An Alabama police department is working to confirm the identity of a charred, dismembered body, but one mother says it’s her missing teenage son.
Markavious “Mark” Rumph Jr., 18, disappeared after he was last seen at a gas station on May 6, the Eufaula Police Department wrote on Facebook. His family told WRBL that when he did not return to his grandmother’s home, they began searching for him.
Family members and volunteers spent their Mother’s Day weekend searching Barbour County for the missing teen. By May 11, a family search party found human remains on a nearby road. Police have not confirmed the identity of the remains the family discovered, and the official cause of death has not been released.
“I looked for five days for my son, with no help from the Eufaula Police Department,” his mother, Yolanda Wynn, told WRBL. “Me and my family in the rain on Mother’s Day, I walked through those woods.”
The teen’s father alleged the suspect “burned my baby, shot my baby, burned him up and chopped him up,” according to WRBL.
“The last day that we found him, I told him I said we going to find him today. I felt it in my heart because I had to pray too hard about it,” Wynn told WTVM.
Police told WTVM they’ve identified suspects for the murder, but no one has been charged or brought into custody.
“We’re making sure we have every piece of evidence laid in place so when we do issue warrants for the suspects, we’re rock solid,” police told WTVM.
Historically, Eufaula has had a racist past.
In an effort to violently suppress the Black vote and dismantle Reconstruction-era progress in 1874, a white supremacist paramilitary group known as the “White League” attacked Black republicans, killing and wounding dozens of voters, according to the Equal Justice Initiative.
It’s unclear if this incident stemmed from a hate crime.
Atlanta Black Star reached out to the Eufaula Police Department to see if they have identified the victim found on May 11.
According to an online fundraiser, Rumph had recently obtained his GED and was determined to succeed. The family friend who set up the fundraiser said she also hopes to establish a scholarship in his name to inspire others to chase their dreams.
Rumph’s father told WRBL that he was planning to attend welding school.
“He was the life of the party. He was gonna make you laugh,” Markavious Rumph Sr. said.
Atlanta Black Star also reached out to Rumph’s family to learn more about the ongoing investigation.
WTVM reports police seized a black Tahoe two days after Rumph was reported missing and found a shovel with traces of blood inside. Those samples are still being investigated.
Authorities are asking anyone with information related to this crime to contact investigators at 334-687-1200.
