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JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump traveled to Jackson on Monday, calling for answers in the mysterious death of a young Fayette man whose remains were found a month after he went missing.

The State Medical Examiner’s Office was not able to determine a cause of death for 25-year-old Rasheem Carter, 25. His family believes there was foul play, so their attorney sent a letter to the Department of Justice asking them to get involved in the case.

Carter was contracted to work in Smith County last year. He went missing in October after texting his mother that his life was in danger.

“He said, ‘Me and the owner of this company are not seeing eye to eye, Mama.’ His name, which I can’t say at this time. ‘If anything happens to me, he’s responsible for it. I’m too smart, Mama. He has these guys wanting to kill me.’ And that’s what he sent to me,” said Tiffany Carter, the mother of Rasheem Carter.

Attorneys said there was an attempt to use Carter’s credit card in Taylorsville while he was missing. A month after his disappearance, some of his remains were found in Smith County.

“His head was severed from his body. His vertebrae, his spinal cord was in another spot they discovered away from his severed head. They have recently found remains that they believe are also Rasheem Carter,” stated Crump.

The Mississippi State Medical Examiner’s Office was not able to determine a cause of death because some of Carter’s remains were in an advanced state of decomposition. Attorney Carlos Moore called it one of the most disturbing cases of his lifetime.

“I’ve been a Mississippian all 46 years of my life, and I have never heard of a crime this horrific in my life. I was not living during the time of Emmett Till. I heard about that, and read about it in the history books, but I thought we had progressed in Mississippi,” said Moore.

The Smith County Sheriff’s Office is leading the investigation, and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI) is assisting. Carter’s family said more needs to be done.

“We need the highest levels of law enforcement to administer justice for Rasheem Carter as if he was your child,” said Crump.

The Smith County sheriff said he’s waiting for the findings from search warrants to come back. He also said he welcomes the involvement of the Department of Justice.

WJTV 12 News reached out to MBI as well, but the agency declined to comment on this investigation.