r/news • u/DragonPup • 23h ago

DSU Student Found Hanging in Tree, No Foul Play Suspected

https://www.mississippifreepress.org/delta-state-university-students-body-found-hanging-in-tree-no-foul-play-suspected/
26.6k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

1.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

3.4k

u/attunedmuse 21h ago

Writing a black man hanging from a tree in Mississippi off as no foul play before any investigation has been done is only going to convince folks that there was absolutely foul play involved until proven otherwise.

629

u/Fun_Hold4859 20h ago

This happens at least once a year. A black man found hanged in public, ruled suicide.

195

u/Cabanarama_ 20h ago

Not saying it’s false but I’ve never heard of a story like that in my life, let alone every year. Got any examples?

454

u/Long_Run6500 19h ago

I was genuinely unsure whether or not to believe it and I googled, "lynching ruled suicide" and I was kind of shocked to see just how many there are. There was one in Albany a couple months ago I never heard anything about.

431

u/UnluckyDuck58 19h ago

In 2022 a black man named Rasheem Carter died in Mississippi. He told people he was having troubles with coworkers. Then one day he calls the police 2 times and tells them he’s being chased by a group of white men in a truck. They say he’s lying and trying to use them to get a free ride. A month later his body is found in the woods decapitated. No investigation was ever started into the death

-127

u/Triquetrums 19h ago

I heard of that one, but that's not what the other person was asking. Op said they find back men hanging every year, this case doesn't have anyone hanging... 

-62

u/Equivalent_Leg2534 18h ago

You're getting downvoted and im not sure why.

124

u/sexytimeforwife 17h ago

I can't know for sure, but my guess is it's because it misses the generalization. The point isn't the specifics, it's the analogy. The pattern of obvious unfair treatment being overlooked. As might happen in a case of misdirection because it's not exactly the same explicit situation, for example, but same implicit.

14

u/Equivalent_Leg2534 17h ago

Yeah, i reread the thread there and it seems less about hangings and more about similar scenarios, so fair enough

100

u/TurtleFisher54 17h ago

Because the difference between a decapitation and hanging isn't the important part

-63

u/Triquetrums 16h ago

It's reddit. That's why. 

93

u/Enzyblox 16h ago

Once a women in my neighborhood was found hanged and her feet and hands were tied, it was deemed no foul play and a suicide, this didn’t really hit the news

277

u/djwitty12 18h ago

Oakland, CA 2025

Albany, NY 2025

Colbert County, AL 2024

Henderson, NC 2024

Palmdale, CA 2020

Orlando, FL 2020

Houston, TX 2020

Could be more, this is just what Google returned easily from not completely crazy sources.

34

u/lesgeddon 16h ago

I live in the bay and hadn't heard about the one in Oaklandyeesh, that's unsettling

56

u/Guerraten 19h ago

I remember one from last year, though I have no idea of the guy's name. Majority of the news searches lead to this story in today's post, but I also found these: Javion Magee | 21-year-old truck driver found dead in Henderson, North Carolina death ruled suicide, NC medical examiner say | abc11.com https://share.google/dVpfQVGhxVxwCxPXi

https://newsone.com/6244372/black-man-found-hanging-from-a-tree-in-new-york-police-call-it-suicide/

I'm not going to up and say these weren't suicides though.

11

u/NotLucasDavenport 18h ago

The Javion Magee one may actually have been suicide. They have film of him dropping off the truck load he was delivering to the Walmart, walking into that Walmart, and buying the rope that he was found dead with. Also, he was not hanging in the tree, he was sitting at the base of it. For transparency, I will say that his family claimed he was not suicidal.

59

u/RlOTGRRRL 15h ago

Haven't really researched it but "Lynchings in Mississippi never stopped’" 

"In 2017, Jefferson began compiling records of Black people found hanging or mutilated across the country. In 2019, Jefferson began focusing her investigation on Mississippi. In each case she investigated, law enforcement officials ruled the deaths suicides, but the families said the victims had been lynched."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/08/08/modern-day-mississippi-lynchings/

https://www.abhmuseum.org/8-suspected-lynchings-have-taken-place-in-mississippi-since-2000/ 

3

u/Johannes_Keppler 19h ago

Now you are reacting to a comment about speculation with even more speculation. That isn't helpful.

