A third set of remains found in Mississippi has been identified as belonging to Rasheem Carter, a 25-year-old Fayette, Mississippi, man found nearly decapitated after he told the police he was chased by a group of white men in Taylorsville, Mississippi. He was reported missing on Oct. 2, 2022, one day after the encounter, and his skeletal remains were found on Nov. 2 in a wooded area in Taylorsville.
The family was initially told by the local sheriff that foul play was not suspected and that animals had desecrated his remains. Their attorney Ben Crump called Carter’s death a “Mississippi lynching” during a press conference in March.
“His head was severed from his body,” said Crump. “His vertebrate, his spinal cord, was in another spot they discovered away from his severed head. They have recently found remains that they believe are also Rasheem Carter at another part of where he went missing. What that tells us is this was a nefarious act, an evil act. Someone murdered Rasheem Carter, and we cannot let them get away with this.”
The third set of Carter’s remains were found on Feb. 23, and the family was notified by e-mail. Crump announced that the family would be holding a news conference demanding justice on April 29. He also released a statement noting the family’s grief following the Mississippi Crime Lab’s e-mail notification and the lack of adequate information they are receiving from officials.
“The family of Rasheem Carter, while still deep in grief, is being denied adequate information and closure from the Mississippi officials overseeing this case,” read the statement. “From the beginning of this case, the family has been misled. At first, when the first of Rasheem’s remains were discovered with his head decapitated from his body, officials told the family that it was animals that killed Rasheem. Then, officials admitted that they believed he was murdered.”
The statement went on to condemn state authorities for keeping Carter’s remains.
“Now, it is unacceptable that the family had to find out through an email that more of Rasheem’s remains were found, and still, they haven’t been told any other information, been offered a meeting with officials, or received his remains,” he continued. “They continue to be stonewalled at every turn. This family just wants to find out what happened to Rasheem and say their goodbyes — they ask that the additional remains be returned to them so that they can lay him to rest.”
The Mississippi State Medical Examiner’s Office completed a forensic anthropology examination of Carter on Feb. 2, according to WJTV News. The press secretary for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety Bailey Martin said that the condition of Carter’s remains prevents the cause of death from being reasonably determined.
Carter went to the Taylorsville Police Department on Oct. 1 asking for help while he was working a job for Georgia Pacific Wood Products. He told them a group of white men in trucks was following him. He also texted his mother that he wasn’t getting along with the company’s owner.
“Me and the owner of this company not seeing eye to eye, mama,” he wrote. “If anything happened to me, he’s responsible for it. I’m too smart for it, mama. He got these guys wanting to kill me, and that’s what he sent to me.”
He later texted his mother that “three truckloads of white guys” were shouting racial slurs at him while trying to kill him. Carter went to the police after being advised by his mother to do so. She added that her son was staying at the Super 8 Hotel in Laurel and he had been riding to work with a co-worker during the 10-day work stretch because his car broke down. She also said he had to walk on Oct. 2 because he had an argument with his co-worker.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation joined the investigation in November. Smith County Sheriff Joel Houston told NBC News Carter’s co-workers were ruled out as suspects because their phones pinged nearly 100 miles away at another job site when Carter was allegedly last seen alive on a landowner’s game camera on Oct. 2. Houston said that Carter’s co-workers claimed that he had been moody and they weren’t able to joke around with him the way they did in previous days.
“I just know what my son told me,” said Tiffany Carter. “I don’t believe anything they say. It’s lies after lies.” She also said that her son was lucid when she last spoke to him.
“We need the highest levels of law enforcement to administer justice for Rasheem Carter as if he was your child,” said Crump.
Carter was saving money to reopen his seafood restaurant closed during the pandemic. He named the restaurant after his 7-year-old daughter, Cali.
