transparency authorities displayed when and since the 37-year-old died. He was killed in March, but his mother wasn’t notified about his death and subsequent burial until August.
Not only did authorities secretly bury Wade, but they also covertly exhumed his body without allowing his family members to be present.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the family, released the initial findings from an autopsy conducted by Pathologist Dr. Frank Peretti, which discovered that:
- Dexter’s body was not embalmed.
- His body was in an advanced state of decomposition.
- His body sustained multiple force injuries to his skull, ribs, and pelvis.
- His left leg was amputated.
- His body was completely run over by the police vehicle.
- His wallet with multiple forms of identification was in the front pocket of his jeans.
“The fact that Dexter had a state identification card and several other identifying items shows us that there was a concerted effort to keep the truth and manner of death from his family. There is no excuse, not even incompetence, for not notifying a next of kin of an identified man’s death,” Crump said in a statement.
“This case has shown us time and time again that the local officials cannot be trusted in this matter and there are clear conflicts of interest. Now, louder than ever, we renew our calls to the Department of Justice to investigate all of the local entities involved in Dexter’s death and what his mother suspects is a coverup.”
Crump hasn’t released any news about whether the family plans to take legal action yet. Funeral plans for Wade are still being made.
