Black Mississippi Man Hanged From Tree

The coroner of Claiborne County, Miss., said a 54-year-old African American man, Otis Byrd, was found dead hanging from a tree on Thursday. The FBI and Mississippi Bureau of Investigation are reportedly on the scene and investigating, and the local chapter of the NAACP has asked the Justice Department to join the investigation. Byrd reportedly went missing 10 days ago when a friend dropped him off at Vicksburg’s Riverwalk Casino. Authorities discovered Byrd’s body “hanging about a half mile from his last known residence.” In 1980, Byrd was convicted of murdering a woman in the same county for $101. Byrd served 25 years in prison and was paroled in 2006.