PORT GIBSON, Miss. (AP) – Federal and state authorities are investigating the hanging death of a black man in Mississippi who had been missing for more than two weeks, the FBI said Thursday.
The investigation involves the FBI, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the United States Attorney’s office. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is also involved.
The man was last seen March 2 and was reported missing by his family days later, FBI Supervisory Special Agent Jason Pack said in a statement. Pack says the cause of death has not been determined, and authorities aren’t sure if it’s a homicide or a suicide.
Jim Walker, a spokesman for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, told The Associated Press that the body was found by the department’s officers while they were searching for 54-year-old Otis Byrd of Port Gibson.
Walker said that about 25 minutes after the officers started the search, they found the body hanging in the woods about 200 yards from Byrd’s house.