Rasheem Carter: Disappearance, Remains, and Undetermined Cause

The Rasheem Carter case concerns a 25-year-old Black welder from Fayette, Mississippi, who disappeared in Taylorsville on October 2, 2022, after telling his mother that white men in trucks were chasing him and shouting racial slurs. His dismembered remains were found a month later in a wooded area of Smith County. As of late 2024, no one has been arrested, and the Mississippi State Medical Examiner’s Office has officially listed both the cause and manner of death as undetermined.¹

Who Rasheem Carter Was

Carter was a welder and millwright employed by Clements Mechanicals, a contractor working at the Georgia-Pacific plant in downtown Taylorsville. He was staying at a motel in Laurel, about 20 miles from the job site, and after his car broke down in September 2022 he was relying on co-workers and hitchhiking to get to work.²³

In the weeks before he vanished, Carter told his mother, Tiffany Carter, that he was having trouble at the workplace. He texted her: “I’m too smart for it, mama. He got these guys wanting to kill me,” referring to a conflict with someone connected to his employer.⁴ Luke Clements, identified as the owner of Clements Mechanicals, denied any involvement in Carter’s death. Authorities reportedly found evidence indicating Clements was not involved.⁵

What Happened on October 1 and 2, 2022

On October 1, Carter argued with a roommate, got out of the person’s vehicle, and walked roughly 20 miles toward Taylorsville. Co-workers picked him up and dropped him at a Family Dollar in town. From the store he called his mother in a panic, telling her that “three trucks filled with racist white men trying to kill me” were pursuing him and that someone had asked the store clerk whether he was inside.²

Carter went to the Taylorsville Police Department for help. According to his mother, who was on the phone during part of the exchange, he asked to stay at the station and wait for a ride because he feared for his life. She said officers told him they could not drive him to Laurel because it was outside their jurisdiction and that he could not remain at the station.⁶

Taylorsville Police Chief Gabe Horn gave reporters a different account. He said Carter filed a report but declined to press charges and simply asked for a phone charger and a ride, and that the department did not know of anyone chasing him. Carter’s aunt, Felica Kaho, disputed Horn’s version, saying police initially told the family they knew nothing about Carter being chased or fearing for his life.²

Carter reportedly gave the false name “Larry Duncan” at the station because he was frightened. He returned the next morning, still scared, and family accounts say officers again did not help him. He called his mother around 10:00 a.m. on October 2, said his phone was at one percent, and sent a GPS pin of his location. When a friend arrived to pick him up around 1:30 p.m., he was gone. The last known image of Carter was captured at 4:32 p.m. that day on a property owner’s deer camera.⁶²

How His Remains Were Found

On November 2, 2022, roughly a month after Carter disappeared, his remains were found on private property in a densely wooded area off U.S. Highway 37 South in Smith County. The property owner noticed an unrecognized person on his hunting camera and called law enforcement, who used cadaver dogs to locate the body.⁶

Very little was left. According to the autopsy and attorney Ben Crump, Carter’s head had been severed from his body, and his spinal cord was recovered in a separate location from his skull. The remains were primarily skeletal, described in the autopsy as “greasy” and covered in a sticky substance. The skull contained no teeth. Medical professionals noted evidence of animal scavenging.⁶⁷ Additional remains confirmed as Carter’s through DNA testing were found on February 23, 2023. Personal items were also recovered, including his jeans with an ATM card, cash, and a phone charger inside.⁸

Why the Cause of Death Is Officially Undetermined

The Mississippi State Medical Examiner’s Office completed a forensic anthropology examination on February 2, 2023, and ruled both cause and manner of death “undetermined.” Because of the advanced decomposition, “no cause of death could be reasonably determined.” Signs of animal activity made the timing of injuries hard to establish. Some bones showed fractures at or near the time of death, but the examiner could not definitively identify what caused them.⁹⁷

A private investigator hired by the family alleged that Carter’s bones showed “smooth cuts” inconsistent with animal attacks, and separately alleged genital mutilation. The family declined to identify the investigator. Smith County Sheriff Joel Houston called the genital mutilation claim a “hoax,” arguing that only skeletal remains existed and such a finding was impossible. The official autopsy could neither confirm nor disprove the claim for the same reason.⁶

