Tiffany Carter still does not know what happened to her son Rasheem Carter more than six months after his remains were found in Smith County, the Mississippi Clarion Ledger reports.
“This has really been a struggle for our family, but we’re going to do the best we can to fight,” the grieving mother said during a protest last Saturday, ABC News reports.
Among the demonstrations were family members, hundreds of supporters and Bishop Yawasap Israel, a leader of Israel United in Christ whose members led the march from the Taylorsville SportsPlex to the local police department, calling for an open investigation, according to the Clarion Ledger.
The national nonprofit organization, You Are The Power, is offering a $50,000 award for information that will help solve the mystery surrounding Carter’s death, ABC News reports.
Carter’s mother revealed previously that her son contacted her before he went missing to explain that he called the police hoping to get assistance after panicking because white men in three trucks were pursuing him and hurling racial slurs, theGrio reported. Carter was last seen on Oct. 1 in Taylorsville, Mississippi. His family reported him missing the following day. Authorities found his remains a month later, on Nov. 2, in a wooded area near Taylorsville.
The body was discovered with the head decapitated, family attorney Ben Crump said in an April 26 news release, according to the Clarion Ledger.
In a Nov. 3 statement released to Facebook, the Smith County Sheriff’s Department said Carter’s death was under investigation, but law enforcement officials had “no reason” to suspect foul play, theGrio reported.
Carter’s mother received a Feb. 23 email informing her that a third set of her son’s remains had been found, the Clarion Ledger reported. According to the family’s attorneys, a fourth set of remains were identified as Carter’s on April 30, ABC News reports.
On Feb. 2, the Clarion Ledger reports, the state medical examiner’s office disclosed that after months of examining Carter’s remains it was unable to determine the cause of death, according to a March statement from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI), which is assisting the Smith County Sheriff’s Department in the Carter investigation.
You Are The Power has also been looking into the young man’s death, according to ABC News.
“When Rasheem Carter needed help, police refused,” the group said in an Instagram post. “But we can help bring justice to Rasheem’s killer(s), and closure to his loved ones.”
Crump further noted in the news release that Carter’s family is frustrated over the lack of information about the case. “The family of Rasheem Carter, while still deep in grief, is being denied adequate information and closure from the Mississippi officials overseeing this case,” he said, the Clarion Ledger reports.
Crump claimed that the “family has been misled” since the investigation began. He also criticized officials for initially telling the family that animals were responsible for Carter’s gruesome dismemberment. However, investigators later “admitted” that they suspected Carter “was murdered,” he said, pointing out that the family has not “been offered a meeting with officials” nor have they received Carter’s remains. They continue to be stonewalled at every turn.”
The family’s legal team is calling for the U.S. Department of Justice to open a federal investigation into Carter’s death, according to ABC News.
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