Police Knew Her Missing Son Was Dead But Kept Mother In The Dark For Months

For over five agonizing months, Bettersten Wade searched in vain for her missing 37-year-old son Dexter after he disappeared from their Mississippi home. Unbeknownst to her, Jackson police had known since the night he vanished that Dexter died after being struck by one of their vehicles on a highway. Yet they failed to identify him or notify his mother, leaving his body unclaimed in the morgue for months.

Bettersten filed a missing persons report two weeks after Dexter left home on March 5 and called police repeatedly seeking updates. But investigators told her nothing even as the county coroner buried her son in a pauper's grave. Only in August did police finally admit to Bettersten that Dexter died hours after he left home when a police SUV hit him on the interstate.

The heartbreaking case spotlights issues of police accountability and failures in proper death notifications faced by poor families in Jackson. It left a grieving mother questioning if she was intentionally kept in the dark due to her existing tensions with the department.

"They had me looking for him all that time, and they knew who he was," said Bettersten, who wonders if a police "vendetta" was behind their silence. "Maybe they buried my son to get back at me."

Dexter Wade had long struggled with mental illness and drug abuse. But he remained devoted to his two teen daughters, talking often and visiting frequently. The single father dreamed of one day running a business fixing up old cars.

Though she didn't always approve of his lifestyle, Bettersten bonded him out of jail and welcomed Dexter home whenever he needed shelter. She said he showed no suicidal tendencies before his abrupt disappearance.

After the fatal accident on March 5, a coroner's investigator found prescription bottles on Dexter with his name. He then identified the deceased and notified Jackson police, who failed to contact Bettersten. For months, she desperately searched and appealed on social media for Dexter's return.

Police only admitted the truth in August after assigning a new detective who located the hit-and-run report implicating police in Dexter's death. Bettersten remains haunted by visions of her son's pauper's burial in the woods, only located after a monthslong search for answers.

"They had me looking for him all that time, and they knew who he was," she lamented. Bettersten questions if an alleged police "vendetta" against her family led to the silence after her son's death in police custody. She hopes to now re-inter Dexter in a proper gravesite.

Bettersten first reported Dexter missing two weeks after he left home with a friend on March 5 following an argument. When he didn't return, she feared the worst due to his mental health issues.

Trusting the police was agonizing for Bettersten after her brother recently died in police custody. But she desperately needed help finding Dexter. For months, she pressed investigators for updates and circulated photos online hoping for tips.

It emerged the Jackson police SUV fatally struck Dexter around 8pm on March 5 as he crossed a busy highway. The driver called it in but wasn't cited. A coroner's investigator found Dexter's ID and reached his mother's number on March 8. But Bettersten doesn't recall receiving his call.

The investigator confirmed Dexter's identity on March 9 using fingerprints. He said he passed the information to the Jackson police accident investigation unit to make a next-of-kin notification. But Bettersten was still searching months later, posting Facebook pleas for any knowledge of Dexter's fate.

After repeatedly asking Jackson police for updates through July, Bettersten finally learned the truth on August 24 when a new detective reviewed the file. But the stonewalling until then remains unexplained and deserves examination given the department's checkered relations with Jackson's poor, predominantly Black communities.

The case encapsulates urgent concerns around police transparency and accountability in misconduct cases raised by citizens like Bettersten. That the department withheld knowledge of Dexter's death and burial for months while his mother desperately sought answers bears inquiry.

At minimum, negligence seems evident in the lack of notification. The department's refusal to comment or clarify its actions also warrants scrutiny. A grieving mother deserves more answers about the treatment of her son and stonewalling from officers meant to protect their community.

After filing her missing persons report, Bettersten clung to hope of Dexter's return. But her worst fear was confirmed when police finally admitted he perished that first night. She remains haunted envisioning his burial among other unclaimed bodies, only allowed to visit his distant pauper's grave months later.

"I'm so sorry this happened to you," she wept at the remote site. Bettersten still seeks closure and a proper resting place for Dexter. But the months of unanswered anguish weigh heavy on her heart.