Black student's body found hanging from a tree in Mississippi

[Tonk]

Meidas Touch writes about the black student who was found swinging from a tree in Cleveland, Mississippi. The police state "Trey "Reed committed suicide, while the family said the young man's arms and one leg had been broken.

Troy Michaels writes in MTN.

The body of 21-year-old student Demartravion “Trey” Reed was found hanging in a tree on the campus of Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi on Monday. Campus police chief Michale J. Peeler told reporters no foul play is suspected and the death is considered a suicide, despite no official cause of death yet being released by the county coroner’s office.
Members of Reed’s family have stated both his arms and one of his legs were also broken, however police have disputed this.

"At this time, there is no evidence of foul play," Peeler said. "But while there is no evidence of foul play, the body has been retrieved by the Bolivar County Coroner's office. I have requested the assistance of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, the Bolivar County Sheriff's office and the Cleveland PD to assist us in this ongoing investigation."

The right wing is losing its fucking mind over Charlie Kirk's murder. I'll go out on a limb and say that this gruesome death is no suicide.

The Economic Times reports on news from some of the students' family in Grenada, Mississippi.

What is Tray Reed's family saying?

Members of Reed's family are insisting on a thorough investigation. "Please, do your own research on this. Do not let them sweep nothing under the rug. Enough is enough," said Reed's cousin.
No schools in the area were put on lockdown, and police say there is no ongoing threat to campus safety at DSU. "Trey was our little quiet light. He was sweet, well mannered, and would give you the world if he could. We ask that you continue to keep our family in your prayers as we continue to navigate through these unforeseen times," his family said in a statement.

Rep. Jonathan L. Jackson said the reports surrounding Trey’s death and subsequent speculation have profoundly disturbed many, raising grave concerns that demand not only answers but also accountability. "This tragedy and demands a prompt, transparent investigation led by independent authorities. I am calling on all appropriate authorities to immediately review the circumstances and ensure that every aspect, including potential hate motives, is thoroughly examined. No community, no family, and no student should ever face such trauma without the full force of justice and transparency," his post read on X.

?si=LbiIWkgDQwjONma1

[walkingman]

1. It's pretty obvious we are headed back to Jim Crow era. How disgusting.

[paleotn]

2. Some parts of Amurka never left it.

They just keep it on the down low so federal funding wouldn’t be interrupted. Irrational hate lived on, passed from generation to generation.

[bdamomma]

26. Really disgusting

you wonder if the radical right got their wish of total White populace they would do same thing to themselves.

We don't want to go back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Emile]

3. So we're to believe he broke a leg, and both arms

before hanging himself. Worst case of suicide I ever heard of.

Mississippi police need to be investigated.

[mwmisses4289]

6. Some will probably turn themselves into pretzels to try to claim he broke them

when he reconsidered what he was doing, and hit himself against the tree several times, resulting in the broken limbs.

[MadameButterfly]

96. The police are dsiputing the broken limbs

Either it's true or it isn't. Unless the coronor's office is completely corrupt, the truth will come out. If police are lying, do they think they'll get away with it? Would the family claim something that will be easily proven untrue? Something is really off here.

Can we trust the coroner's office?
Have things gone far enough to be concerned about a false report?
Can the Old South have returned in full force this quickly?

[Crunchy Frog]

8. Who's going to investigate them that's not also criminal fascists?

[Jose Garcia]

103. What makes you think that police chief Michael L. Peeler is a "criminal fascist?"

[IronLionZion]

10. Ugh, I had hoped those days were behind us

there have been deaths declared "suicide" when the person supposedly bashed their own head in with a lead pipe or tied themselves to railroad tracks or shot themselves in the back of the head from an angle that no human arm can reach.

[RazorbackExpat]

77. Ah yes, the Cliff Baxter "suicide"

Former Enron exec who shot himself in the back of his head with a shotgun.

