Two Mississippi men were found dead, hanging from trees. What we know about both cases

[spanone]

Eyes are on Delta State University as a student's body was found hanging from a tree on campus Monday, Sept. 15. A second Mississippi man was also found hanged on Monday.

Upon investigation, the Bolivar County Coroner's Office has released a statement outlining additional information in the DSU case, which has been ruled a suicide.

Police in Vicksburg are still investigating the other man's death.

Here's what we now so far about both cases, what investigators have released.

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2025/09/16/2-mississippi-men-were-found-dead-hanging-from-trees-delta-state-univeristy-vicksburg-what-we-know/86179765007/?tbref=hp

[UpInArms]

1. Past the paywall

https://archive.ph/RlVFI

[malaise]

2. Thanks

Horrific

[spanone]

5. Hard to believe.

Insane.

[Pachamama]

3. No way would any black person commit suicide by hanging from a tree

Especially in Mississippi!

It begs credulity to think this would be the chosen method.

No way - this was foul play

[Jedi Guy]

6. The medical examiner has released a statement that Reed's body showed no evidence of violence.

No bruises, cuts, lacerations, etc. No broken bones, internet rumors notwithstanding.

So to believe that this was a homicide you must necessarily imagine that a young man in the prime of his life went meekly to his death by hanging without a struggle, that he made zero effort to defend himself. Even if we imagine that someone had him at gunpoint and was intent on hanging him it still doesn't make sense, at least not to me. If faced with submitting to death by hanging or struggling and being shot, I feel like most people would instinctively go with the latter because there's nothing to lose if the outcome either way is death. The survival instinct is a thing.

Logic and the available evidence do not support your assertion, but there's always the possibility more information may come to light, I suppose.

[Pachamama]

7. Was there a toxicology report?

I disagree that there would have had to have been a struggle to prove it was a homicide.

And as I said - no black man would commit suicide by hanging from a tree. Wouldn’t do that. Not to at the very least their mother.

No way.

[Jedi Guy]

9. Toxicology reports generally take weeks, to the best of my knowledge.

I suppose it's possible he was drugged and then hanged, but it seems somewhat unlikely to me.

In any case, your assertion isn't based on logic, which was kind of the point I was making.

[ecstatic]

8. What if he was choked while sleeping and later hanged?

Perhaps while sleeping with the "wrong" person?

[Jedi Guy]

10. Choking someone to death or even to unconsciousness leaves visible marks on the neck.

Even if he was asleep when someone began choking him he'd have awoken and struggled, most probably clawing at his attacker's hands. Unless his attacker(s) thought to clean beneath his fingernails before hanging him, the medical examiner would have found blood or tissue beneath his fingernails and concluded that he fought back. Strangulation also leaves visible signs beyond marks on the neck in most cases such as burst blood vessels.

I suppose it's possible they may have pressed a pillow against his face but even then, he'd have almost certainly grabbed at his attacker's hands in an attempt to get them off of him, ending up with blood and tissue beneath his fingernails from the struggle. Smothering with a soft object is more subtle than manual strangulation but still leaves signs that an alert medical examiner can detect.

And now that I've googled "does smothering with a pillow leave marks" I'm probably on some kind of watchlist, so hooray for me, I guess.

[Karma13612]

11. Who ever did this,

The perps know tox screens take weeks to come back. And that’s also depending on if they bother to do it in the first place. Secondly, they should look to see if the person was strangled first. A hanging will coverup the strangulation underneath. If they got the drop on the guy they would quickly strangle him and then hoist him up to make it look like suicide.

This is horrific.

[Jedi Guy]

13. See my post #10.

A rope is narrower than a person's hands and wouldn't cover up the bruises left by fingers and thumbs. If he was strangled he'd almost certainly have fought back against his attacker(s) and his hands would show defensive wounds. Unless you're a professional martial artist or a boxer, punching another person, especially in the head, is most likely going to leave marks on your hands.

I agree that it's horrific. Suicide always is. All available evidence thus far points to a suicide, though, internet rumormongering about broken bones notwithstanding.

If evidence to the contrary comes to light I'll adjust my opinion, but based on what we know now suicide seems most probable.

[BWdem4life]

18. Ever heard of a garrotte? nt

[Jedi Guy]

20. Yes, I have. My point still stands.

A garotte is even less likely to be subtle, far less so than a rope. A proper garotte made of a thin, strong material like wire can potentially break the skin and even sever blood vessels, esophagus, windpipe, etc., particularly if the attacker is physically strong. A thin garotte of cloth would still absolutely leave ligature marks on the neck.

But for the sake of argument, let's say someone got him from behind with a garotte and then hanged him after he was dead. There would still be physical evidence for a medical examiner to find, such as defensive wounds or biological material from his attacker beneath his fingernails as he tried to claw his way free. Even if he couldn't get at his attacker's skin directly, he'd have clawed furrows in his own neck trying to get free. People do that when they're choking to death.

Side note, probably ended up on another watchlist while googling to research this post. Good times.

[Karma13612]

21. Yup,

that’s what I had in mind. I’ve read that the markings from a garrotte can be obscured by the rope hanging after. A skilled pathologist will hopefully take a really close look.

[EdmondDantes_]

15. Suicide is more than 2x as frequent than murder in the US

The assumption, given the evidence we have now, shouldn't be that this was murder. But people will always jump to conclusions.

[niyad]

12. If you believe the medicl examiner. Given the circumstances, if I were

a family member, I would demand an independent autopsy.

[Jedi Guy]

14. Of course the family will demand an independent autopsy.

You know this. I know this. And the medical examiner knows this.

So now let me ask you: what purpose would it serve for the medical examiner to lie? What logical reason would they have to knowingly lie and claim there are no signs of violence when they know full well that the truth will out in days or a week at most? And furthermore, they'd know that once the truth is out they'll be subject to the blowback of their lie, consequences both professional and personal.

So no, it doesn't pass the smell test that this medical examiner is knowingly, maliciously telling an easily disprovable lie. I suppose I could believe lying about something very subtle that they could claim to have missed.

But broken bones in three limbs? Something that obvious isn't going to be missed, particularly when in some cases broken bones are visible to a casual inspection unless we're talking about hairline fractures.

[niyad]

17. I am old, with a very good memory, and a very good knowledge of corruption

in medical examiner/coroner offices throughout our less than stellar history. I did not say that the person did, in fact, lie, but, given the horrific circumstances, verification and confirmation are in order.

And kindly stop with the uncalled-for, oh-so-superior lecturing. There has been far too much of that already this morning.


Thomas Noguchi, anyone?

[Jedi Guy]

19. I never said you asserted that they lied.

I asked you what logical sense it would make for them to lie when they know just as surely as the sun is going to rise tomorrow morning that their findings are going to be reviewed by an independent examiner. The answer is that it would make no sense for them to lie and would be actively detrimental to them to do so.

As for the "uncalled-for, oh-so-superior lecturing", that was your interpretation of my post rather than its intent.

Thomas Noguchi? Yeah, no. Sorry, I don't find a 40+ year old example of a medical examiner behaving badly to be compelling in 2025. It's a vastly different time now, particularly given the racial element of this suicide.

[CTyankee]

4. "Strange Fruit"

[Clouds Passing]

16. Trey, Cory