In late September, Rasheem Ryelle Carter started a new lumber contracting job in Taylorsville, Mississippi. The job helped him support his young daughter. But on Oct. 1 last year, he called and sent his mother a worrying text that expressed fear for his life. “When he sent that to me, I freaked out. And I kept calling him and calling him, until he texted back saying, ‘I’m good, Mama,’” Tiffany Carter told HuffPost. When they were on the phone, she told HuffPost, Carter said white men in three pickup trucks were following and harassing him. Later that day, he went to the police station in Taylorsville. What happened there remains a key point of contention between his family and the police. According to Tiffany Carter, Rasheem went to the Taylorsville police twice to report he feared for his life. He also asked for a ride back to the Super 8 motel in Laurel, where he was living, about 22 miles southeast of Taylorsville. Police didn't give him a ride, and Carter left the station. He never made it back to the motel. One month later, police found Carter’s body in a wooded area just a few miles from the Taylorsville police station. Carter's family and their lawyer, noted civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, say an independent autopsy revealed that Carter had been “dismembered” and his head was not attached to his body. Police initially said they had “no reason” to suspect foul play.
