I would imagine in the current climate they would be very careful to make sure of their evidence.

They first claimed Lennon Lacy was also a suicide.

It was a lynching.

ALL lynchings were considered suicides in the past.

The case is fairly recent. Has it been closed?

Read up on this guy.

I know it must be hard for you since you immediately said it was a lynching BEFORE anything was known.

But it wasn't a lynching. Men of this age (and women) commit suicide at quite a high rate. Google it.

This was NOT a lynching.

Sad that you actually want it to be one. That is really scary to me.

...

Memories are long for that sort of thing. I certainly wouldn't rule out revenge. Black men in MS have been hanged for much, much less than that.

He murdered the mother in law of a Democratic congressman.

And her mom wasn't politically connected. She was a convenience store clerk, shot court times in a robbery that netted $100.

But if you say he's an angel and victim of a big conspiracy, I guess it has to be true, even though its the least plausible explanation imaginable

The murder occurred 35 years ago last month. The victim was 55 years old. Byrd is 54. He spent almost half of his life (from age 20 to age 45) in prison before being paroled.

It would come as no surprise to anyone that someone with history might have internal demons that they had trouble overcoming.

totally irrelevant, and extremely distasteful to mention it.

If it is found to be suicide, many if not most suicides leave more questions than answers as to why.

If it was homicide, it's still homicide regardless of his past.

RIP Mr. Byrd

Last edited Fri Mar 20, 2015, 11:58 PM - Edit history (1)

He killed a woman during a robbery--and apparently her son daughter was a Republican. It could be a key part of the investigation.

I am not "making any leaps" but that doesn't seem entirely inconsequential.

Now, it could also be that he couldn't find steady work after getting released from prison, and that made him depressed. Maybe he DID kill himself. He wasn't bound like a typical victim of lynching. Was there a note? FBI and state investigators aren't saying.

Or maybe someone else, for some entirely separate reason, killed him and used the bed sheet to "string him up" for effect? Sick people do sick things.

This is an unusual death and it is being investigated in deliberate fashion--and that's a good thing. I'm not going to jump to conclusions just yet.

Gambling problems can lead a lot of people to suicide too.

I'm hoping it's not the "worst case." We really don't need that shit.

We most likely will never know.

You can speculate the reasons all you want, but it will still just be speculation and nothing more.

People without criminal records also commit suicide.

Young people, who seem to have everything going for them, commit suicide.

I'm very glad it's being investigated, in the case in was not a suicide. But all evidence, at least at this point, lead me to believe it was suicide.

I'm keeping an open mind. All information is relevant at this stage.

How is that speculating.?

Unless you're referring to the evidence so far.

And you believe I'm speculating on that.

Well, I could very well get into details if you wish, based on what is known. It wouldn't be speculation, it would just be inappropriate to discuss. Especially on a message board. Morbid as well. But there would certainly be evidence if it was not a suicide. Real, obvious evidence I'll leave it at that. You can PM me for more detail if you'd like, but this is as far as I wish to discuss it online.

he DID do time in jail for murder. He WAS in a casino. He was found hanged with a bedsheet. The picture that accompanies most of these reports shows a sad-faced man. It's not verboten or "inappropriate" to mention these things, or wonder if they play a role in the man's fate. And maybe we will know the reason--you can't say with certainty that we won't.

Maybe he lost his "fortune," or his job, maybe he felt guilty about killing that lady, maybe he endured bouts of depression, maybe he got a bad medical diagnosis and was terminally ill and wanted to go out on his own terms, maybe his true love left him--who knows? It's not unreasonable for anyone to wonder why a fifty four year old guy might want to kill himself, or someone might want him dead.

Speculation isn't going to make this guy MORE dead, or bring him back to life.

My cousin's pop hanged himself after he became very ill and could not work a long time ago. He wasn't thinking right--devastated his family, reverberated across the larger family unit for years, to this very day. My poor cousin found him and cut him down. It's a bad business, having to deal with that stuff. Not talking about it didn't help. Talking about it does.

There could be plenty of "morbid" evidence that the police aren't mentioning. We're not forensic experts here and we don't have the crime scene videos and pictures and so forth. He might have left a note, maybe in his vehicle, in his quarters, or maybe he might have mailed a note to someone. There are plenty of questions, not a lot of answers yet.

If you think this thread is "inappropriate" you'd probably be best off hitting the HIDE THREAD button. I'm curious as to what happened, and I would like to know WHY.

I don't think I'm alone, either.

There was a post, just a few weeks ago.

A young man who took DU, the internet, and the world by surprise.

He's gone, and there is absolutely no explanation for it.

