Exclusive: Mississippi sheriff sheds light on man found hanging

[B2G]

Exclusive: Mississippi sheriff sheds light on man found hanging

03/21/15 10:08 AM
By Joy-Ann Reid

On March 2nd, Otis Byrd went to the casino.

Byrd sometimes liked to gamble, said Sheriff Marvin Lucas, who has lived in rural Claiborne County, about an hour and a half drive from Jackson, Mississippi, all his life.

Lucas, who besides being sheriff is also the immediate past president of the local NAACP chapter, knew Byrd, whom he would sometimes see at services at Mount Burner Baptist Church. Lucas has known the church’s pastor, Ray Earl Coleman since eighth grade.

Byrd was on probation in February 1980 when he robbed the Trim Grocery store in Port Gibson, the nearest town. “The store was not far from where his dad lived on Tillman Road,” Lucas said of Byrd. “Lucille Trim had this little store and he robbed it, and when he did he shot and killed her. He probably went there every day. He knew her.”

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/exclusive-mississippi-sheriff-sheds-light-man-found-hanging

[cigsandcoffee]

1. It seems ironic that one of the known facts in this story is that he had murdered a white person.

The murdered woman's daughter is a retired Air Force General and Republican Congressional candidate in Vermont. If Otis Byrd was murdered, I guess she'd have to be a suspect.

[B2G]

2. She lives in Virginia

I would guess there's no way she would be a suspect.

[cigsandcoffee]

8. Just to continue the wild speculation - she could have paid someone to do it.

I think I'd be holding a decades-long grudge if my mom was murdered - anyone might. And someone who attained the rank of general surely knows how to get things done.

That said, I doubt very much this is the case. It's just something the police would have to rule out if the investigation shows it was a murder.

[Shrike47]

3. It sounds to me as though he ended his sad, unhappy life.

His life really ended when he was 19. After that, he was going through the motions until he ended it.

[alphafemale]

5. Maybe. First thing I would determine was whether the bed sheet was his. nt

[Baitball Blogger]

11. Bed sheets? Really?

Seems like someone who decides to commit suicide who isn't imprisoned would select something more suited for the job.

Did the sheet have two holes in it?

[JaneyVee]

4. This is horrifying and I hope they catch whoever did this.

[Oklahoma_Liberal]

6. It's not suicide?

[JaneyVee]

7. Sheriff said his feet were 2ft off the ground and found nothing to step off of.

[Oklahoma_Liberal]

9. They also said they don't know that a crime was committed yet.

One could shimmy up a tree if one was so inclined.

Also, the object used -- a bed sheet -- seems to point strongly to suicide. The man spent most of his life in prison and what is the most common method of suicide in prison? Hanging, with a bed sheet. The fact that his hands weren't bound and that a bed sheet was used points strongly to suicide.

[Baitball Blogger]

12. That seems a bit presumptious that someone who was in prison

would select a sheet to do the job.

[FrodosPet]

10. Why didn't he fight back? Was he drugged first?

According to the reports I've seen, his hands were not tied, and the skull cap was still on his head.

Maybe he was lynched by a racist, maybe he was murdered because of gambling debts, maybe he flirted or slept with the wrong person, or maybe he climbed the tree and killed himself.

So many possibilities in this sad case.

[onenote]

13. A toxicology report should answer that question.