On Monday, Dexter Wade will be laid to rest in Mississippi. That will be his second burial. The first time, his family didn't even know he died. Dexter's mother had not seen or heard from her son for a few days. This was on March 14th, so she called police in Jackson, Mississippi, to report him missing. But police did not tell her that nine days earlier on the fifth that her son had been hit and killed by an off-duty police officer in Jackson. They say it was an accident and that they were not able to identify him until days after the crash. They also say that they were not able to get in touch with his family because Dexter's contact information was, quote, outdated. Dexter's mother says she was finally notified on August 24th, nearly six months later. By then, the family's attorney says Dexter had been buried in a palpous field, his grave marked by a pole and a number. Well, now this past Monday, a new alleged miscommunication and new trauma. The family wanted to witness his body being exhumed so they could have an incident, rather independent, I should say, autopsy, and bury him properly.

But when the family arrived at the agreed upon time, Dexter had already been exhumed. That's how the system works? Is this what I'm.

Living in? I'm living in Mississippi, and this is what I got to deal with? That I don't even matter.

Joining us now is Dexter's mother, Betisyn Wade, and family's attorney, Ben Crump. Welcome to you both. Ms. Wade, let me start just with what you know about the circumstances surrounding your son's death. What have you been told that happened that night back in March?

Yes, back in March, they come told… Well, back in March fifth, they said my son died. March 14th, I filed a missing report. Then August the 24th, they came tell me that my son had deceased. After then, I just started looking where he is, trying to find out what was going on with him and everything. After I bought the body back and got his death certificate and all that, then I started trying to find out what grave site or where he was located at. Finally, someone came through to let me know where his site is and everything.

Jackson Police- I apologize for interrupting. Jackson Police say that they tried to contact you. Do you have any record of a call from authorities during that period to tell you about your son?

No.

No record at all.

No, I don't.

Attorney Crump, did police know when Ms. Wade called on the 14th that they have or have access to his name, his contact information, his address?

Victor, certainly they did. They filed medication on him that had his doctor's office, and the doctor's office notified them that Ms. Bedison Wade, his mother, was his next of kin. But after we exhumed him, Victor, we found out that he had his wallet in his front pocket that had his state issued driver's permit with his address where he lived with his mother. If they wanted to contact his next of kin, it would have been easy for them to do so, especially since his mother was suing the Jackson Police Department for killing her brother a couple of years earlier, where the police officer was convicted. They knew exactly who Bedison Wade was. Ms. Wade and her family believes that it was a cover, and it was intentional that they did not contact her.

What do you know about what happened that night, March fifth, the night that Dexter Wade was hit and killed?

I independent on talking- Well, what I was talking about... -the preliminary reports say that he was hit. His body was completely ran over. His leg was amputated. And so this was just a tragic, tragic Mississippi manslaughter. But it seems that the aftermath, the cover-up is worse. That's what Ms. Bederson has told me from day one.

Ms. Wade, tell me about those months from March 14th, where you first submitted that missing persons report to late August, where you found out where your son was. What were you feeling? What was happening during that time?

Well, during that time, I was so angry that I couldn't find him. I was upset. I didn't know whether somebody had kidnapped him, where somebody was trying to tort him, or whether he had got traveledtraffic, trafficking, caught up in trafficking, or maybe somebody went with somebody and they did something to him, I just on my knees just praying, Lord, please, please, let Dexter come home. Then I was all on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok. Please, if anybody is so, Dexter, please, Dexter, if you're out there, you just don't want me to know where you are, just call and say, Hey, mom, I'm okay. I said, You don't have to come home. Just let me know you're okay. I was doing everything I could. Then I thought Jackson Police was working with me, and then I didn't want to go out there and do something to put him in harm. So I thought Jackson, JPD were the best somebody for me to contact to try to help me find my son, try to get them to put him on civil alert, everything. It just hurt me to my heart. I cried. I got up every morning searching. I get up early trying to see, do I see anybody that know them?

All these friends, nobody. I was just so hurt. I didn't know what to do. And I just cried, cried, cried. I just cried.

And when you got that information, you were called on August 24th, and they said that your son had already been buried. What did you feel? What went through your mind then?

Well, when they first called me and said we found Dexter, I said, Oh, Lord, let him be okay. So I said, Where he at? What's going on with him? She said, Well, I let Officer Gerard come out there and talk to you. Right then when she said that, it's just my heart dropped because I knew. I just knew that he was deceased. And I feel so bad that I could not find him. It just made me feel bad. And when he came and told me, it just hurt me so bad. But then what really everything when they said a J. P. D. Cruz ran over him. And the first thing I said, You mean to tell me you all couldn't take his handprint to know who he belonged to?

Yeah, sure. Ben, let me play for you. The county administrator and the Jackson police chief here, what they say happened, did not happen, and changes that are going to be made.

It's very unfortunate. No cover-up or anything like that. Just miscommunication.

You would think that we would have a death notification policy, but we do not. We do not. But we will as of today. We understand what the state statute says about the corner and notifications, but we want to make sure that we are giving the best police service to our citizens. So we have a death notification policy that is signed as of today, and we'll roll out today.

Your reaction to what you heard there, Ben?

Victor, it's hard to take anything they say with a leap of faith, considering that they knew who Ms. Bedison was, and they certainly knew from day one. On day one, they knew who Dexter Way was. All they had to do was come knock on her door, say, We regret to tell you your son was killed in an accident before one of our police cruisers, but they did not. And so we had to exhume his body. Just like in Mississippi, they had to exhume Emmettile to get some justice. And then they had to exhume Mega Evans in Mississippi to get some justice. Not in 2023, we had to exhume Dexter Wade to get some justice, and we need the Department of Justice to investigate because they killed her brother, they killed her son. And Ms. Wade and her family believes in both situations, they are trying to cover them up. The officer was convicted for killing her brother, a Jackson police officer, and they have been fighting her ever since. She doesn't trust any of the Mississippi local official.

Ms. Wade, we are so sorry that you have lost your son, especially to have lost him in this way. I'll be thinking of you. Thank you so much for your time. And Ben Crump, thank you as well.