Dexter Wade, who was buried without his family’s knowledge, had an ID card with his home address on him, according to his lawyer

An independent pathologist examined the freshly exhumed body of Dexter Wade – the Mississippi man who was killed by police and buried in a pauper’s grave without his mother’s knowledge – and found a wallet containing an ID card bearing the address of a house that he shared with his mother. the family’s lawyer said Thursday.

Pathologist Frank Peretti reported that he found the wallet in the front pocket of Wade’s jeans and that it contained his identification card with his home address as well as a credit card and a health insurance card, attorney Ben Crump said in a statement.

Crump, who ordered the independent autopsy, said he shared Peretti’s initial findings. NBC News has not seen the full autopsy report.

A representative for Crump confirmed that the home address matched that of his mother, Bettersten Wade. She reported him missing on March 14, nine days after he was struck by a patrol car while crossing a highway.

She received no information from police about what had happened to him until she learned on Aug. 27 that he had been killed less than an hour after leaving his home and buried in a Hinds County-owned pauper’s field .

The Hinds County coroner’s office said it confirmed the identity of Dexter Wade within days of his death and called a number listed for Bettersten Wade but received no response. Bettersten Wade said she has no recollection or record of such a call.

A coroner’s investigator has reported that he also passed on Dexter Wade’s information to police.

The findings from the ID in the wallet suggest that authorities knew where he lived all along, but there is no indication that authorities went to the address before Wade was buried.

Bettersten Wade called the news “another punch in the gut.”

“If they had a wallet and knew where his address was, why didn’t they just go to his address when he was laying on the highway and pick me up so I could have seen my son?” she said.

“I could have caught one last glimpse of my son. I could have been there because they had all this information. And how long did it take them to come to my door and knock on my door after all this information? ?”

Crump said in his statement: “The tragic news we received today from the independent pathologist was heartbreaking for everyone who knew and cared for Dexter Wade, especially his mother.” The fact that Dexter had an ID card and several others Having identifying items shows us that there was a concerted effort to keep the truth and manner of his death secret from his family. There is no excuse, not even incompetence, for not informing next of kin of the death of an identified man.”