(Mississippi Department of Corrections)
The badly decomposed body of a missing black man who did 25 years in prison for murder was found hanging from a tree in Mississippi on March 19. Otis Byrd, 54, had been missing since March 2 in Claiborne County. Authorities aren’t saying much about the circumstances surrounding Byrd’s death, just that they’re not ruling anything out. In 1980, Byrd murdered a woman in a robbery that netted him $101. He was released from prison in November 2006.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Byrd Was Last Seen Being Dropped Off at a Casino
According to WJTV, Byrd went missing in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on March 2 but was not officially reported as missing until March 8. Byrd’s body was identified by the local NAACP chapter, more than 24 hours after this, the FBI confirmed that the body found was Otis Byrd. Fox Mississippi reporter Melissa Faith Payne tweeted that the body was too decomposed for police to ID him on the spot. He was last seen when a friend dropped him off at the Riverwalk Casino in Vicksburg.
Otis Byrd had been missing since early March. (Handout)
The NAACP in Claiborne County is asking for the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate Byrd’s death, according to Jackson, Mississippi reporter C.J. LeMaster. He added that local Sheriff Marvin Lucas says the FBI was quickly at the scene where Byrd was found hanging. The Clarion-Ledger reports that Coroner J.W. Mallett is not releasing any details about Byrd’s death. Speaking to the Vicksburg Post, Byrd’s friend, Sylvester Green, said, “I don’t know what’s going on but they need to find out what’s what’s going on. That’s not right. That’s not right.”
2. He Spent 25 Years in Prison for Murdering the Mother of a Republican Congressional Candidate
(Handout)
The Clarion Ledger reports that in 1981, Byrd was found guilty of murdering Lucille Trim in Claiborne County. Former Claiborne Sheriff Joyce McCay told the media about the crime: “She had a little country store. He robbed her and he killed her.” It emerged during Byrd’s trial that he stole $101 from Trim. The Vicksburg Post reports that he stole the money in order to pay a $10 restitution from a previous crime.
Air Force Major General Martha Ranville’s mother was killed by Byrd. (Wikipedia)
Lucille Trim’s daughter is Martha Rainville, a retired Air Force major general and 2006 Republican Congressional candidate in Vermont. Rainville is married to Paul McHale, the former Democratic congressman from Pennsylvania.
3. Byrd Was Found Hanging in the Woods Behind His Home
CNN reports that Byrd was found dead behind the residence where he lived at 1901 Rodney Road (below) in Port Gibson, Claiborne County. Byrd had been renting his place there. The network adds that there are “two parallel investigations” in the case, one by the FBI and one by local cops.
The FBI released this statement on March 19:
The FBI and Mississippi Bureau of Investigation are on the scene in Claiborne County conducting a death investigation.
Earlier in the day, the Claiborne County Sheriff’s Department and the Mississippi Wildlife Fisheries and Parks conducted a ground search for a man who had been missing since early March. Officers located a man hanging in the woods near Roddy Road a half mile from his last known residence.
The man was last seen March 2, and his family filed a missing persons report with the Claiborne County Sheriff’s Department March 8. Claiborne County Sheriff’s Department officials reported the man missing to MBI March 13.
The Claiborne County Sheriff’s Department contacted the MBI and FBI for forensic and investigative assistance.
Investigators are currently processing the scene for evidence to determine the cause and manner of death.
4. Port Gibson Has an ‘Ethnically Diverse White Population’
According to the book A Little Taste of Freedom: The Black Freedom Struggle in Claiborne County, by history professor Dr. Emilye Crosby, Port Gibson, where Byrd was found dead, has an “ethnically diverse white population.” That population includes Catholics, Jewish people and Lebanese immigrants. This led to a strong anti-KKK sentiment in the town during the 1960s, according to the book.
2010 Census data showed Port Gibson was 84.4 percent black and 14.6 percent white. (U.S. Census)
According to the 2010 U.S. Census, Port Gibson’s population of 1,567 residents was 84.4 percent black and 14.6 percent white.
Parts of the racially charged Gene Hackman movie, Mississippi Burning, were filmed in Vicksburg, Mississippi, just north of Port Gibson. The movie deals with the murders of three Civil Rights volunteers in 1964.
5. Less Than a Year Ago, a 17-Year-Old in North Carolina Was Found Hanged in Mysterious Circumstances
This comes less than a year after 17-year-old Lennon Lacy was found hanged in North Carolina. The case was ruled a suicide. However Lacy’s family believe that he was lynched. Jon David, the Bladen County District Attorney, said in a statement released on October 1 that his office had “not received any evidence of criminal wrongdoing surrounding the death.”
