Mississippi
‘I was calling and wondering where he was’: Mother says JPD didn’t notify her for months about missing son’s death
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/V32HC26XANAFVDNU3VF3EPSDGI.jpg "‘I was calling and wondering where he was’: Mother says JPD didn’t notify her for months about missing son’s death")
JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – For 172 days, Bettersten Wade left no stone unturned in searching for her 37-year-old son, Dexter.
She asked neighbors, searched abandoned houses, called detectives, and posted messages on social media begging him to come home.
Dexter would never see those messages.
He was killed on the night of March 5, after being struck by an off-duty police officer driving along I-55 South.
Wade questions why it took so long for the Jackson Police Department to tell her about her son’s death.
She found out in late August, months after she filed her initial missing person’s report.
She also questions what happened to the officer involved.
“An officer comes to tell me he killed somebody on the freeway, and I’m just going to sign off on it?” she asked. “I don’t have [any] information on what happened, what you did or nothing.”
“Every job I worked at, if I [had] an incident on a job, I had to explain why.”
Wade says she filed her missing person’s report on March 14, days after the Hinds County Coroner’s Office was able to officially identify Dexter’s remains.
“When police stop you, the first thing they do is go run your name,” she said. “They tell you your address, everywhere you lived, everything.”
“Why didn’t they run his name [or] take his handprints to know who he [was]?”
Wade previously filed a wrongful death suit against JPD in connection with the death of another family member, her brother George Robinson. That suit is still pending in Hinds County Circuit Court. In July, Judge Debra Gibbs recused herself.
Meanwhile, criminal charges against two of the officers involved in Robinson’s death were dismissed. Another officer, Anthony Fox, was sentenced to five years in prison in August 2022 after being found guilty of culpable negligence manslaughter.
Several agencies, including the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office, the FBI, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, the Clinton Police Department, and JPD, say Fox’s conviction should be reversed.
As for Dexter, he had no identification at the time he was hit but did have a prescription drug bottle with his name on it.
According to an NBC News investigation, an investigator with the coroner was able to officially confirm Dexter’s identity and determine his next of kin by March 8.
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For her part, Wade says coroner’s office officials told her they knew who Dexter was on the night his body was brought in.
“All the time, I was calling and wondering where he was. He was down in the morgue, had a name on him,” she said. “I know they just couldn’t miss that.”
Prescription bottle aside, she believes that because Dexter was a convicted felon, his fingerprints should have been on file.
Dexter did multiple stints behind bars, getting out of prison the last time back in 2017. After that, Wade said she noticed a change in her son, who was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
“When he got on his medication, he stopped, like, going places and doing things,” she said. “He was basically at home all the time… selling little knickknacks… selling little freeze cups and little potato chips…”
“And then he would give kids stuff. He would give homeless people stuff. I would be on him, saying, ‘You[’re] giving all my food away,” she continued. “He was really a kind-hearted person.”
Jackson Police Chief Joseph Wade declined to comment for this story, referring all questions to Jackson Director of Communications Melissa Faith Payne.
In a statement, Payne said officers working missing person cases were unaware the March 5 victim was Dexter and that the lead detective continued to investigate Wade’s case until he retired.
Payne said a second officer took up the case after that officer retired, and the investigation eventually led back to the coroner’s office.
“Through collaborative efforts, they were able to close the missing person’s case, by identifying Dexter Wade as the pedestrian who was killed,” she said. “While this is a very tragic and unfortunate accident, our investigation found no malicious intent by any Jackson police staff.”
Coroner Sharon Grisham-Stewart was unavailable for comment.
Wade now hopes to give her son a proper burial. She recently visited the county’s paupers’ burial ground, where NBC News says she was able to see her son’s grave for the first time.
She recently paid $250 to claim her son’s body, which is currently resting under grave marker No. 672.
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“To put your child and to bury him like that, and they knew that one of their officers had hit him,” she said. “I could have understood if somebody shot him on the street… It’s just so much.”
Even if she is able to relocate her son, Wade says she’ll never have the closure she and her son deserve.
“No matter what they tell me, do you think I’m going to believe them? Right now, if they come up today and give me an explanation, do you think I’m going to believe them?” she asked. “The way they treated me, do they deserve for me to believe them?”
“All of this could have been avoided. None of this had to happen.”
WLBT Chief Investigative Reporter C.J. LeMaster contributed to this report.
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Outside of Mississippi State, Arkansas and Auburn, the SEC had a very successful Week Two of the college football season. The latest AP Top 25 poll reflects the strength of the SEC with 6 of the top 7 spots belonging to SEC teams.
Here’s a recap of how the ranked SEC teams fared in the second full week of the college football season:
Click here for a recap of the unranked SEC teams.
With the exception of giving up three points, this was probably exactly how Georgia expected this game to go. Carson Beck threw five touchdowns and the defense held Tennessee Tech to less than 150 yards of total offense. Anything less would be a surprise.
More than 100,000 people saw Texas come into Ann Arbor, Mich. and leave with a huge win. The Longhorns looked like the better team from the first drive of the game where they easily marched down the field. That Oct. 19 game in Austin against Georgia is looking better and better.
It was a lot closer than Alabama would’ve liked, but it’s a win that will fend off the “Nick Saban is gone, we’re doomed” crowd. At the same time, though, there were some things that crowd could point to at a later time.
Two games against inferior competition and Ole Miss has outscored its opponents 129-3. They’ll take a slight step up in competition next week against Wake Forest, but the Rebels are still about a month away from playing a team that will truly test them.
Missouri’s schedule just took an unexpected bump in its level of difficulty with No. 24 Boston College joining the top 25. Bill O’Brien is brilliant at game planning and calling plays (not so much with making trades, but that hasn’t reached the college ranks yet). Missouri needs to be on upset alert (and ready to stop the run).
