Something strange is afoot in Arkansas...

A tragic event unfolded last month in Jonesboro, Ark. Chavis Carter, a 21-year-old native of Southaven, Miss., died from a gunshot wound to his right temple – while sitting handcuffed in the backseat of a squad car.

Carter and two other passengers were pulled over on July 28 by Jonesboro police after they received a call about a “suspicious vehicle” in a local neighborhood. Carter’s passengers were released after their IDs were run and no warrants popped up, but after officers found that Carter had given them a fake name and that “there was a warrant for his arrest in Mississippi, where he’d skipped out on a drug diversion program,” the officers arrested him.

Only a short time later, the officers found Carter dead in the backseat of their car.

Now here’s where things get strange. The officers searched Carter two different times, and failed to find any weapons (the gun that killed Carter was a “small, .380 caliber Cobra semi-automatic," pictured right). But despite not being able to find a gun on Carter’s person, the officers did manage to find trace amounts of marijuana and “small, plastic bags” in his pockets.

Added to the growing mystery are the autopsy report, released today, which says the fatal shot entered through Carter’s right temple (Carter was left-handed) and testimony  from his mother that he was not suicidal. 

“I think they killed him,” Teresa Carter said of the Jonesboro police department. “My son wasn’t suicidal.” She also told reporters from ArkansasMatters that her son called his girlfriend while in custody, informing her of when he could be picked up from jail. 

Even with the release of the police report, the dash-cam video, and a video detailing how someone could “feasibly” shoot themselves whilehandcuffed, pertinent questions remain:

How did the officers manage to miss a weapon on Carter despite searching him twice?

Why would an alleged suicidal man call his girlfriend and tell her where to pick him up before killing himself? And if Carter did in fact call his girlfriend to inform her he was on his way to jail, wouldn't phone records back up this claim?

The officer in the video reenacting the shooting pulls the gun out from behind him, and it looks as if it was already laid in the seat. Did the officers accidentally leave a gun behind that Carter used?

And if Carter did in fact shoot himself, investigators should check for gun residue on his hands and to see whether his prints were on the gun. 

Due to a request from the Jonesboro Police Department, ArkansasMatters reports that the FBI is conducting an ongoing investigation of Chavis' death, which the coroner officially listed as “suicidal” on Monday. However, “police haven’t ruled the possibility that someone else may have shot Carter.”

There have been some pretty bizarre occurrences over the years, and I'm sure Arkansas police officers can attest to this. Even Jonesboro's Police Sergeant Lyle Waterworth admitted as much, telling ArkansasMatters, "Any given officer has missed something on a search, be it drugs, be it knives, be it razor blades. This instance it happened to be a gun."

But Arkansas' had some recent history with shady local law enforcement, stemming from the notorious Operation Delta Blues. So it’s not surprising that many in Jonesboro, as well as around the country, are skeptical of the official story.

But after losing her son, Teresa Carter just wants answers.

“They searched him twice,” she said. “I just want to know what really happened.”