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A Kentucky family still awaits answers to what happened to a young mother of four in Mississippi. A teenage immigrant is reported missing in North Carolina and is found dead 11 days later. A young man traveled to a music festival in Michigan and was found dead on a trail. In separate incidents, families were left with few details after the deaths of two 21-year-olds in Georgia.
From the Deep South to the Midwest, there have been at least 10 reports of Black people found dead hanging from trees in the past year. In some instances, police have not indicated whether they suspect foul play. In other cases, the deaths have been ruled a suicide.
The suspicious circumstances of a loved one’s death and the response from authorities have left many Black families and observers questioning the investigations. For some, people found dead hanging from trees are a reminder of the thousands of Black people lynched in America and the cover-ups that often followed.
Law enforcement’s disproportionately low rate of closing a homicide investigation when the victim is Black versus white also makes it hard to take the police’s preliminary reports at face value, a psychologist and a sociologist told Capital B.
Historian Keisha Blain said Black people’s suspicions are rooted in the racial terror of the 19th and 20th centuries.
“For generations, Black communities have lived with the knowledge that Black people could be subjected to violence in ways that were not always acknowledged, investigated, or treated with the seriousness they deserved by law enforcement,” said Blain, a professor at Brown University. “This history is one reason human rights activist Ida B. Wells passionately advocated for federal protection of Black citizens and for greater accountability.”
It’s that kind of accountability that the Legal Defense Fund is calling for in the present day.
In an Aug. 24 letter addressed to Congress, the LDF called for the creation of a congressional commission to investigate suspicious deaths of Black people across the country, improve federal data collection, and make the findings available to the public.
It’s also hard to ignore the cases that have either never been solved or deemed inconclusive.
In a report earlier this year, the nonprofit civil rights and international human rights organization JULIAN identified 70 cases between 2000 and 2025 of what is described as “modern-day lynchings.” These deaths occurred in Mississippi, Texas, Georgia, Louisiana, Florida, Tennessee, and Alabama.
Other experts also point to how historical trauma informs why the handling of the recent cases triggers people.
“When we hear about someone found hanging, it evokes that imagery of lynching,” Sherry David Molock, a professor of psychology at George Washington University, previously told Capital B. “That imagery is evoked because of historical trauma. So it’s not surprising that we say, ‘Eh-eh, something else going on here.’”
The history of racial violence in the U.S. informs how people respond when a Black person is found hanging. It’s even worse when there are unanswered questions about the circumstances of the death, Blain said.
“It can evoke collective memories of racial terror and long-standing concerns about whether Black lives are truly valued in this country,” she continued.
These are some of the recent hanging deaths of Black people that have been reported across the country.
Mississippi
When Tasia Fortune came to Kentucky for a family reunion in July, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, her mother recalls. Just weeks later, on Aug. 3, the 29-year-old was found dead hanging from a tree outside an abandoned house in Jackson, Mississippi.
Christy Spivey, Fortune’s mother, told ABC News her daughter was a loving mother of four who was not behaving strangely when she last saw her in Kentucky.
“She did not do this to herself,” Spivey said. “I know my daughter, and she did not do this to herself.”
Fortune isn’t the only Black person whose death in the state gained nationwide attention. Although college student Nolan Wells was found July 6 after a boating trip with friends and his death wasn’t a hanging, his parents are on a nonstop campaign to get answers into his mysterious death. The cause and manner of his death is still undetermined.
In September 2025, Demartravion “Trey” Reed, 21, was found hanging from a tree on Delta State University’s campus. Reed, from Grenada, Mississippi, was found just a month after starting classes. Despite the Mississippi State Medical Examiner’s Office finding no evidence of foul play, others still questioned the validity of the “joyful” young man dying by suicide.
“One thing he said [was that] he wanted to be a truck driver. He wanted to go to college,” Reed’s uncle said. He added that he and his family want to “bring the truth to the light. That’s what we’re looking for.”
Ben Crump, a nationally renowned civil rights lawyer, vowed to help the family find the truth through an independent autopsy, but earlier this summer the family said they hadn’t heard from Crump in seven months, the Mississippi Free Press reported.
North Carolina
In North Carolina, Demetrius Fleming, 38, was found dead in an apartment in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, on Aug. 21, according to local news station WRAL. Police Chief Lawrence Wiggins said police received a call that morning of a reported suicide. In Fleming’s obituary, he was described with an “ever-present smile” and willingness to help others. He leaves behind nine children.
Fleming’s death comes a week after an unidentified Black man, 32, was found hanging from a tree in downtown Raleigh. Despite an uproar on social media claiming that this was a lynching, police recovered surveillance video showing the young man acting alone, with a cord in his hand. Raleigh Police Chief Rico Boyce said the 32-year-old’s identity will remain anonymous to respect the family’s privacy. However, Boyce did share that the man’s mother said that prior to his death, her son was battling mental health issues, according to ABC 11.
Juliana Nzita, 16, went missing in late April. Eleven days later, she was found hanging on church property in Charlotte, North Carolina. Nzita had emigrated from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Investigators found no defensive wounds, no signs of physical or sexual assault, and no evidence of foul play or external involvement.
Georgia
Justice Kai James, 21, was found hanging outside a cafeteria at the Turner Jobs Corps center in Albany on June 21. Nearly a month later, investigators ruled his death as a suicide. Chasity James, his aunt who raised him for 20 years, told WALB that her nephew did not have any mental health issues that she was aware of. When tracking down the surveillance footage, police directed her to the center, which then redirected her back to the police. Eventually, the police said that they would not share the footage with her, according to WALB.
Kyle Bassinga, 21, was found hanging from a tree in February at Fair Oaks Park in Cobb County. Surveillance video showed the 21-year-old walking into the woods alone, where he was later found. His death was ruled a suicide, causing an uproar within the Atlanta metropolitan community and on social media, according to Fox 5 Atlanta.
Florida
To’Nea Nicole Miller, a 27-year-old woman, was found dead hanging from a tree on June 18 in Gwen Cherry Park in Miami. Two days after her body was found, the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office and medical examiner ruled her death a suicide and determined there was no foul play. Miller’s eldest sister disputes this finding, citing that her sister “would never do this.” A CBS reporter’s post noted Miller’s body was found hanging from a tree, yet the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s official statement about the death inexplicably excluded this detail.
Michigan
Jerard “Jay” Jackson, 28, was found dead in a wooded area near the Hart Montague Trail in Rothbury while attending a music festival with his friend, the Detroit Free Press reported. Jackson, an Illinois native, was found a few miles near his rental car, where his keys and wallet were located. Police found no foul play, ruling the 28-year-old’s death as a suicide.
Wisconsin
Torrance “Tory” Medley, 39, was found in November 2025 hanging from a tree at Brookfield Hills Golf Course in the suburbs of Milwaukee. Surveillance footage did not show “probable cause of a crime being committed,” police said in a statement to Fox 6 TV in Milwaukee. Yet, his family said police rushed to label the 39-year-old’s death as a suicide, leading them to hire their own attorney and independent autopsy. The results have yet to be made public.
Read More:
- Saniyah Cheatham’s Family Demands Answers in Her Death
- Black Woman’s Hanging Death Haunts Family and Evokes a Painful History
National political reporter Brandon Tensley contributed to this report.