So have fun with your speculation if you choose to, I really don't see the point, you will never really know.

His family is pained, most families are pained by the unknown.

You can certainly guess at reasons, so have at it.

What does it really matter though? What does it solve.

Does it somehow make you feel better if you can find a reason or excuse for it?

Well good luck with that.

People were hesitant to talk about my father hanging himself as well. That bothered me more than anything. But the more I learned, and the more I discovered, the answers still weren't there. Hurt, betrayal, guilt, confusion, ... those were the feelings my family went through.

is some kind of ha-ha yuck-fest. And that's YOUR characterization--and yours alone. You made it, you own it. So yeah "good luck with that." What a shit thing to say.

This kind of thing sucks, but the more people talk about it, the less isolated they feel. And that might help someone. Maybe it won't, either, but get this straight--this is a discussion board. We don't come on here to tell each other what we're NOT going to talk about. If you can't deal, HIDE THREAD "is" your friend. Net nannying is a bad look. Stop playing the "think of the family" card, too. His family isn't reading fucking DU--they're burying their relative. I mean, come off it--have a little perspective. That was just a weird thing to even suggest.

It is a genuine shame that talking about your tragedy didn't help you and yours, but you're not the poster family for this matter. Your experience is yours, it's not everyone's. With everyone who deals with it, it's different. We've found that confrontation and conversation, rehashing, reviewing, and remembering are helpful and I think the shrinks agree with us. People who don't talk tend to BLAME THEMSELVES--they run around for years with a great big ball of "Was there something I could have said? Was there something I could have done?" guilt and that just eats away at them. The person who killed themself made the decision to do the deed--it's almost always a dumb idea, but family members often berate themselves unnecessarily, insisting "I could have made a difference" when all they would have done is change the time and date of the death.

You might want to step back, before you insult me any further. I don't deserve those rude characterizations you're making about me.

Seriously?

Accusing me of having "fun" with this topic isn't on--and that's what you did.

and retired Air Force Major General who ran for Congress -- in VERMONT -- 9 years ago. The daughter married a Democratic member of Congress from Pennsylvania.

His criminal history may well be relevant for a different reason than you've suggested. He could be that the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the crime -- a crime for which he spent almost his entire adult life in fail -- sent him into a spiral from which he couldn't recover.

Edit to correct son to daughter, above...

The dead man is being "Trevoned" just like Michael Brown was.

This guy was a convicted murderer.

No idea why he killed himself, but I doubt he had any remorse for his victim. Most likely money and alcohol troubles.

He was NOT lynched.

So sad that so many on DU want that outcome...that they WANT a lynching.

Wow. Take a look inside yourselves people.

We just want the truth.

But read up in the thread....DU had this guy lynched as soon as they heard Mississippi.

Pretty obvious to me from the get-go that it was suicide.

Sad, but there ya go.

even when people who commit suicide leave notes, their reasoning often doesn't make sense.

I agree, that it he was most likely not lynched. And thank goodness for that.

But for CNN to mention his criminal record, well, that was not necessary, either.

This is a very sad story, tragic for his family I'm sure.

Uncomfortable for the family of who he murdered as well.

We need to let this man go in peace. We need to let the family of who he killed have peace.

I don't think politicizing this will bring any good, to anyone.

but I also do not believe he should have ever been released from prison.

Murder is murder. I'm against the death penalty, but he should have died in prison.

I was talking about CNN's use of the sensational crawler and their zeal to "Foxify" their viewers.

No offense intended

off of which indicates that they are not sure about anything yet.

with a hanging.

He could have climbed the tree.

This is all just preliminary, and we will certainly find out more.

This is so sad and tragic. My heart is with all who are affected by his death.

Not to jump to conclusions. I know it sounds bad, there was a both occasion where it was ruled as a suicide. An earlier post I read today seems to point to suicide.

...But a black man from a tree? From the south?
Nothing to see here, yadda.... He did commit a bad
thing, but was the tree symbolism by himself or revenge by others?

My father did.

Check your pm.

Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem for most folks,
But to a southern black man back in the day, it was not a place to die
from their own hand.

I understand why some would automatically assume the worst.

Yet, I also wish we could all learn to keep an open mind until facts come in.

If it had actually proved to be a lynching I would be down to Mississippi in a heartbeat to protest.

But, it looks as though this is a suicide. Much like many suicides that happen daily.

My heart goes out to all who have an emotional involvement in this.

It's just that the image of a black man hanging from a tree in the deep South is horrifyingly evocative of America's shameful history in this regard. This needs to be thoroughly investigated, and not just by the locals.

And there is absolutely no harm in doing a thorough investigation.