Then there was Fortunate Son author and Bentonville, Arkansas resident JD Hatfield, who drove 15 miles to hang himself in a Springdale hotel room

[uponit7771]

22. So it's confirmed he had broken limbs?!!!!?! Fuckin WOW!!!

[orangecrush]

35. Who is going to do that now?

They've been waiting for this day.

[Melon]

36. The coroner has issued statements that no broken

Arms or legs. That was all internet rumor and not true.

[Torchlight]

39. "Based on the preliminary examination..."

[Melon]

46. Right...but do you think the person

Who started this rumor of broken legs or arms X-ray’d them first? And a preliminary investigation can include X-ray’s by a coroner. The man is a coroner, I doubt he refuted a rumor without being sure of what he was seeing.

There are literally people here calling for action and we are proliferating information that’s based on…nothing. This is a coroner issuing information.

[Torchlight]

51. Issuing preliminary information, prior to full examination

Doesn't change the taste of mustard.

[The_REAL_Ecumenist]

83. PREACH & say it LOUDER for the people in the back and overflow....

When you know, you know. My paternal Ggrandfather was lynched in the late 20's early 30's by someone who wanted his land and when my GGrandfather refused, he was run down by that SOB in his truck, who then went onto threaten my "9 YO GREATUNCLE", who had been pushed out of the way when his father saw what was headed their way with a excrutiating death if he told what happened to his daddy and who did it. This happened in NC. So, I'm inclined to believe that that poor kid was lynched because, like my family, this has happened to POC, (black folks in particular), have family history of these vile actions.

[Melon]

91. I don't know if that makes you an expert

On lynching. That sounds like your grandfathered was murdered. Not lynched.

They will do an autopsy soon enough and X-ray the body for broken bones.

[The_REAL_Ecumenist]

94. OH NO, NO Maam !!! Clearly, you don't know WTF you're talking about!Are you, with a STRAIGHT FACE trying

to tell me that people who are LYNCHED are NOT murdered? What the hell is it supposed to be? A bass-ackwards version of CPR directed at POC, with a sickening focus on people like me? Do you even know what LYNCHING is defined as?
"White Americans used lynching to terrorize and control Black people in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Learn more about the history of this barbaric practice and how NAACP worked to end lynching."

Unfortunately, lynching hasn't disappeared.

Lynching is the EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLING of people because of their color, their ethnic origin, the language they speak, their religion, ad nauseum. He was LYNCHED, (run over twice in front of his child), because he refused to basically GIVE the acreage that his parents, (FORMER SLAVES) had literally sweat, bled and work to acquire. He'd prmised his parents that not only wouldn't sell the land but he would work to buy more property.
That inbred, mouthbreathing knuckledragging cretin then threatened a 9year old boy with murder, (mind you, he'd just watched his daddy crushed under the wheels of a "truck". The creep then added the sobriquet that he would kill the rest of the family, including his "BLACK N****r Bitch mother IF he EVER told anyone who killed his papa.
That man lived the rest of his life with HORRIFIC PTSD. So, guess what? YOU don't get to tell me that the LYNCHING of my GGrandfather wasn't that but murder, (STOOPID comment). Because it's clear as day that you have NO EARTHLY idea that you're talking about.

[MadameButterfly]

97. The previous poster agrees that your grandfather was murdered

He/she was probably under the misconception that the manner of death has to be hanging to meet the definition of lynching.

[Melon]

105. No. I thought it was murder versus lynching

Because lynching is murder used to intimidate my a group or a mob. Her relative was killed by an individual. That’s murder.

[MadameButterfly]

109. Anyway, all of us agree that lynching is murder

whichever murders also count as lynching.

[Melon]

111. Absolutely. 100% murdered and horrible.

[The_REAL_Ecumenist]

116. WTF do you THINK Lynching is, moron? One does NOT have to be an expert to see what is in your face?

NOONE who is LYNCHED comes out of it ALIVE!!!!! Wake the fuck up! Ask POC, Black folks in particular, what LYNCHING is and how do people who undergo lynching, whether they're hung, shot, multilated end up...Trust me, it'S NOT conducive to a long & healthy life.

