March 20, 2015
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The FBI opened an investigation into the death of a black man whose body was found hanging Thursday from a tree in the southern US state of Mississippi, officials said.
The discovery of the body garnered considerable national media attention, coming at a time of heightened tensions and sensitivities around race in the United States.
The body was found by police who were looking in the woods near Port Gibson, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) southwest of Jackson. The unnamed man was reported missing after disappearing from his nearby home on March 2, according to a statement from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Investigators were examining the scene for evidence to determine the cause and manner of death -- it wasn't immediately clear if it was a homicide or if the man had killed himself.
But powerful civil rights group the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) has asked federal authorities to examine the case, according to local television network WJTV.