This happens every year. Tennessee looks really good to start the season and by the end Volunteer fans are saying next year is their year. But maybe this year is their year with the way Nico Iamaleava has been playing.
Of the two SEC newcomers, Texas is getting most of the attention which makes sense based on the current teams. But folks, don’t sleep on the Sooners. They ruined many of my own childhood memories growing up in Texas. This week’s way-too close game doesn’t help that argument, but think long term.
LSU was one of three SEC teams to play FCS schools after playing top 25 teams last week. The Tigers and Texas A&M both lost, while Georgia won. So, it’s not surprising to see each of them play FCS teams and neither were any of the results.
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Mississippi
Arizona State RB Cam Skattebo ‘disrespected’ by Mississippi State football’s defensive game plan
Cam Skattebo slammed Mississippi State on the football field on Saturday night and also took another jab afterward in his postgame press conference.
The Arizona State running back, following a 30-23 Sun Devils win at Mountain America Stadium, took exception to MSU only utilizing three defenders on the line of scrimmage. The results were damning.
Arizona State (2-0) rushed for 346 yards. It was the most allowed by Mississippi State (1-1) in a game since Arkansas in 2016. Skattebo’s 262 rushing yards on 33 carries were the second-most in ASU history.
“They couldn’t stop us in that three-down front,” Skattebo said when asked what made ASU’s run game successful. “Honestly, we all felt disrespected with them in a three-down front. You can’t come in here and put five guys in the box and expect to stop six. I don’t know. We took that a little disrespectful, and we rushed for what over 300 yards? Something around there. It is what it is.”
Skattebo, a 5-foot-11, 215-pound junior, also led Arizona State with 35 receiving yards on three catches.
“I knew these dudes were big and heavy,” he said. “We knew going into the game they weren’t as physical as most other teams but they’re heavy. So when they hit you, it hurts, no matter how hard they’re coming — 300 pounds at 10 miles per hour or 16 miles per hour hurts the same. I just kept my feet moving.”
Mississippi State trailed 30-3 in the third quarter but scored 20 unanswered points to cut the score to 30-23 with 5:27 to play. The Bulldogs never touched the ball again, with the Sun Devils running out the clock on 12 plays.
Skattebo had a game-sealing 39-yard rush that allowed ASU to kneel down.
“Until the end, we had our ups and downs there, but that was fun,” he said. “You can ask these guys up front, bullying dudes, grown men that are 300 pounds, that’s fun to us. That’s fun to the front-five, the front-seven and the running back. The quarterback probably hates it. He probably likes watching, but he didn’t complain one time the whole game.”
Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@gannett.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.
Mississippi
Why Mississippi State football loss to Arizona State revealed a strong Jeff Lebby culture
It was 11:10 p.m. Saturday in Starkville when Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt barreled into the end zone for his second touchdown of the game.
At that point, it would’ve been fair for Mississippi State football fans to call it a night. The Bulldogs (1-1) trailed 27-3 at ASU in the final minute of the second quarter. They were dominated in just about every statistical category. New coach Jeff Lebby looked like he was headed toward his first loss, and an embarrassing one.
And even if you gave the second half a chance, eyes just a crack open, that wasn’t encouraging either. Arizona State (2-0) took the opening drive of the third quarter for a field goal while eating 8 minutes, 27 seconds of game time. That just about decided the game before Mississippi State touched the ball in the second half.
Wrong.
Instead, MSU scored touchdowns on three of its next four drives and cut the score to 30-23 with 5:27 to play. The defense, which was torched for 346 rushing yards, needed one more stop to let the offense try to tie it. It would’ve been the largest comeback in program history.
Mississippi State’s path to a bowl game seems murkier than it was a week ago. But in the long-term, there’s still encouragement after the 30-23 loss.
“Our guys battled in an incredible way in the second half, and we’re going to hold on to that,” Lebby said in his postgame radio interview. “We’re going to find ways to get back in the building, get back to work and be able to walk into Davis Wade (Stadium) with a ton of confidence and ready to go win a football game.”
The encouragement from Mississippi State’s comeback effort
Lebby said after beating Eastern Kentucky 56-7 in Week 1 that there is an abundance of teachable moments in wins, just like losses.
There is plenty to point to after losing to Arizona State.
Mississippi State came out incredibly flat. The Sun Devils scored on their first five possessions. The MSU offense had one field goal, two punts, a fumble returned for a touchdown and a turnover-on-downs in the first half. MSU had -13 rushing yards in the first half.
There were concerns entering the game about the travel distance, late kickoff and high temperature. But let’s be real, Mississippi State was playing so poorly at the start that it was hard to judge if those were factors.
“I got to do a better job getting these guys ready to go play out of the gate,” Lebby said. “I thought our energy, our effort and our emotion was really good, but then we did not play clean there in the first quarter, so that part was frustrating.”
The Bulldogs outscored the Sun Devils 20-0 in the final quarter and a half. It was a surprise. Arizona State was rolling. Mississippi State was not.
MORE: Introducing Sam Sklar, the Clarion Ledger’s new Mississippi State beat reporter
For Lebby, a first-time head coach at any level, let it be a learning moment for him. It was his first time getting pinned in a corner. The Bulldogs adjusted correctly in the second half like good coaches do.
The rushing offense and defense both need to improve. Badly. Quarterback Blake Shapen has been impressive in his first two Mississippi State games and the wide receiver room is deep and talented as ever, but they can’t be the only answer.
That’s just for this season.
Mississippi State has its first tally in the loss column. But it isn’t a strike against Lebby leading the future of the program.
Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@gannett.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.
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