[Melon]

117. Moron?😅. Did you read what I wrote? I said it's murder. Not lynching.

You just don’t get to go watering down words and assigning meaning. Lynching is when a mob murders someone who has been accused but never received due process and murdered.

Not just someone running you down in a car.

Words have power and when used incorrectly or thrown around lose the weight they deserve.

[druidity33]

60. To be a coroner in the US...

you basically need a HS diploma. Maybe there's a certificate course. And this is a coroner there in Mississippi. I'll let you sit with that for a few minutes.

...........

[Melon]

92. You can look up his qualifications and what they did

You can actually look up quickly what was done and his qualifications. This dude runs off of conspiracy anymore versus looking it up. They’ll do an autopsy and publish it. But the kid don’t have broken bones. I’m sure he was X-ray’d already as they would have done that in the accident investigation to look at his neck.

“Online rumors that the student was found with broken limbs were disputed by Bolivar County Coroner Randolph Seals Jr. In a statement cited by local news outlets, Seals said his office conducted a preliminary examination and concluded the student did not suffer any lacerations, contusions, compound fractures, broken bones or injuries consistent with an assault.”

His qualifications.


• Bolivar County Cheif Medical examiner Investigator for past 8 years
• 480 hours of Medical-Legal Death investigation training
• Certified in SUIDI Death (Sudden Unexplained Infant Death Investigation)
• Licensed Mortician and Funeral Director in the State of Mississippi and Tennessee 20 years

[druidity33]

104. So he's a college graduate? A Physician?

His certificate course qualifications do not impress me. The fact that he's held his job for a number of years... also doesn't impress me. My point stands. All you need to be a coroner in MS is a high school diploma and to be 21 years of age. And of course to pass a couple of certificate courses.

[Melon]

106. Alright. We can wait until the autopsy

To find out if he was qualified after 8 years of work to state that a body didn’t have fractured arms and legs. He isn’t making a statement that needs a brain surgeon to make. They have access to X-rays and any other medical scans to determine death.

[druidity33]

112. There's this for your perusal...

https://www.propublica.org/article/idaho-coroner-system-solutions

Please keep in mind that no actual medical reports have been released yet. I would feel more comfortable with an independent autopsy by a qualified medical professional. I hope they do that.

[Melon]

121. Autopsy result released

No broken bones. No foul play.

“It said the autopsy results were consistent with a preliminary examination of the body by the Bolivar County coroner, which found no evidence of foul play. Suicide.

https://www.npr.org/2025/09/19/nx-s1-5546538/autopsy-mississippi-student

[druidity33]

123. And apparently...

an independent autopsy will be performed by a medical professional. We'll see how things stand after that.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/9/20/2344559/-His-body-found-hanging-from-a-tree-in-Mississippi-Demartravion-Trey-Reed-will-get-2nd-autopsy

[Haggis 4 Breakfast]

68. Tragically, the coroner system is still entrenched in MS.

In MS, Medical Examiners (MEs), who are always physicians, are not the norm. The old cronyism of coroners, who don't even need a high school education, do not need to have any [/i]background in medicine, public health or know anything about the human body, remains in place because the republicans of MS want it that way.

Coroners can be plumbers, landscapers, grocery clerks, mechanics. No medical experience required.

An excellent book "The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist," by Radley Balko and Tucker Carrington (2018) pulls back the curtain on the corrupt, incompetent, often deliberately pre-ordained system of what passes for justice in cases of murder and foul play in MS. Their scathing rebuke of the incestuous relationship between MS coroners and law enforcement is staggering. People sent to death row on the flimsiest of "evidence" or outright fabrication and manipulation of evidence is nothing short of scandalous.

I seriously doubt that this young man managed to climb a tree with two broken arms and a broken leg and have the physical capacity to hang himself. But in MS, I do NOT doubt that the coroners could rule it suicide. No doubt at all.

[electric_blue68]

80. What??!!! Omg!

Practically speechless here!

OK, gathers thoughts...
Holy F, no idea of this! The probable rabid twisting of evidence in past cases, and highly probable in this case with such a sordid, hideous track record.

