JACKSON, ma’am. — A Mississippi judge on Thursday granted a request from the widow of a deceased man who disappeared under mysterious circumstances to set standards for a future independent autopsy of her late husband’s body.
Hinds County Chancery Judge Dewayne Thomas formalized through a court order comments he made during a Tuesday hearing that Dau Mabil’s body would be kept in the Mississippi state crime lab while investigators try to shed light on what happened happened to the man.
“I’m relieved to have more opportunity to grieve,” Karissa Bowley, Mabil’s widow, told The Associated Press. “Now we can go back to what we were already doing, which is trying to find out as much as possible about what happened to Dau.”
Mabil, who lived with Bowley in Jackson, went missing in broad daylight on March 25 after going for a walk. Mabil escaped a bloody civil war in Sudan as a child and built a new life in America. His disappearance sparked outrage among civil rights groups and is said to have sparked disagreement among local law enforcement agencies.
A legal dispute between Bowley and Bul Mabil, Dau Mabil’s brother, began after fishermen spotted a body floating in the Pearl River in Lawrence County, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) south of Jackson, on April 13. Days later, officials confirmed the remains were those of Dau Mabil.
A sheriff said an initial state autopsy revealed no signs of foul play, but Bul Mabil has disputed those findings. Bul Mabil filed an emergency request that an independent medical examiner examine Dau Mabil’s body before releasing the remains to Bowley and her family.
Bowley’s attorney said her client did not oppose an additional autopsy by a qualified investigator. But she asked the court to ensure that the second autopsy would only take place after police had completed the investigation to preserve the integrity of the evidence on her late husband’s body.
In his order Thursday, Thomas wrote that there was “no case or controversy” between Bul Mubil and his sister-in-law because Bowley consented to an independent autopsy and agreed to make the results public.
He also ruled that Bul Mabil did not have the authority to take further legal action against Bowley in connection with the release of Dau Mabil’s body. Bowley is Dau Mabil’s surviving husband, giving her primary legal custody of her late husband’s body, Thomas found.
Bul Mabil’s attorney, Lisa Ross, said Thomas’s assurance that an independent autopsy would be conducted before the release of Dau Mabil’s body was a “first step toward justice.” But they were disappointed that Thomas removed Bul Mabil as a plaintiff in the legal dispute over his brother’s body.
The mother of Dau Mabil, who lives in the Kakuma refugee camp in northern Kenya, will attempt to travel to the US for her son’s funeral when his body is released. But that can only happen after the investigation and independent autopsy.
In separate interviews, Bowley and Bul Mabil said Capitol Police officers had not told them whether the first state autopsy had been completed.
In April, Democratic U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, whose district includes Jackson, sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland requesting a Justice Department investigation into Dau Mabil’s disappearance.
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Michael Goldberg is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow him at @mikergoldberg.