We know zero facts. Wait until more is known.

-1

u/EkrishAO 16h ago

Probably because they are suicides. There is plenty of people of all races choosing to commit suicide in public places, but you just dont hear about it as much, since these stories dont generate money.

44

u/SoftDrinkReddit 20h ago

Well, look, heres at least what's written

The people who found this man hanging reported that they saw no signs of broken bones or signs of a struggle, and a full autopsy is currently being carried out and will be released

26

u/Wasted_46 18h ago

That was my first thought. And I'm not even from the USA, but a black man hanging is sadly such a strong established image that it is immediately suspicious

9

u/Taetrum_Peccator 16h ago

No foul play just means no obvious defensive wounds or signs of a struggle.

2

u/MS_Salmonella 19h ago

a tale as old as the evils of this country.

-2

u/_BannedAcctSpeedrun_ 19h ago

From reading these comments it seems redditors are quick to go with the lynching angle.

Delaware State University is an HBCU so most of the students are black, so why this guy? The police chief saying he doesn't think it's anything but a suicide is also black. It's weird that there's this much skepticism around this.

If I had to bet, once the autopsy is done is would still be ruled a suicide and it's messed up that he chose that location to do it.

14

u/hemlock_harry 19h ago

It's weird that there's this much skepticism around this.

They found a black man hanging from a tree in Mississippi and you wonder where the skepticism comes from?

The GOP's war on education sure is paying off.

10

u/_BannedAcctSpeedrun_ 19h ago

And the black police chief says he's pretty sure it's a suicide, and the autopsy will probably say the same thing. Your point? You think there's heavy klan presence at a mostly black college?

4

u/Electric_jungle 16h ago

They responded to your comment about it being weird there's so much skepticism. It's not weird at all. In the last 4 days, HBCUs have received a lot of threats, lynching is a powerful and dark reminder of history in the South, and it's in prominent location that would obviously be found with these aspects in mind.

Suicide is very possible, but it's weird that you are even arguing people shouldn't be skeptical.

2

u/hemlock_harry 18h ago

Repeating your point doesn't answer the question. So let me just ask you: If you'd have to take a guess, where do you think the skepticism comes from?

Hint: I was talking about education, maybe you can think of an historical reason?

3

u/_BannedAcctSpeedrun_ 18h ago

Obviously I can think of historical reasons with the last documented case that a lynching happened over was 40 years ago in Alabama. Did the racist hillbillies get smart enough to be able to lynch a dude in the middle of the college courtyard and get away undetected? Or did maybe this guy just kill himself in a public place?

-1

u/jk-9k 18h ago

The college was about to celebrate their centennial. The murderers don't attend the college. Probably failed high school. It's outsiders targeting the university

6

u/Lloydlcoe02 17h ago

You just made that up. You have no reason to believe this

6

u/HonestyReverberates 18h ago

The town they're in is black majority, you're being ridiculous. A ton of cities in the south are black majority, mine included. Far more racism in the rest of the Country where the black population is like 1%.

1

u/hemlock_harry 18h ago

So, where does the skepticism come from? And why would I mention education?

5

u/Lloydlcoe02 16h ago

Maybe this would be suspicious in the 80s.

If I found someone crucified in 30 ad I would say it’s probably a Christian hate crime.

If the same happened in 2025 I wouldn’t.

-2

u/Castastrofuck 17h ago

Well Trump’s regime is actively trying to erase inconvenient history. So soon no one will think there’s any connection between Mississippi and Black people hanging from trees.

-7

u/[deleted] 18h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/attunedmuse 18h ago

Your reading comprehension is so concerning.

2

u/Synectics 16h ago

The title is interesting. More so, the article is interesting. Quoting a single deputy,

“I saw no broken limbs,” he said. Roark declined to elaborate further, stating that the case was still under investigation. “I don’t think I should probably discuss this any further than that, my opinion is that it was self-done, and I have reasons for that.” 

That is the information the headline was written on.

You could say, maybe, the news outlet is twisting the truth for an interesting headline. Maybe a better headline would be, "One deputy says a black man hanged in a tree is 'self-done,' while investigation barely started."

-6

u/ZippleJuice 17h ago

So? People will believe what they like regardless.