Making it that much more emotionally torturous for the Reed family, and his friends. That poor young man! 😩

[paleotn]

4. Mississippi is still being Mississippi I see.

[electric_blue68]

58. From my readings it was always considered the worst State as far Black people's lives were concerned...

probably Alabama, and Georgia not far behind.
There was "The South", and then "The Deep South".

I don't know much about Florida regarding all this.

[paleotn]

69. And don't forget Louisiana and Texas.

Florida is a hybrid. The northern part, from Jacksonville to P-cola is simply an extension of Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi.

[electric_blue68]

81. Ah, I have heard that about Florida's northernmost section...

Ooops, my omission of Louisiana, and Texas.

[ReRe]

79. Mississippi Burning

[mopinko]

5. hanging is so convenient, idnit?

gimme a break, crackers.

[Crunchy Frog]

7. So we're back to lynchings and police coverups of lynchings.

But it's "the left" who are the violent terrorists.

[a kennedy]

9. WHY HAVEN'T I HEARD ABOUT THIS?????

His arms and leg were broken. A suicide my ass. 🤬 🤬 🤬 WHY ISN’T THIS BEING REPORTED!!!!

[Melon]

37. Because that part is not true

Found hanging. No broken limbs. That was just internet being internet. Coroner issue a statement.

[mwmisses4289]

45. Apparently there is some disagreement between the coroner and family.

My understanding of the first articles I have read is the family says there is evidence of broken bones, the coroner says not.

[Irish_Dem]

54. Melon we do not know the truth yet.

[MuseRider]

101. Hopefully when the coroner sends the report off

the body will then be looked at by a physician. Then they will make a real medical report. Here where I live it is that way unless in the years I have been away from my nursing job and my husband away from his pathology job it has changed.

Anybody with a small amount of knowledge can pronounce someone dead. Cause, at least it used to be, had to be determined by a physician.

[Irish_Dem]

108. Coroners can lie and can be fooled.

I work on cold cases as a hobby.

And it is amazing how many physicians can disagree on findings,
make mistakes, and out right lie when pressured by the powers that be.

In this case we need to see X-rays.
The family needs to get custody of the body at some point and get their own forensic evaluation.

I was trained as a scientist and the only data that ensures you have the truth is primary source data.
The real deal. Not secondary sources.

[druidity33]

113. Coroners can be coerced...

my reading of the "next to no qualifications to obtain job" aspect of being a coroner is that you are beholden to the sheriff or the mayor or the judge that got you that cushy job.

[ReRe]

85. Just curious. How old are you? n/t

[Wiz Imp]

11. "No evidence of foul play." Are they for real? Seriously, a broken leg and both arms broken and that's not considered

evidence of foul play? Someone explain to me how one hangs oneself with both arms broken? And who hangs themselves from a tree rather in the privacy of his home? I guess it's just a conincidence that this looks exactly like a classic lynching, right? But no evidence of foul play....

[Just Jerome]

12. Sick

Strange fruit

[malaise]

13. He broke them first - hmmmmmm

[KS Toronado]

14. Things like this get swept under the carpet with Rs in charge of everything

Have seen nothing of this on the news.

[Rhiannon12866]

98. Good Grief, what century is this?! Have we learned nothing?!

[Clouds Passing]

15. Trey Reed 😢

You did not deserve the terror you experienced Trey. May you rest in peace and sanity.

Nooooooooo! The gop are death wielding monsters, zero higher emotions, zero higher thinking. Reactionary cult followers. They are textbook insane.

[Dave Bowman]

16. Reminds me of the movie Mississippi Burning. 🙁

[popsdenver]

30. But this time

There will be no FBI investigation, it has been hijacked like so many other Federal agencies......

[Mossfern]

76. Would you trust

an FBI investigation under Patel?

[popsdenver]

107. No more

than I would for past ones, JEdgar?, louis freih? Comey?, just to name a few.........

