Rasheem Carter, a Black man from Fayette, Mississippi in the United States, vanished in 2022 after alleging that white men in his neighborhood had been pursuing him. Later, his severed head and body were found together in Taylorsville, Utah.

Rasheem Carter, a welder by trade, resided in Fayette, Mississippi. However, at the time of his disappearance, he had accepted a temporary position as a contractor in Taylorsville, a city located about 100 miles away.

The Disappearance

The 25-year-old Black Mississippi resident reported on October 2, 2022, that he was being chased by a group of white men in pickup trucks who were hurling racist insults at him. Shortly after reporting this, the man went missing.

The day before he vanished on October 1, Carter texted his mother to let her know that he was having issues with his coworkers and was scared for his life. Rasheem Carter expressed his dissatisfaction with the business’s owner in a letter and said that the owner ought to be held accountable if anything bad happened to him.

Rasheem Carter reportedly told his mother that he was afraid of a specific person and that he thought he was being pursued by a group of white men in three trucks. His mother advised him to go straight to a police station for assistance because she thought they would look out for him and protect him as they were required to.

As Rasheem Carter sought assistance at the Taylorsville police station, his mother, who lived two hours away in Fayette, was on the phone with her son. She overheard him tell the officers that he was being pursued and required transportation to his hotel in Laurel, which was about 20 miles away, in order to escape.

However, she heard an officer deny his request, stating that Laurel was outside of their jurisdiction. She also overheard someone say that he couldn’t stay at the station any longer and had to leave.

Remains Found

Rasheem Carter was last seen alive on November 2nd, and on that day, exactly one month later, his skeletal remains were found in a wooded area south of Taylorsville. The autopsy report showed that Carter’s head had been severed from his body, and his spinal cord was found in a different area from his head, according to the lawyer for Rasheem’s family.

The condition of Rasheem Carter’s remains at the time of the autopsy prevented the medical examiner from determining the cause and manner of his death, according to the autopsy report. The investigation was further complicated by animal activity on the remains and the state of the remains, which made it difficult to pinpoint when the injuries occurred, according to the report.

Despite the lack of conclusive results from the autopsy, the family’s attorney emphasized during a press conference that it was clear that Carter did not pass away naturally.

Recent updates state that additional remains thought to be those of Rasheem Carter have been found in another location where he vanished. The family’s lawyer said during a press conference that this discovery adds more evidence that Carter’s death was the result of a malicious and evil act.

A group of people were reportedly chasing Carter in three trucks before his disappearance, according to eyewitness accounts, which he used to support his claim that multiple people may have been involved.

Rasheem Carter’s death was not the result of foul play, according to Smith County Sheriff Joel Houston, who has cited earlier evidence that did not point to any wrongdoing. Houston added that the department is still awaiting the results of search warrants to formally establish that Carter’s death was not the result of foul play.

According to the medical examiner’s report, the cause and manner of Rasheem Carter’s death remain undetermined. However, there is an ongoing investigation into his disappearance and murder, with the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation providing assistance to the case.