Why the Family Calls It a Lynching

Carter’s family and their legal team have consistently characterized his death as a racially motivated killing. At a Jackson press conference on March 13, 2023, civil rights attorney Ben Crump said: “This was not a natural killing. This was not a natural death. This represents a young man who was killed.”⁷ Crump called it “a Mississippi lynching” and wrote to the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division asking for a federal investigation.¹⁰ Co-counsel Carlos Moore described the killers as “what we believe to be a white supremacist, a lynch mob.”⁴

Tiffany Carter spoke publicly on numerous occasions. “My son was lynched to the highest capacity,” she said at a December 2022 protest in Taylorsville. Of local officials, she said: “I don’t believe anything they say. It’s lies after lies.”²¹¹

Local residents told reporters that Chief Horn might be related to the owner of the property where Carter’s remains were found. A resident who shared the property owner’s last name said her family was related to the chief and suspected a distant family connection to the property owner. Horn neither confirmed nor denied the relationship and declined to speak with reporters. After a February 2023 demonstration, a white Taylorsville resident named James Ainsworth posted a threatening Facebook message that included the phrase “white power” and a reference to violence against Black people. He was reportedly believed to be friends with Chief Horn. No legal consequences for the post were reported.⁶

What Investigators Have Said

The Smith County Sheriff’s Department served as the lead investigative agency, with assistance from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and, at points, the FBI. On November 3, 2022, the day after Carter’s remains were found, the sheriff’s department issued a statement saying there was “no reason to believe foul play was involved.”¹²

Sheriff Houston later walked that back, acknowledging it had “caused unnecessary headache” and saying the department had wanted to “ease public concern.” He said he had not ruled out homicide and would leave the final determination to the MBI. The department said it had interviewed Carter’s co-workers and supervisor and had ruled out the men Carter feared were pursuing him, citing phone and GPS records that placed those individuals about 100 miles away at another job site.¹¹

Investigators also pursued leads involving post-mortem use of Carter’s credit card, which Crump called a “big clue” because whoever had the card likely encountered Carter while he was alive. The MBI and Smith County Sheriff’s Department confirmed they were executing search warrants related to that activity, though no suspects were publicly identified. The department was also seeking Google data warrants to determine whether other electronic devices had been in the area where Carter’s remains were found.¹³¹¹

District Attorney Chris Hennis pushed back against Crump, accusing him of “reckless speculation and conjecture” and insisting the investigation be guided by “facts and evidence.”¹⁴ Sheriff Houston denied any cover-up: “Nothing is being swept under the rug. There’s nothing to hide.”¹¹

Where the Case Stands Now

As of October 2024, two years after Carter’s disappearance, the case remained unsolved. Sheriff Houston confirmed the investigation had been turned over to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and the FBI, and said there had been “no new developments or findings.”¹ No arrests have been made. No formal civil lawsuit by the family has been publicly reported, though the legal team led by Ben Crump and Carlos Moore has continued to press for federal intervention. The cause and manner of Rasheem Carter’s death remain officially undetermined.⁸

1
WLBT. Two-Year Anniversary of Death of Missing Man Rasheem Carter
2
Mississippi Free Press. Rasheem Carter’s Family Questions Police Details of Death in Smith County
3
Magnolia Tribune. Investigation Continues in Death of Rasheem Carter
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WLBT. Attorneys Calling for Department of Justice to Investigate Death of Rasheem Carter
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NewsNation. Rasheem Carter’s Former Boss Denies Involvement in Death
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Mother Jones. Who Killed Rasheem Carter?
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ABC News. Rasheem Carter Found Dead After Going Missing in Mississippi
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The Mississippi Link. No Justice for Rasheem Carter, Twenty Months and Ticking
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WLBT. MBI Asking Public’s Help in Rasheem Carter Death Investigation
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WAPT. Rasheem Carter Found Dead After Going Missing in Mississippi
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NBC News. Backlash as Sheriff Says He Has Not Ruled Out Foul Play in Rasheem Carter’s Death
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NBC News. Black Man Was Found Dead After Telling Mother He Was Chased
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WDAM. Cause of Death Undeterminable in Rasheem Carter Case, MBI Says
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WLBT. DA Refutes Claims Made by Ben Crump in Rasheem Carter Case