a mississippi sheriff said friday that a black man found hanging from a tree did not appear to have stepped off of anything before he died and that he had last been seen on camera leaving a casino the man's identity has been confirmed as that of otis byrd, a 54 year old ex convict who lived just about 200 yards from the tree and had been declared missing by his family about two weeks ago claiborne county sheriff marvin lucas sr, who knew byrd as he had to check in with the sheriff's department as a condition of his parole in 2006 after serving 26 years in prison for the murder of a woman during a robbery in 1980, also confirmed his identity earlier this week scroll down for video  what happened? otis james byrd, 54 (above), was found hanging from a tree in mississippi after he was reported missing march 2  claiborne county officials prepare to leave a home in port gibson, miss, where authorities were investigating the hanging death of byrd  lucas said that the body was found thursday hanging by a bed sheet from a tree limb about 12 feet high, and that the man's feet were dangling about two feet off the ground the hands on the body were not bound, he said the results of an autopsy by the mississippi crime lab to determine whether the death was homicide or suicide could take days, lucas said the hanging is being investigated by the fbi, the justice department's civil rights division and the united states attorney's office as well as the mississippi bureau of investigation the feds are there to determine if it's a potential hate crime or other violation of federal law, us attorney general eric holder said friday 'we simply don't know enough facts,' holder told msnbc 'we do have a substantial federal presence to determine what the facts are' vicksburg police chief walter armstrong said friday that after local authorities asked his department to check on a report that byrd had been at a casino, video surveillance was recovered showing byrd at the riverwalk casino on march 2 'we didn't see anything of significance on the tape he was just walking around the casino we did not see him after that,' armstrong said the body was found by state wildlife officers and had obvious sign' of decomposition, suggesting that it had been hanging in the woods for some time, said jim walker, a , a spokesman for the mississippi department of wildlife, fisheries and parks the owner of the land, 87 year old johnie baker, said that the area where byrd's body was found is covered in pecan and black walnut trees he added that hunters sometimes hunt in the area and that there are also wild boars on the land spotted: the last time byrd was seen he was leaving a casino 30 miles north on march 2  so far, authorities say it's too early to determine whether the victim's death was a homicide or a suicide however, the naacp is petitioning to have the us department of justice involved in the investigation, fearing byrd's death may have been a hate crime the claiborne county sheriff's department and mississippi bureau of investigation are also involved in the investigation lynching was a common form of 'mob justice' in the late 19th century, particularly in the south a report by the equal justice initiative claims there were nearly 4,000 lynchings of african americans in the jim crow era across 12 states of the us byrd spent 25 years in prison for the murder of lucille trim, the clarion ledger reported according to the mississippi department of corrections he allegedly robbed trimm of $101 and then killed her he was convicted of capital murder in february 1980 and then was paroled in november 2006 trim is the mother of martha ranville, who was the first woman in the history of the national guard to serve as state adjuntant general she became the adjutant general in vermony in 1997 and currently lives in virginia with her husband, the hon paul mchale mchale is a former pennsylvania congressman and assistant secretary of defense read more: http://wwwdailymailcouk/news/article 3003350/black man 54 hanging tree mississippi naacp asking death investigated possible hate crimehtml#ixzz3ux8ojdhb follow us: @mailonline on twitter | dailymail on facebook 
port gibson 25 years lucille trim thursday african american byrd otis byrd mississippi vicksburg next week about 30 miles morning
body of african american man found hanging from tree in port gibson, mississippi, thursday morning is confirmed to be that of otis byrd  death has similarities to a lynching and his body had been decaying for some time according to authorities  authorities say they are not sure yet whether death was a homicide or suicide and will know next week  one official has reported he believes that the death will ultimately prove to be a suicide based on early findings  the last time byrd was seen was on camera leaving a casino in vicksburg, mississippi about 30 miles north  he spent 25 years in prison for the murder of lucille trim, a white woman who he shot four times during an armed robbery 