[chouchou]

17. What a Shit-Hole. If Mississippi was a horse, we'd have to shoot it.

Crime & Corrections
#34
Economy
#49
Education
#38
Fiscal Stability
#47
Health Care
#50
Infrastructure
#47
Natural Environment
#41

[niyad]

18. JFC, that is depressing!

[BattleRow]

28. If you gave an enema to the U.S.,the tube would be inserted in Mississippi.

(I'm speaking of individual states,not individuals.(

[chouchou]

34. On their "What to do" propaganda...is Downtown "Jackon city Courthouse"

Hot damn...pack up the babies and let us goin see that thar builting..

[niyad]

19. May all involved receive everything they deserve.

[Heidi]

27. And everything they voted for,

because the hateful cultists’ time will be up once they’re no longer useful to their puppet masters. Right now, they’re being fed a steady diet of whatever slop validates their worst instincts; once they’re no longer needed to drive the movement, they’ll be left to fend for themselves in terms of political power. Tragically, that won’t happen overnight, so in the meantime, many underrepresented people will be stripped of their human and constitutional rights, persecuted, prosecuted, and/or killed.

[muriel_volestrangler]

20. Even without the apparent broken limbs, how many people kill themselves by hanging from a tree?

It's suspicious on the face of it. Most suicides kill themselves in private - so as not to be interrupted. A tree "on campus" sends a message, and that's more likely to come from a murderous lynching than a suicide.

[chowder66]

44. We had two here in California. One was re-examined and the family accepted the final conclusion.

Both were suicide.

The only thing I could find about the broken limbs on this case was one cousin told the other cousin about that.
I don't know if that cousin got their information from the rumors online about the limbs being broken or not.

The sheriff's department would be wise to welcome an independent investigation.

[mwmisses4289]

99. Some do. A friend of mines' son hung himself from a tree in their backyard several years ago.

[barbtries]

21. they call lynchings suicides now.

this happened within the last 10 or so years in NC as well. so many discrepancies.
https://www.facingsouth.org/2014/12/the-strange-death-of-lennon-lacy-another-lynching-.html

funny how they use the word "mistakenly" when it's no fucking mistake to report a lynching as a suicide. that way, there will never be justice.

[1WorldHope]

23. Bastards!!! In the streets people!

What an ugly bunch of useless motherfuckers that would do a thing like this. Hmmm, what are the chances the murders, the lynchers, are white boys between the ages of 18 to 23?
FUCK THEM!

[1WorldHope]

67. I have a regularly scheduled protest on Tuesdays.

I reported this to my co-protesters and they grilled me about my source and generally didn't believe me. I looked it up on Google to prove it and there was another sight that said it wasn't true. I thought, how odd DU is pretty hard on posters to get info right.
I have since found the story in many places. So, I called my local news station and asked them if they had heard this. He looked online and said that they did have it in the online feed, but he would move it up. I told him that i also read a homeless man was also found hanging across town. He is going to research that.

[Prairie_Seagull]

24. Que up, Billy Holidays "Strange Fruit"

I would post the song but being a WM it does not seem quite right.

[ReRe]

84. See reply #13 above from malaise!

Edit: And #29, just below!

[Prairie_Seagull]

102. Thank you for the heads up ReRe.

Great minds, well good minds relative to me.

[radical noodle]

25. They need to get an independent autopsy

Someone with great credentials. A second autopsy is necessary in this case, hired by the family/friends.

[Martin68]

29. Mississippi God Damn.

&list=RDLJ25-U3jNWM&start_radio=1

[durablend]

31. Clearly the left did this to make Trump look bad

[live love laugh]

32. Suicide surely

[C Moon]

33. I just watched Mississippi Burning. Creepy stuff.

[PopArtMonkey]

38. DOJ and FBI are useless.

Who is left to investigate this properly?

[bluestarone]

70. Family members need to recieve his body, then choose what to do.

Also, maybe the BEST LAWYER they can get. Start a go-fund me, if they need to.