Ryan Giroux: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know
A white supremacist felon has been arrested as the suspect in the mass shooting in Mesa, Arizona, that left at least one man dead and five other people wounded.
Click here to read more
is an independent journalist and senior contributor to Heavy who covers breaking news and current events. He's from Ireland and lives in Brooklyn.
March 21, 2015 12:44 pm
Someone really got to look into this paul mchale. if the guy that killed my wifes moms is out of jail and george bush is behind me . .. man wat yall thinkhappenend but wat can u do. Real niggas do this daily..
God is watching all of us. And He’s listening. The wrong committed by another does not give any of us justification to spread hatred. No, it does not. You become as the Demon who revels in the violence, cruelty and suffering heaped onto others. You become one of the demon’s own. Lift your Bible now and see how alien it feels in your touch. We must all change.
Oh shut up with that nonsense!
Shut yo hill Billy ass up
Is there a character that could even possibly EVEN TOUCH Madara Uchiha? Let alone defeat him. And I’m not talking about Edo Tensei Uchiha Madara. I’m not talking about Gedou Rinne Tensei Uchiha Madara either. Hell, I’m not even talking about Juubi Jinchuuriki Gedou Rinne Tensei Uchiha Madara with the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan and Rinnegan doujutsus (with the rikodou abilities and being capable of both Amateratsu and Tsukuyomi genjutsu), equipped with his Gunbai, a perfect Susano’o, control of the juubi and Gedou Mazou, with Hashirama Senju’s DNA implanted in him so he has mokuton kekkei genkai and can perform yin yang release ninjutsu while being an expert in kenjutsu and taijutsu. I’m talking about Kono Yo no Kyūseishu Futarime no Rikudō Juubi Jinchuuriki Gedou Rinne Tensei Uchiha Madara with the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan (which is capable of Enton Amaterasu, Izanagi, Izanami and the Tsyukuyomi Genjutsu), his two original Rinnegan (which grant him Chikushōdō, Shuradō, Tendō, Ningendō, Jigokudō, Gakidō, Gedō, Banshō Ten’in, Chibaku Tensei, Shinra Tensei, Tengai Shinsei and Banbutsu Sōzō) and a third Tomoe Rinnegan on his forehead, capable of using Katon, Fūton, Raiton, Doton, Suiton, Mokuton, Ranton, Inton, Yōton and even Onmyōton Jutsu, equipped with his Gunbai(capable of using Uchihagaeshi) and a Shakujō because he is a master in kenjutsu and taijutsu, a perfect Susano’o (that can use Yasaka no Magatama ), control of both the Juubi and the Gedou Mazou, with Hashirama Senju’s DNA and face implanted on his chest, his four Rinbo Hengoku Clones guarding him and nine Gudōdama floating behind him AFTER he absorbed Senjutsu from the First Hokage, entered Rikudō Senjutsu Mode, cast Mugen Tsukuyomi on everybody and used Shin: Jukai Kōtan so he can use their Chakra while they are under Genjutsu.
I agree. I think he waited nine years after his release just to throw the cops off his track. He probably followed him to the casino, waited and gave him a ride then lured him into the woods, wrapped a sheet around his neck, climbed the tree, haul him up two feet off the ground and tied the sheet off to a tree. Sheets are often used to make murder look like suicide. If he was really smart he would have broke in and used a sheet from his house. This is much more likely than an ex-con living in Port Gibson killed himself.(I get depressed just thinking of living there.)
Cite one case of a sheet being used to hang someone in order to make it look like a suicide. Just one. I’ll wait.
smh^^
I can promise you he didn’t do it
GOD KNOWS BEST OUR KARMA
What God operates under Karma? Not the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. No. That is demonic thought.
jesus was a fraud
jesus was a fraud, and i bet you believe he was white too
Jesus was a fraud? Those words just may be the most haunting words you ever speak.
no other religion on the face of this earth accepts jesus for who he claimed to be except christianity. human beings have been around hundreds of thousands of years longer than your bullshit religion. i cant wait til all of you stupid christian fucks die and realize that nothing happens when you do. Old Testament has been around way longer and yes jesus is mentioned but he did not fulfill the requirements to become the messiah, so the jews do not recognize him as who he claimed to be, Im sure we all know muslims outlooks on your beliefs, thats right because they are still trying to kill us for it.
