The hanging death of a black man in Mississippi, who had been missing for over 2 weeks, is being investigated. Federal and state authorities are investigating the matter as the FBI reported on Thursday.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the United States Attorney’s office are all involved in the investigation along with the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.
The man has been seen last on March 2nd and days later his family had reported him missing, Jason Pack FBI Supervisory Special Agent said in a statement. Pack has also said that the cause of death has not yet been established and authorities are not completely sure if the case is a suicide or a homicide.
A spokesman for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, Jim Walker has informed the news press that the body had been discovered by the department’s officers when they were on the search of a 54-year-old Otis Byrd of Port Gibson.
Walker said that 25 minutes after the officers initiated the search, they came across the body of the man hanging in the woods located about 200 yards away from Byrd’s house.
Not a single one of the authorities have positively identified the corpse as Byrd’s. Claiborne County Sheriff Marvin Lucas Sr. has stated that only upon the completion of an autopsy, a positive identification will be available. An autopsy will also help them conclude whether the case was a homicide or a suicide. Lucas also informed that the body has sent over to the state Crime Lab in Jackson. He also said that the body was discovered while it was hanging by a bed sheet.
Walker also informed the press that the body has shown “obvious signs” of decomposition which clearly indicated that it had been hanging there for more than a day.
The land where the body has been found is owned by Johnie Baker, 87.
Baker has described that the area he owned was filled with pecan and walnut trees and hunters and various wild dogs were a regular there.
