Families in disbelief after hundreds of bodies found buried behind Mississippi jail

Read the Full Transcript

• Amna Nawaz:

  The gruesome discovery of 215 bodies buried in unmarked graves behind a jail outside of Jackson, Mississippi, has left a community in disbelief.

  The families are angry their loved ones were buried in so-called pauper's graves marked by just a metal rod and a number and families were never notified of their deaths. The startling revelation came months after the mother of 37-year-old Dexter Wade filed a missing persons report last March. It wasn't until August when Bettersten Wade learned her son had been hit by a police car and killed, then buried in that same cemetery.

  For more about this case and the disturbing details that have emerged since then, I am joined now by Bettersten Wade and civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing her and other families.

  Welcome to you both.

  Ms. Wade, can I just begin by saying how very sorry we are for your loss, and thank you for joining us.

  Bettersten Wade, Mother of Dexter Wade: Thank you all too.

• Amna Nawaz:

  I understand, Ms. Wade, you contacted the Jackson Police Department after reporting that your son was missing several times, even after he had been buried without your knowledge.

  Give us a sense of what they told you over those many months and what those months were like for you, not knowing where your son was.

• Bettersten Wade:

  Well, it was devastating to me, because I didn't know where he were.

  And then I was calling them. They didn't have no information to let me know, have they found any information? All the details that I gave them for leads, they never came back to me to say, well, that lead led to something that we can work with. And I just couldn't believe that he had disappeared off the face of Earth and nobody knows where he at.

  And it was just horrible for me. And every day I wake up, I just want — I just look, look, look, just looking for him, just out in the streets looking for him. And, I mean, that's heartbreaking for a mother, and can't say hello, don't know how to get in touch with him. That is a horrible thing for a mother.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Mr. Crump, after it was discovered that Dexter had been killed, that he had been buried in this grave, his body was exhumed in November. There was an autopsy conducted. He was given a proper burial.

  But I also understand a wallet was found in his front pocket with his I.D., his home address, his insurance card. What's the explanation officials give for why no one was notified he had been killed and buried?

  Benjamin Crump, Attorney For Wade and Other Families: There really is no explanation that they have offered.

  They claimed that they tried to reach out to Ms. Bettersten. And you should know that Ms. Bettersten is the named plaintiff in a lawsuit against the Jackson Police Department, because they killed her brother three years earlier. Now, she went through two criminal trials, had several press conferences.

  So when they called her house, if they did call her house, like they claim, they knew where she lived. They knew how to get in contact with her if they really wanted to notify her that her son Dex had been hit by a police car. So it is very suspicious that they would just bury him in a pauper's grave because they said they could not identify his next of kin.

  Ms. Bettersten does not accept it. And because of her tenacity, it has exposed all of these loved ones being dropped in a hole in a bag behind a Mississippi jail.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Mr. Crump, the Jackson mayor did say there were mistakes. He also just said that Dexter Wade's death was a tragic accident. He said there was no malicious intent in failing to notify the family.

  We know the police department has new notification procedures right now. What recourse are you specifically seeking right now in these — for these families you represent?

• Benjamin Crump:

  We're seeking to have the federal Department of Justice come in and do an investigation to make sure that each and every one of these citizens, disproportionately Black citizens, whose lives matter will be identified, their families notified, and them given a proper funeral.

• Amna Nawaz:

  And I should say, Ms. Wade, I mentioned families because you are not alone here. There's been in the last few months the discovery at least two other men; 40-year-old Mario Moore and 39-year-old Jonathan Hankins were also killed and buried in that same cemetery and their families not notified for months.

  From your perspective, Ms. Wade, what do you want to see happen now?

• Bettersten Wade:

  Well, first of all, I feel like that the city need to give me an acknowledgement to say that, hey, I'm sorry. I mean, just give me some kind of closure and explain to me what actually happened to my son on that freeway that night.

  How did it actually occur, you know, just what went down, the events that went down with it? And I want to see justice. I want to see justice done for this, because it's wrong. It's wrong to take somebody's child and bury them in a field and take — and I didn't even get a last chance to say anything to my child, or I didn't even get a last chance to just say, babe, I love you, just to look down on them and say, babe, I love you.

  They haven't even came and called me and said, Ms. Wade, could you come down and we explain to you what happened? I mean, I haven't even got a word. And so how do that feel? That makes you feel like they are guilty. They are guilty of a crime, because they can't tell you what happened.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Ms. Wade, do I understand correctly that the mayor, no one from the police department has reached out to you to explain what happened to your son?

• Bettersten Wade:

  No, no one have reached out to me to say — to explain it, to explain what happened to my son.

  But I did at least have city supervisors — the supervisors, the board supervisors to say that they hated what happened to me. But I haven't had said anything — nobody from JPD, Jackson Police Department, have came to me and acknowledged me.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Mr. Crump, the story gets even more disturbing with this discovery of 215 bodies in that cemetery. What do we know about those bodies?

• Benjamin Crump:

  We know, based on the records from the coroner's office, that, since 2016, in the last eight years, we can identify 215 individuals that were buried behind that jail, and their families have not been notified.

  Furthermore, Mr. Wade was number 672. That means there are 671 other people buried behind that jail marked with only a number.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Mr. Crump and Ms. Bettersten Wade, I thank you so much for joining us tonight. I have a feeling we will be following up on this story in the weeks and months ahead.

  Thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.

• Benjamin Crump:

  Thank you.