Feds Probe Hanging: Roosevelt Champion Found Hanging From A Tree In Yard


Roosevelt Champion III, a black man, was found hanging from a tree in Georgia. Local authorities have stated that Champion’s death was a suicide, but now the feds have launched a probe into the hanging.

The Georgia man found hanging from a tree was found by a passerby. Roosevelt Champion III, 43, lives in Greensboro. The town is located approximately 80 miles east of Atlanta. Champion’s feet were touching the ground and his knees were buckled, according to Joe Wooten, the special agent in charge of the hanging probe by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

feds probe hanging in Georgia
Roosevelt Champion III – Georgia Department of Corrections photo.

“The results of the autopsy are that the manner of death is suicide, and the cause of death is hanging,” a statement from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, said. ” After a thorough autopsy examination, there was no evidence of any inflicted trauma to Champion’s body.”

Not long before his death, Roosevelt Champion III was reportedly interviewed by police in connection to the death of a woman named Carol Lewis. Any connection between Champion and Lewis remains unclear. Special Agent Wooten would not comment or speculate about any possible connection between the deaths of the two Georgia residents.

Roosevelt Champion’s mother and sisters told the Daily Beast that he was being questioned in the death “of a white woman” and expressed doubt that the hanging was a suicide.

“It hurt,” JoAnn Henderson, Champion’s mother said when discussing how she felt after being informed that her son was found hanging from a tree behind his house on Martin Luther King Drive. “It really hurt.”
“No, that’s not my brother because I know my brother wouldn’t do anything like that,” Terri Johnson, one of Champion’s sisters, said after being told that he had died from an apparent suicide by hanging. “It broke my heart. We were best friends. We were close.”
Miranda Wright, another sister, referred to her brother as a “very good guy.” “He had been back and forth to jail, but it was minor stuff,” Wright said. “I don’t know what happened.”

Wooten also said that he understands that “there’s a lot of concern” about the Roosevelt Champion III hanging, when it was noted by reporters that the deceased was a black man found “hanging in the South.”

“We’re going to be as transparent as we can,” the special agent in charge said. “There’s no other way to be.”

Roosevelt Champion had recently started a new job building a sea wall on Lake Oconee, according to his family. Johnson said that her brother had cooperated with police each time they questioned him about the death of Carol Lewis, noting that he went on his own to the station each time they called.

[Image via: Shutterstock.com]

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