[DaBronx]

40. Lynching. Full Stop.

I cannot find the words to describe the horror and sickness I feel. My heart aches for the family and friends and all of us. This affects all of us.
And it won’t stop.
It has never stopped.
We are enduring a very sick world.
The things that are happening are so awful and sadly we are becoming numb to it as a society.
Awful.

[cstanleytech]

41. "Assisted" suicide?

[AllaN01Bear]

42. ""

[surfered]

43. This is terrible. Waiting for right wing outrage

[Layzeebeaver]

47. Mississippi Goddamn!!!!

[Joinfortmill]

48. Horrible

[Evolve Dammit]

49. MSM??

[dawn5651]

50. the song strange fruit comes to mind.

[OneGrassRoot]

52. Another in Vicksburg

I’m trying to find out how many there have been in 2025 because there have been others. NY, Alabama, NC.

All with “no foul play.” Bullshit

[Attilatheblond]

53. Normally, we could count on the AG & FBI to get on this as a clear pattern is appearing

and we know local law enforcement, especially in some places, is anything but reliable. But normal, laws, Constitution no longer operational.

It's almost like some assholes are being told to stir up enough trouble so a civil rights leader, like, oh, say The Rev gets involved and then the riots will commence. Then the hell really starts.

GOP and their paymasters know they will lose upcoming elections and the House, possibly the Senate too. They are in a rush to do the last big power play.

I am sorry I lived this long.

[70sEraVet]

75. Like you, I hate that we cannot trust the FBI or DOJ to tell us the truth.

And your statement that "being told to stir up enough trouble" kinda hits home -- a lot of these white-nationalist folks who have been salivating to start a race-war in this country, have trump's ear. They are his freakin' ADVISORS!

I'm white, but I'll tell them, just like I told the guys in boot camp who were planning a 'blanket party' for one of the other 'boots', if I wake up and there's a blanket party going on, I'll join in, but I'll be on the side of the guy who's UNDER the blanket!

[MrWowWow]

55. The Family Should Get an Independent Autopsy

It is the only way to be sure.

[electric_blue68]

56. !!!! : ( ....jfc

😧 😬
Strength to all affected! 😔

[Jarqui]

57. Some reports sound horrific

But like many cases, lets try to get more reliable facts before rushing to judgement.
The family should have their own medical representative witness the autopsy.
It would be pretty tough to cover up broken bones.

I guess we have to brace ourselves that we may not get all the facts because entities like the FBI may no longer be trustworthy.

[ECL213]

59. You all do realize...

you're doing the same thing we condemned the right wing of doing last week.

Jumping to conclusions based on hearsay without all of the evidence.

I'm just sayin'.

[Tonk]

61. All the reporting does I have seen does include the statemets of the Coroner and the College president

That there was no trauma to the body. That is not the same as what an autosy might provide; the procedure and results are pending at this time.

There was a second hanging near Vicksburg that is not believed to be related to the Delta murder. That victim was homeless and white. I'm not sure how many suicide deaths by people who hang themselves from a tree there are in Mississippi. It is odd, and I suspect uncommon enough, though, that two men chose to kill themselves that way.

From https://www.msn.com/en-us/crime/general/what-we-know-about-the-hanging-deaths-of-two-men-in-mississippi/ar-AA1MFR0J?ocid=BingNewsSerp

In Vicksburg, the body of Cory Zukatis, a white male and Brandon resident, was found hanging in a wooded area near the Ameristar casino.

According to Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace, Zukatis was living in the wooded area where he was found. Pace said Zukatis was on drugs and homeless at the time, which Zukatis’ mother has confirmed with the sheriff’s office.

His body has been taken to the State Crime Lab for an autopsy, and their findings will determine cause and manner of death, as well as if foul play was involved.

[1WorldHope]

62. I read that a homeless man decided to hang himself across town.

I'm sure he was just depressed.

[EdmondDantes_]

73. How is over a hundred miles away across town?

[Pachamama]

63. I absolutely refuse to believe that any black man would choose suicide by hanging - especially in Mississippi

No way

[LetMyPeopleVote]

64. This was a lynching

[LilElf70]

65. Go out on a limb?

I'm pretty sure millions are with you on this.

