What happened to Dexter Wade? GoFundMe raises $6,160 after 37-year-old was fatally struck by a Jackson police officer 

Dexter Wade, a 37-year-old man with mental health issues, was fatally struck by an off-duty police officer along an interstate on March 5, 2023. However, his family were not notified about his death until last month.

A recent report on NBC alleged Jack Police failed to notify Dexter Wade’s mother, Bettersten Wade, that her son had died for months despite being aware that Bettersten filed a missing person report in March shortly after he disappeared on March 5.

According to NBC News, Dexter Wade was last seen on March 5 before he left home following an argument with his mother. On the same night, he was reportedly struck by a Jackson police officer. Dexter was reportedly walking across Interstate 55, a six-lane highway when a Jackson police SUV driven by an off-duty corporal struck him. The officer, who alerted police, was not injured. However, responding officers failed to administer a field sobriety test. The incident was later ruled accidental.

In the following days, the victim was identified as Dexter Wade after the coroner found a bottle of prescription medication in his pocket with his name on it. Wade’s mother was listed as his next of kin. On March 8, the investigator, LaGrand Elliott, allegedly called Bettersten Wade’s number and left a voicemail in an attempt to notify her about Dexter's death. However, Bettersten Wade told NBC she does not remember getting a call from the officer and could not access call records to check.

Meanwhile, Bettersten Wade, who had not heard from her son for days, was reluctant to notify the police, because her brother was killed by a Jackson police officer, who was convicted of manslaughter in 2022. Then Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch asked a judge to throw out the officer’s conviction. The case is reportedly under appeal.

However, overwhelmed with concern, Bettersten Wade finally notified the police on March 14, who arrived at her home and filed a missing person’s report. The NBC report claimed that Police had known Dexter’s name, and hers, and were aware that he died days earlier at the hands of the off-duty cop but did not disclose the information to Bettersten. The police are accused of letting his body go unclaimed for months in the county morgue.

The report alleged that while Bettersten Wade pleaded for help in finding her missing son, the police buried Dexter Wade in a pauper’s field at a Mississippi penal farm. Meanwhile, Bettersten Wade continued to search and even posted multiple messages addressing her missing son, pleading for him to come back home.

June 18 was Father’s Day. On Facebook, Bettersten pleaded to Dexter directly: “I am trying to find you but no one knows what happened to you. I wish someone would have seen you. I love you very much, please come home.”

Bettersten said that in the ensuing months after she filed the missing person’s report, she repeatedly checked for updates with the police to no avail. However, this changed when a new investigator took over the case in August. Shortly after, they notified Bettersten about her son’s death. In October, it was finally revealed that her son was buried in a pauper’s field at a Mississippi penal farm in late July.

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Bettersten Wade GoFundMe pleads for funds for son Dexter Wade's burial

In the wake of the incident, Bettersten Wade launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds for a proper burial for her son, Dexter Wade. The fundraising page, which has raised $6,160, said that she had been looking for her son for months but the police failed to notify her that he was buried in a pauper's field after he was fatally struck by an off-duty police officer.

“Hi, my name is Bettersten I need help digging my son Dexter up and giving him a proper burial.” She added, “I need help so I can give him a proper resting place.”

Dexter, a father of two, was reportedly diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Meanwhile, Jackson police have not yet commented on the NBC report.