A Mississippi judge set up standards for a future independent autopsy of a man’s body, at the request of the man’s widow. Hinds County Chancery Judge Dewayne Thomas formalized through a court order comments he made at a Tuesday hearing that the body of Dau Mabil would be preserved at the Mississippi state crime lab while investigators try to shed light on what happened to the man, the Associated Press reports.
Last month, Mabil’s body was spotted by fishermen, as it floated in the Pearl River about 60 miles south of Jackson, his home city, where he’d disappeared after going for a walk in broad daylight three weeks earlier. A sheriff said an initial state autopsy did not uncover signs of foul play. Mabil’s brother disputed those findings and asked that an independent medical examiner examine the body before releasing the remains to his widow, Karissa Bowley. Mabil’s disappearance prompted an outcry from civil rights organizations and is alleged to have sparked discord between local law enforcement agencies; U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson also wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, requesting a Justice Department investigation into Mabil’s disappearance.
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