HINDS COUNTY, Miss. (WJTV) – The mother of Dexter Wade said her son’s body was exhumed hours before she was initially told his body would be exhumed.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump told WJTV 12 News that Wade’s body was supposed to be exhumed at 11:30 a.m. on Monday, November 13. However, Crump said Wade’s body was exhumed at 8:00 a.m. on Monday before the family arrived.

“Now, I ask, can I exhume my child and try to get some peace and try to get a state of mind,” said Wade’s mother, Bettersten Wade. “Now y’all take that from me. I couldn’t even see him come out of the ground.”

“It’s a low-down dirty shame what happened today,” Crump said. “What happened to Dexter Wade in March and what happened to Dexter Wade here today reeks to the high heavens.”

Crump said the 37-year-old left his mother’s house on March 5, 2023, and did not return home. Bettersten said she reported him missing on March 14 and did not know that he was deceased until August 24.

They said Wade had been hit by a Jackson police cruiser in March and later buried in a pauper’s field in Hinds County.

According to Crump, an investigator from the coroner’s office identified Dexter using fingerprints and reportedly turned it over to Jackson police to do the proper death notification on March 9. However, Wade said she did not receive any answers from authorities until August.

Congressman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said he supports the Wade family’s call for an investigation by the Justice Department.

“The extensive local and national media coverage of this tragedy has prompted numerous calls to my office from concerned citizens in Jackson who are also searching for answers. The system owes Mr. Wade’s family an explanation for the callous manner in which his untimely death was mishandled,” he said.

Crump said Campaign Zero will assist the family with the exhumation and autopsy costs. A funeral will be conducted Nov. 20.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.