A veteran died in police custody. His body was returned to his family with some organs missing

QUEENS, N.Y. -- (WPIX) -- Two days before he died, Everett Palmer Jr. called his brother, Dwayne, to tell him he was on his way from Delaware to New York to visit him and their sick mother. But first, he said, he wanted to resolve an outstanding DUI warrant from an incident in 2016 in Pennsylvania to make sure his license was valid for the drive to see his family.

The phone call was the last time the family would hear from the 41-year-old US Army veteran and father of two.

On April 9, 2018, two days later, the family was told that Palmer had died in police custody at the York County Prison. Fourteen months later, the Palmers say they still don't know what really happened. But they are suspicious because when Palmer's body was returned to them, his throat, heart and brain were missing.

"This entire case smacks of a cover-up," civil rights attorney Lee Merritt told CNN by phone.