The body of a missing African American man was found hanging from a tree in Mississippi during a ground search Thursday, authorities said.
The remains were discovered in woods a half mile from the man’s last known residence in Claiborne County, about 60 miles southwest of Jackson, FBI Supervisory Special Agent Jason Pack told the Daily News.
The NAACP’s local branch identified the missing man as 54-year-old Otis James Byrd who vanished nearly three weeks ago, MSNewsNow reported.
He was last seen when a friend dropped him off a Vicksburg’s Riverwalk Casino.
“After several days of missing, [he] was found hanged to death,” the NAACP stated in an email sent to the Department of Justice and obtained by the news site. They asked that the federal government “join the current investigation of the suspicious hanging death of Mr. Otis Byrd.”
Pack did not confirm the man’s identity in an email to the News but said the man found Thursday had been missing since March 2, the same date Byrd was reported missing.
He said the Mississippi Bureau of Investigations is aiding the FBI and Claiborne County Sheriff’s investigation.
The Clarion Ledger reports that Byrd served a little more than 25 years in prison for the murder of Lucille Trimm in Claiborne County after a 1980 conviction. Records show he robbed the woman of $101.
The coroner, reached by the News, said they are awaiting the results of local and federal officials’ investigation before releasing or confirming the man’s identity.