Rasheem Carter, a 25-year-old Black father who went missing late last year, was found with his head severed from his body and separated from his spinal cord, which was found in a different location near Taylorsville, Miss.

The Smith County Sheriff’s Office originally ruled that there was no foul play in the death of Carter, whose remains were first found in November, but now say they are still investigating along with the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.

According to Carter’s family, Carter felt he was in danger as he tried to find a way back home to Laurel, Miss. from work in Taylorsville, a majority-white city. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, the family’s attorney, described Carter’s death as a “modern-day lynching.”