After more than 7 months, specifically 172 days, Bettersten did not hear one update about the whereabouts of her son. As any loving mother would be, she figured that she would never learn about her son’s fate. She would call the Jackson Police Department often asking for updates, but the lead investigator would tell her there were no leads, according to NBC News.

This would be acceptable if the Jackson Police Department truly did not know where her son was. But the problem is that they did. In fact, they’ve known since the night Dexter went “missing.”

NBC News reported, through the help of a coroner’s investigator, court records, public documents, and interviews with Dexter’s family, it’s been discovered on the night Dexter left his mom, he was struck by an off-duty Jackson police officer driving an SUV on the interstate.

Despite knowing Dexter’s name, and who his next of kin was, police failed to contact Bettersten, and let his body go unclaimed in the county morgue for months. Since his body went unclaimed, the county buried Dexter’s remains at a penal farm, with other unclaimed bodies, without telling his mother.