Mother's quest for justice continues a year after Black man disappeared
The mother of Rasheem Carter, a Black man from Mississippi who went missing a year ago and whose partial remains were later found, is still seeking answers about what happened to her son.
Rasheem Carter, 25, went missing on Oct. 2, 2022, just days after telling his mother and the police that white men in his community were targeting him. Around a month later, Rasheem Carter's remains were found in a wooded area south of Taylorsville, Mississippi. His head was severed from his body, according to an independent autopsy.
The medical examiner has ruled that the cause and manner of death were undetermined. Officials investigating the case haven't updated Rasheem Carter's family on new developments for several months, according to Tiffany Carter, Rasheem Carter's mother.
"If you [official investigators] have done everything you can," Tiffany Carter told ABC News. "Why I still don't have an answer to what happened to my son?"
The Mississippi Crime Lab notified the family that additional remains found on Feb. 23 matched Rasheem Carter's DNA, according to a statement released by his family and their attorney, Ben Crump, in April.
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"He told me on the phone that it was three trucks of white men trying to kill him," Tiffany Carter said. "As any citizen of this world, you're going to try to get to a place of safety. And I thought telling him to go to a place of safety was the right thing to do as a mother because I wasn't close enough to get him, myself."
Rasheem Carter notified police that he was concerned for his safety and visited the Taylorsville Police Department on two separate occasions leading up to his disappearance, according to Tommy Cox, chief of the Laurel Police Department, which filed the initial missing persons' case after the family came to them for help.
Taylorsville police did not immediately return ABC News' request for a statement.
In addition to Rasheem Carter's head being severed, his spinal cord was recovered in a separate area from his head, according to Crump.
"I know this, something horrific was done to my son," Tiffany Carter said. "God knows and God will deal with everyone accordingly to what they have done."
Tiffany Carter told ABC News that she and her family reached out to the Mississippi Medical Examiner's Office, which has taken over the autopsy of the remains, multiple times and has not received a response. The medical examiner's office did not immediately return ABC News' request for a statement.
Tiffany Carter said the family has not received Rasheem Carter's remains to this day. The Smith County Police Department originally ruled out foul play in the case. According to Crump, officials recanted their statement.
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Smith County Sheriff Joel Houston told ABC News in March that earlier evidence of the case "didn't suggest" any foul play, stressing that "nothing is being swept under the rug."
Rasheem Carter's family and attorneys have called for a federal probe from the U.S. Department of Justice into his death.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is also investigating the incident. The MBI did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment.
Tiffany Carter told ABC News that she is especially worried for Rasheem Carter's 7-year-old daughter, who has become more withdrawn since the death of her father. She still reaches out to his old cell phone, Tiffany Carter said.
"She texts that number, 'Daddy, I love you. I love you,' all the time," Tiffany Carter said. "She listens to the videos and stuff that he sent her all the time. When I get her, my heart crushes every time cause she look just like him."