Body Found Hanging in Claiborne Co.

By Erin Burt, Web Content Producer for WJTV, CBS Affiliate, Jackson, MS.

CLAIBORNE COUNTY, Miss. – (WJTV) According to a press conference held by the FBI and the Claiborne County Sheriff’s Dept., the body was found with a bed sheet tied around the neck and a skull cap on the head, hanging from a tree. The hands were not tied behind back. The body was not discovered on family property, but was found at 10:21 am, 500 yards southwest of a house belonging to family members of Byrd. The incident has not been confirmed as a homicide or suicide.

The Claiborne county chapter of the NAACP and family members say that Otis Byrd, a man reported missing, was found hanging in the woods not far from his last known residence. So far, the FBI and MBI has not released the identity of the person found and the death is currently under investigation.

This statement is from an official release from the FBI and Mississippi Bureau of Investigation:

“Earlier in the day, the Claiborne County Sheriffs Department and the Mississippi Wildlife Fisheries and Parks conducted a ground search for a man who had been missing since early March. Officers located a man hanging in the woods near Old Rodney Road a half mile from his last known residence.”

The family of Otis Byrd filed a missing persons report with the Claiborne County Sheriff’s Department March 8th. Byrd was last seen on March 2nd. MBI received a missing report from the sheriff’s department on March 13th. The Claiborne County Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People called for the U.S. Department of Justice to assist in the investigation.