Was Javion Magee, Chicago area man found along dead with a rope around his neck next to a tree along a rural North Carolina road, lynched or was the truck driver’s death the result of a suicide? Autopsy results pending as viral TikTok video intensifies speculation as civil rights lawyers insist on full investigation.
A family of a 21 year old man found dead on a rural North Carolina road with a rope around his neck next to a tree are demanding answers amid fears the ‘victim’ was lynched. To date local authorities have insisted the man’s death is not suspicious.
Javion Magee, 21, a truck driver from Aurora, Illinois, was found on September 11 along a Vance County road, appearing to have been hung with his back leaning up against a tree, with his body found close to his truck, sparking speculation that the 21 year old ‘black man’ may have been racially targeted.
Lynching or suicide?
Javion Magee’s death captured attention this week as his cousin shared a TikTok bringing attention to the ‘incident’, which she claimed occurred in Henderson (the Henderson Police Dept have refuted the death occurred in their jurisdiction) in which the Illinois relative accused North Carolina officials of dragging their feet in the investigation and claimed Javion’s mother couldn’t even identify his body according to the North Carolina Beat.
Vance County Sheriff Curtis R. Brame has since addressed accusations that his office was ‘not being transparent, not providing information to the family,’ as ‘being un-true.’
‘There’s been information put out there that there’s a lynching, there is not a lynching,’ the official insisted.
‘The young man was not dangling from a tree. He was not swinging from a tree. The rope was wrapped around his neck. It was not a noose. There was not a knot in the rope, so therefore, it was not a lynching here in Vance County.’
North Carolina officials have not made any arrests in connection with Magee’s death, with Brame telling ABC11 that there were no signs of foul play.
He declined to brand Magee’s death as a suicide at this stage, saying Magee’s exact cause of death had yet to be determined pending the results of an autopsy.
@scottieprimpin Please help my family in getting Justice for my little cousin #JavionMagee #Henderson #HendersonNC #Chicago #NAACP @ABC News @ABC11 @WGN9Chicago #JUSTICEFORJAVION #SAYHISNAME ♬ original sound – StormiNyte 🌪🖤
Why haven’t authorities released surveillance video of 21 year old allegedly buying rope?
Brame said one of the reasons he rejected the claim that Magee’s death was a lynching was because there was no ‘noose or knot’ in the rope that the 21 year old was found hanging from. The sheriff indicated that the FBI was joining the investigation into Magee’s death.
In her (now viral) TikTok video, in which she appealed for help, Javion’s cousin stated Magee had been in North Carolina as part of his work as a truck driver.
Although officials declined to state that Magee’s death was a ‘suicide’ publicly, she claimed that police told her family Javion had been to Walmart to buy a rope then ‘hung himself.’
‘We obviously don’t believe that,’ she explained in the TikTok video.
While the police investigation is ongoing, (it remained unclear if video existed of the 21 year old going to a local Walmart store) Magee’s family said they are dissatisfied with the response from authorities in the days since he was found dead.
His cousin continued in her appeal: ‘We really need your help… the police officers and coroner’s office are giving us a hard time.’
She claimed that the coroner’s office is ‘not allowing his mom to identify the body’, and was given the excuse that it was ‘due to Covid.’
Are North Carolina authorities covering up death?
It is not explained why the Covid-19 pandemic would prevent Magee’s mother from identifying his body, and the Vance County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for clarification.
His cousin went on to say Magee’s mother instead asked for pictures to verify his death, only to allegedly be told she wouldn’t ‘want to see your son like that.’
‘This is just devastating for my family, and we really need to push this story out there,’ the relative concluded.
Magee’s family has since enlisted the help of national civil rights attorneys Harry Daniels and Lee Merritt as well as NC attorney Jason Keith to call for answers.
Addressing Magee’s death, Civil rights leader Bishop William Barber II told press, ‘We must have truth and transparency in this matter. Hanging is not a form of death that can be easily dismissed, particularly here in the South where it has been used as a weapon of terror against Black families for generations. I join attorneys Daniels and Merritt as they seek truth and justice for Javion McGee and his family.’
The Sheriff’s Office has reiterated that Magee’s family be patient and ‘to not jump to conclusions.’
