The family of Rasheem Carter is looking for answers.
NBC News reported Carter was reported missing on Oct. 2 by his mother, Tiffany Carter, who said her son called her in a panic saying three white men were chasing him in trucks and yelling racial slurs. A month later, to the day, his remains were found in a wooded area near Taylorsville, MI. However, the Smith County Sheriff’s Department released a statement saying there was “no reason to believe foul play was involved.”
The family attorney, Carlos Moore, and civil rights attorney, Ben Crump, held a press conference on Monday after learning more information from the 25-year-old’s autopsy.
According to WAPT 16, Carter’s family was given his head and spinal cord in a box from the state crime lab. His front teeth were missing from the top and bottom rows, as well. Crump said Rasheem Carter’s head was severed from his body. He is calling on the Justice Department to further investigate. “This was a nefarious act. This was an evil act,” Crump said.
“Somebody murdered Rasheem Carter, and we cannot let them get away with this.”
His mother said she talked to and texted her son on the last day he was seen alive. When he told her what was going on, she instructed him to go to the police, but nothing came out of it. “They did not help him. He asked for help, but they did not help him,” the grieving mother said. “He did the right thing by asking, but they didn’t help him.”
While the police said there was no foul play, it’s unclear what prompted authorities to search the wooded area. They are also telling a different story on the account of what happened before Carter went missing. Laurel Police Department Chief, Tommy Cox, said Carter never contacted his department for help. In fact, the Laurel Police Department handed the investigation over to Smith County once they determined it was outside of their jurisdiction.
Carter, the father of a 7-year-old daughter, worked a contracting job in order to save money to reopen his seafood restaurant, which closed during the pandemic. While at the job site, Carter had a disagreement with one co-worker and fled. His mother said she’s not going to give up on finding answers. “They thought this was going to be a child no one cared anything about,” she said. “They’re clearly mistaken because he was somebody.”