{"id":35301,"date":"2023-12-02T10:57:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-02T10:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/police-conceal-death-victim-buried-anonymously\/"},"modified":"2023-12-02T10:57:00","modified_gmt":"2023-12-02T10:57:00","slug":"police-conceal-death-victim-buried-anonymously","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/police-conceal-death-victim-buried-anonymously\/","title":{"rendered":"Police Conceal Death, Victim Buried Anonymously"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Calls for a federal investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) are mounting after the latest discovery into the unjust death and burial of Dexter Wade of Jackson, Mississippi. Both attorney Ben Crump, representing the Wade family, as well as civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton, have publicly called for an investigation into Wade&rsquo;s death.<\/p>\n\n<p>In March, Wade&rsquo;s mother Bettersten Wade called police for help, anxious about the whereabouts of her son, who&rsquo;d gone missing. After repeatedly asking for updates, Bettersten was eventually notified in August&#8211;more than six months later. She was told that Dexter had been killed by a police cruiser while attempting to cross the highway. By the time Bettersten was notified of Dexter&rsquo;s death, he&rsquo;d already been buried anonymously in a plot of land owned by the county.<\/p>\n\n<p>Initially, Bettersten says local officials explained the time gap by saying that Dexter had been found with no identifying information. After his body was exhumed, however, an independent pathologist confirmed in an autopsy that Dexter had been carrying a wallet that included the local address that he shared with his mother. These findings suggest that authorities knew where Dexter lived. Yet they made no attempt to contact her about her son, despite the fact that she&rsquo;d already filed a missing person report.<\/p>\n\n<p>Their attorney said, &ldquo;The fact that Dexter had a state identification card and several other identifying items shows us that there was a concerted effort to keep the truth and manner of his death from his family. There is no excuse, not even incompetence, for not notifying a next of kin of an identified man&rsquo;s death.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead2\">Possible Preaching Angle:<\/h2>\n\n<p><em>Though it&#39;s important to differentiate between accidental death and murder, every human is made in the image of God, and therefore loss of life is inherently sacred and should not be minimized or concealed.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3372,3743,3745,3800,3810,3889,4087,4110,4147,4184,4199,4264,4351,4368,4411,4520,4546,4898,4963],"tax_ctp_topics":[395],"class_list":["post-35301","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-accountability","tax_ctp_tags-deceit","tax_ctp_tags-deception","tax_ctp_tags-dishonesty","tax_ctp_tags-distrust","tax_ctp_tags-ethics","tax_ctp_tags-government","tax_ctp_tags-guilt","tax_ctp_tags-hiddenness","tax_ctp_tags-human-worth","tax_ctp_tags-hypocrisy","tax_ctp_tags-integrity","tax_ctp_tags-leadership","tax_ctp_tags-lies","tax_ctp_tags-lying","tax_ctp_tags-national-sanctity-of-life-day","tax_ctp_tags-news-that-illustrates","tax_ctp_tags-secrecy","tax_ctp_tags-shame"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Police Conceal Death, Victim Buried Anonymously - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/police-conceal-death-victim-buried-anonymously\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Police Conceal Death, Victim Buried Anonymously - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Calls for a federal investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) are mounting after the latest discovery into the unjust death and burial of Dexter Wade of Jackson, Mississippi. Both attorney Ben Crump, representing the Wade family, as well as civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton, have publicly called for an investigation into Wade&rsquo;s death. Read more...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/police-conceal-death-victim-buried-anonymously\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/ogimage.png?resize=1200,628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CTpastors\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/police-conceal-death-victim-buried-anonymously\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/police-conceal-death-victim-buried-anonymously\/\",\"name\":\"Police Conceal Death, Victim Buried Anonymously - CT Pastors\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-02T10:57:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-02T10:57:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/police-conceal-death-victim-buried-anonymously\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/police-conceal-death-victim-buried-anonymously\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/police-conceal-death-victim-buried-anonymously\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Police Conceal Death, Victim Buried Anonymously\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"name\":\"CT Pastors\",\"description\":\"Timeless wisdom for pastors with forward-thinking solutions\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Christianity Today\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"caption\":\"Christianity Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/CTpastors\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Police Conceal Death, Victim Buried Anonymously - CT Pastors","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/police-conceal-death-victim-buried-anonymously\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Police Conceal Death, Victim Buried Anonymously - CT Pastors","og_description":"Calls for a federal investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) are mounting after the latest discovery into the unjust death and burial of Dexter Wade of Jackson, Mississippi. 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