Lennon Lacy Death A Lynching? Family And FBI Question Police Autopsy And Suicide Report

Lennon Lacy’s death has family, friends, and now, the FBI questioning the official determination that the young man committed suicide. Instead, it’s alleged it’s possible the man was a victim of a race based lynching since Lacy was found hanging from the wooden swings in a “largely white” trailer park.

In a related report by the Inquisitr, two months ago, the police ruled out foul play, but the NAACP demanded a federal probe into Lennon Lacy’s death by hanging. Now, the FBI is seriously considering the possibility that Lacy’s death was a “race-based” homicide.

“This is ongoing, again the case has never been closed…it is now being enhanced by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and together, we have put together a process that represents the best possibility of seeking truth,” said District Attorney Jon David.

Lacy’s mother, Claudia, hopes the investigation will bring justice since she believes foul play was involved in the circumstances of her son’s death.

“It shouldn’t be about where your social status is, what your financial status or where you live at, or the color of your skin… justice should be served equally. Just like the Constitution says, ‘Equal rights, justice for all,’ they should follow the platform that started this country and it’s not being done. My son was in a body bag, laying on a stretcher… zipped down to his shoulder. I can’t start healing until I get the answers to the questions that are out there.”

Officially, the North Carolina state medical examiner ruled Lennon Lacy’s death a suicide based upon law enforcement reports and autopsy documents from the Bladen County coroner’s office. Friends and family note that the man’s death seems suspicious since he had been preparing for a big football game as a starting linebacker for his high school team. Claudia also points out that her son was found wearing shoes with no laces that were one-and-a-half sizes too small, and they were not the Air Jordan shoes she had last seen him wearing before his death. She also did not recognize the belts involved in the hanging.

“They were not his, neither were the shoes. I could not identify them,” she said according to Time Warner Cable News, noting that Lacy had been very proud of his Air Jordan sneakers.

According to the Fay Observer, Deborah Radisch, the state’s chief medical examiner who did the original autopsy “was not provided with photographs or dimensions of the swing set; she was unable to evaluate whether it was feasible for Lennon to hang himself from the swing set structure.” Since the wooden swing set did not have actual swings, it’s alleged that Lacy could have tied the two belts together, looped it through a metal grommet attached to the wooden beam, and then leapt from a nearby platform with the belts attached to his neck. Since “there was no item present at the scene that Lennon could have stood on, applied the noose and then kicked away,” the other scenario required the five-foot nine-inch Lacy to loop the belts over the beam, jump up to grab the beam, and then let himself drop.

Family members also believe the circumstances of the discovery of the body by Bladenboro police was suspicious. An unidentified woman called 911 to report that Lacy had hung himself. Lacy’s body was also taken down and the belts holding him up had not been sliced free of the beam. The two belts fashioned into a noose were also a concern since the black belt “was not consistent with the one worn by Lennon. The blue belt is reported to be consistent with a belt worn by a male who resided in the mobile home where Lennon was last known alive.”

According to Indy Week, a local medical examiner identified as “Mr. Kinlaw” claims that police officials “at the scene wouldn’t allow him to take pictures and threatened to confiscate his camera if he did. Kinlaw also stated that local officers didn’t want an autopsy performed on Lacy’s body, and he had to order one from the local District Attorney’s office.”

Dr. Radisch says her determination of Lennon Lacy’s death was based upon information provided by the local police. Radisch says that if she receives information suggesting the death could be considered anything other than suicide, then she would change the status to “undetermined.”