A mother reported her son missing in March. Police kept the truth from her for months.

Seven months of searching for her lost son brought Bettersten Wade to a dirt road leading into the woods, past an empty horse stable and a scrapyard.

The last time she’d seen her middle child, Dexter Wade, 37, was on the night of March 5, as he left home with a friend. She reported him missing and repeatedly followed up with authorities, but police in Jackson, Mississippi, told her they’d been unable to find him, she said. 

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It wasn’t until 172 excruciating days after his disappearance that Bettersten learned the truth: Dexter had been killed less than an hour after he’d left home, struck by a Jackson Police Department vehicle driven by an off-duty officer as he crossed a nearby interstate highway. Police had known Dexter’s name, and hers, but failed to contact her, instead letting his body go unclaimed for months in the county morgue. 

In early October, Bettersten finally was told where she could find her son: the Hinds County penal farm.

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The department did not respond to detailed questions and has not commented on or explained how it handled Dexter’s death.

After this article was published, a spokesperson for Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba emailed a statement to NBC News offering “our sincerest prayers and condolences” to Dexter’s family.

Read the full story on NBCNews.com