Family of man found dead with a rope around neck demands answers; sheriff says no foul play detected

HENDERSON, N.C. (AP) — The family of a Black man found dead in North Carolina with a rope around his neck under a tree is demanding answers and transparency from authorities, who say there were no signs of foul play.

The Vance County Sheriff’s Office, meanwhile, issued a statement on Wednesday saying an examination by the North Carolina Chief Medical Examiner’s Office has determined that there were no defensive wounds or signs of physical or sexual assault. Full autopsy results, including a determination on cause of death and toxicology, were still pending.

Detectives found 21-year-old Javion Magee dead underneath a tree with the rope around his neck on Sept. 11 in Henderson, which is 40 miles (64.4 kilometers) northeast of Raleigh, according to a statement from the sheriff’s office. A 911 caller had reported the body.

Lawyers for Magee’s family addressed reporters on Wednesday to demand answers. The family met with the sheriff and his command staff to discuss the investigation.

“This is an absolute tragedy no matter how it panned out. The facts are still working their way out, but we do know that he was found hanging from a tree,” said lawyer Harry Daniels.

He said that the cause of death had not been determined, and it was premature to suggest that it was a suicide.

The sheriff’s office released a detailed timeline of what happened on Wednesday. Magee, who was a commercial truck driver from Illinois, had come to North Carolina after picking up a load of goods in Pennsylvania to bring them to a Walmart Distribution Center in Henderson. He unloaded his truck on the afternoon of September 10. That evening, Magee is seen on surveillance video buying rope at an area Walmart.

He later parked his truck in a dirt lot of a local business. Surveillance shows him walking alone towards a line of trees with an object in his hand shortly before 7 p.m. Later, around 7:30 p.m., surveillance video shows him walking alone back toward the trees, according to the sheriff’s office. He is not seen walking back. Authorities received a 911 call reporting his body the next morning around 10 a.m.

Investigators said that they found Magee in a seated position with the rope tied tightly around his neck and the other end around a tree branch. The brand of rope was one sold by Walmart, and a detective used packaging to detrminme that teh rope had been purchased by Magee the previous day, according to the sheriff’s office.

His truck was found unlocked with his wallet and cell phone, along with a Walmart receipt matching the rope and the date and time of the surveillance camera. The sheriff’s office has obtained warrants seeking to more fully access his phone.

Magee’s mother, Tiara Roberson, told The Associated Press in a phone interview last week that she received a call from an investigator on Wednesday that her son was found hanging from a tree that morning. But certain details from investigators on the circumstances of her son’s death has since concerned Roberson.

She said the investigator told her they had a recording of Magee going to Walmart to buy a rope and the evidence they had available ultimately pointed to suicide.

Shortly after finding out about his son’s death, Javion’s father, Kori Magee, contacted the owner of the property where Javion was found, Roberson said. One of the man’s workers found Javion’s body and reported it, Roberson said. The owner also told Kori Magee that Javion was with someone on the property, but that person was unknown, Roberson said.