PORT GIBSON, Mississippi (CNN) — Otis Byrd was found this past Thursday hanging from a tree in the Mississippi woods, 15 feet above ground. There was no chair or other platform in sight that he might have stood on if he committed suicide. His hands were not tied, so it is possible that he climbed the tree, tied the noose of bedsheets around his own neck, then jumped. But it is equally possible that someone else hung him from that tree.
Claiborne County Sheriff Marvin Lucas said he doesn’t want anyone to jump to the conclusion that race was involved. But it’s Mississippi, after all, and the the state has a checkered history when it comes to the bodies of black men hanging in trees. Especially in secluded areas like Port Gibson, a small town with a population of about 1,500 people, situated in rural Claiborne County, about 60 miles southwest of Jackson, the state capital.
Boyd had served time in prison for murdering a woman, and was paroled in 2006 after serving 26 years. He was found about 500 yards from the house he was renting. Family members described him as a “good, hardworking man.”
The FBI, the Department of Justice and The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation are investigating.