[evolves]

66. "Mississippi god-damn"

Yeah, this was a "suicide" just like DJT's pedo-bestie was a "suicide....."

[bluestarone]

71. First clue?

I say the first clue to he did NOT hang himself to me is, the speed they decided NO FOUL PLAY!!

[Ilsa]

72. Hanging this time? Isn't the suicide of

a young Black man usually shooting himself in the back of the head? Twice?

[red dog 1]

74. Campus Police Chief Peeler is full of $HIT

Why the hell would his family lie about both of his arms and one of his legs being broken?





Congressman Jonathan Jackson is absolutely right.

Link to tweet

[EdmondDantes_]

114. Sometimes people aren't able to process a suicide as a suicide

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-human-equation/202203/some-people-dont-believe-loved-one-committed-suicide

My great aunt publicly refused to acknowledge her mom (my great grandmother) committed suicide even though she literally had the page bookmarked in how she ended her life. She thought it was scandalous that her 102 year old mom decided it was time to check out after outliving her husband, one daughter and the majority of her friends.

Statistically suicide is more than twice as common as homicide in the US and the number of people murdered by hanging is incredibly small. And hanging is responsible for nearly 30% of suicides.

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.955008/full

[red dog 1]

115. Yeah, but I'll bet that your great grandmother wasn't found hanging from a tree with a broken leg and two broken arms.

[pcdb]

118. There's no evidence of any broken bones. Just internet rumors.

[B.See]

78. the south shall reich again.

[Faux pas]

82. No words

[Blue Owl]

86. This has MAGA written all the fuck over it

[DallasNE]

87. No Mention Of A Step-Ladder Or Ladder

Without one of those, it is pretty difficult to commit suicide by hanging.

Also, a 2nd young man was found hanged in a tree in Mississippi the same day. A homeless white male.

[soldierant]

88. Mississippi God Damn,

nt

[Jack Valentino]

89. I will NOT accept the idea that this was a 'suicide',

WITHOUT overwhelming evidence that it WAS....

[EnergizedLib]

90. This is what trump and Charlie Kirk inspired

[I_UndergroundPanther]

93. I fucking hate

The right wing maga authoritarianism and I hate racist pigs. Makes me want to find a tree for the white maga chuds that did it to him

[BoRaGard]

95. .

[Jedi Guy]

100. The feverish rush to uncritical conclusions begins anew.

A simple Google search returns multiple articles stating that the medical examiner's office issued a statement denying that Reed's body showed evidence of broken bones or, indeed, of any wounds whatsoever. So not just no broken bones but no cuts, lacerations, contusions, no indication of violence whatsoever or self-defense against violence.

The claim of broken limbs has all the hallmarks of internet rumormongering and yet it's simply accepted at face value with zero research or critical examination.

Even if we imagine that the police and medical examiner are lying and Reed's limbs truly were broken, what purpose would such a transparent falsehood serve? Why on earth would they tell such a lie knowing full well the kind of blowback they'll receive once it's discovered? They must know the family will demand an independent examination and the truth will immediately come out. Why tell such a feeble lie when the truth will come out in days, a week at most? For funsies?

I get that we're living in some awful goddamn times but it's very disheartening to watch people leap to conclusions without any kind of investigation or critical thought.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

110. Attorney Ben Crump has been retained to investigate these lynchings

Link to tweet

[LetMyPeopleVote]

119. I am glad that Ben Crump is now involved

Link to tweet

[LetMyPeopleVote]

120. I am glad that Ben Crump is now involved

Link to tweet

[Melon]

122. Autopsy completed. No broken bones. No foul play.

Suicide.

https://www.npr.org/2025/09/19/nx-s1-5546538/autopsy-mississippi-student

[EdmondDantes_]

124. Sadly the truth probably won't convince people, if they even read it

It's so easy to jump to conclusions that we want to believe. Thanks for trying to bring this to people's attention.