{"id":164821,"date":"2025-09-18T05:58:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T05:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/family-of-black-student-found-hanging-from-a-tree-in-mississippi-demands-answers-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2025-09-18T05:58:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T05:58:13","slug":"family-of-black-student-found-hanging-from-a-tree-in-mississippi-demands-answers-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/family-of-black-student-found-hanging-from-a-tree-in-mississippi-demands-answers-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Family of Black student found hanging from a tree in Mississippi demands answers – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Profile
Sections
Local
tv
Featured
More From NBC
Follow NBC News
news Alerts
There are no new alerts at this time
CLEVELAND, Miss.\u2014 At Delta State University on Wednesday, there were few signs of the tragedy that befell the campus this week and disrupted the beginning of a new school year.
“Welcome back” banners from the Chamber of Commerce and campaign signs for students running for homecoming court were staked in the grass.
Students had been back on campus just shy of a month when the body of Demartravion \u201cTrey\u201d Reed,<\/a> a 21-year-old Black student, was found hanging from a tree on campus Monday.
Reed’s death has ignited calls for justice and online speculation that he was the victim of a lynching, even though authorities have said there was no evidence of foul play.
Families of other Black men who have been found hanging in Mississippi and were determined to have died by suicide are also questioning their official causes of death.
They say they believe their loved ones were victims of lynchings in a state with a history of racially motivated violence, including the 1955 lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till<\/a>.
Reed\u2019s family has not publicly commented on his death, except through attorneys.
Meara Brown, who was on campus Wednesday to visit her younger sister, who recently transferred to Delta State, said she understands the feelings people are having about Reed’s death.
\u201cJust given the historical significance of trees, Black men and ropes \u2014 there’s just something about it to me that isn\u2019t right,\u201d she said.
Bolivar County Coroner Randolph Seals Jr. said in a statement Wednesday that his office is conducting a \u201cthorough\u201d death investigation.
He echoed other officials\u2019 comments and said a preliminary examination showed no evidence that Reed was physically attacked. More details will be released after the Mississippi State Crime Lab conducts an autopsy, Seals said.
At the campus, Kolby Horace, 21, a senior studying sports management, said he did not know what to believe.
\u201cI just want justice. I don\u2019t know what it is, but I want the truth to come out,\u201d he said. \u201cI just want to know what the real answer is.\u201d
Mtume Mathews, 20, and Jy\u2019quon Wallace, 20, the president and vice president, respectively, of the university\u2019s African American Student Council, said they had discussed organizing a vigil for Reed amid calls by students for more information.
Wallace said he has been thinking about Reed\u2019s family and other students he would see with Reed on campus.
\u201cEverybody\u2019s trying to cope a little differently and trying to get through it,\u201d Wallace said. \u201cWe\u2019re also trying to move in a way where we acknowledge the fact that he was a student. That he was another one of us.\u201d
Wallace said he understood that school leaders might be limited in what information they can release but acknowledged that some classmates are frustrated.
\u201cIt\u2019s just that we really want answers,\u201d Mathews added. \u201cThat\u2019s why a lot of people are fearful in this moment.\u201d
Brown recalled checking her younger sister’s location Monday night and feeling at peace.
\u201cMy last thought before going to sleep was college is the one place where you\u2019re supposed to feel like your children are safe,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd then I woke up to the news.\u201d
Brown, who is from the Mississippi Delta, said cooperating with Reed\u2019s family and releasing the autopsy results to \u201cconfirm or deny the rumors\u201d are steps she thinks officials should take.
Ultimately, she said, she suspects people may not feel settled with authorities\u2019 findings until they hear from the family.
\u201cBecause that\u2019s the only thing that\u2019s going to supersede what the suspicions are now,\u201d she said.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump said Tuesday that Reed\u2019s family had retained him and that \u201chis family and the campus community deserve a full, independent investigation to uncover the truth about what happened.\u201d
He did not identify the family members who hired him.
\u201cTrey was a young man full of promise and warmth, deeply loved and respected by all who knew him,\u201d Crump said on social media<\/a>. \u201cWe cannot accept vague conclusions when so many questions remain.\u201d
Attorney Vanessa Jones said at a news conference Tuesday that she had also been retained by Reed\u2019s family. It was unclear whether she represented the same family members who retained Crump as their attorney.
Jones said she would launch an independent investigation into Reed\u2019s death and demanded transparency from officials.
\u201cThe family does not know exactly what happened on Sept. 15, 2025,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are seeking answers.\u201d
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit <\/em>SpeakingOfSuicide.com\/resources<\/em><\/a> for additional resources.<\/em>
Bracey Harris reported from Cleveland, Mississippi, and Daniella Silva from New York City.<\/em>
Bracey Harris is a national reporter for NBC News, based in Jackson, Mississippi.
Daniella Silva is a national reporter for NBC News, focusing on immigration and education.
© 2025 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ProfileSectionsLocaltvFeaturedMore From NBCFollow NBC News news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeCLEVELAND, Miss.\u2014 At Delta State University on Wednesday, there were few signs of the tragedy that befell the campus this week and disrupted the beginning of a new school year.“Welcome back” banners from the Chamber of Commerce and campaign signs for students […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":164822,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-164821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}