I hope I never in life get a chance to associate with you or even be near you because you are a cursed individual. You don’t know the truth and you are disrespectful, rude, obnoxious, and ignorant. I pray eyes will be opened one day because your blinders make you myopic. The Lord of Abraham rebuke you and have mercy on you.
Most Muslims sound just like you…..that would explain your hatred of Christians too! Assuming you can read…..many other group do say he was around and they feared him as much as many loved him. I hope you understand English so you can read this all.
http://straightdope.com/columns/read/2011/who-killed-jesus
But they were not spoken, they appear to be written.
why is this making headline news?… who givs a shit? really? a murderer got murdred … shoulda down it back in 1980 and saved taxpayer dollars… funny how when black ppl act like fools and get beatdown by cops .. then its all ” racists profiling.” FYI people.. black peole are committing more crimes than any other race at the moment. get over yourselves… act like decient people ffs…
Kill yourself asshole, technically blacks aren’t committing the most crimes its that they making sure the crimes that are committed by blacks make the news and the white crimes get swept under the system.
sugar lips kissed his momma with that mouth. Talk about being in denile. De nile ain’t just a river, it’s a way of life.
Learn how to spell please.
What’s the first thing? What’s his first reaction? Would you proudly sign your name to that statement? NOT A CHANCE.
Just for the FYI more white men are shot by cops then black men, and nobody gives a fuck about that. White ppl don’t get wrote up in the paper because; Remember Jason Compton, that guy who was all tatooed up in Jr High and set the cafeteria on fire that time? Yeah I remember that asshole what about him? Well the cops shot him the other day. Yeah saw that one coming. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. – thats the way it goes with people who don’t live and breathe every minute of the day with their head up their ass. We don’t burn down our town because a cop shot a scumbag who “looks like me” but still needed killing every day of his pathic life.
Anonymous you are correct Who gives a shit when whites kill off their whole family, friends and themselves due to divorce, afraid of going to the pen for committing a crime, child custody case, loss of finance, money laundering and insurance fraud, white folks are insane and eat others , and rape deceased bodies, and it is called mental disorder or just having a bad hair day, a well known fact whites have always committed the most serious crimes throughout history as well as today, stop living in a make believe world if you do not think so. stop acting like people under the stairs. Now as far as the guy that got hung, he more than likely met his fate, hell the woman whom he killed probably came back from the grave and too revenge on him, one could only guess- sometime when you least expect payback this is sometimes when you get Paid Back such as this Anonymous this unknown lab specimen
Racist fucking asshole!
Fuck you and your red neck mom bitch…. Black people really scare u scary racist… we dont bite bitch
idiot. white people commit the most actual crimes on the shear fact that there are just more white people. black people commit a higher percentage of crimes or a higher rate for the population or their race. But just actual crimes in numbers? It is not even close.
Fuck both of you
The TRUE ENEMY are FUCKING GOD DAMNED SKELETONS
FUCK SKELETONS
FUCK THE SKELETON INTERNET DEFENSE FORCE
FUCK SKELETON GIFT SHOPS
THEY WANT ALL HUMANS DEAD for the sake of preserving their “master race” after losing the war against the Giant Lobsters
SKELETONS ARE A FAILURE OF A RACE OF BUTTMAD LOSERS FOR LOSING A WAR AGAINST FUCKING OVERSIZED LOBSTERS
Who loses a war against giant lobsters? No-fucking-body that’s who!
Are you counting the multi-millions of white-collar crimes,committed since 2007 in the financial sector,that not one single person has been jailed for up to now?
No I’m counting the GALACTIC 6 QUADRILLIONS of HUMAN deaths because of GODDAMN FUCKING SKELETONS since the dawn of pizza planet
GO THE FUCK HOME SKELETONS
GO HOME AND CONTINUE FUCKING CRYING ABOUT LOSING THE LOBSTER WAR!
It will turn out to be a typical black on black crime if not a suicide.
Shut the hell up cause black ppl don’t kill them selves as much as u you lunatic white ppl do when have u ever heard a black person hanging someone Shut the hell up and do your research and see how MANY BLACK PPL LYNCHED OTHER BLACK DUMBASS
Can you tell readers where we can find facts about blacks in America lynching another, especially in the south, due to it being a well known fact whites have often did this as a group for so many years.
Please use proper English before trying to make a point.
or white group of possums attack a black male which is nothing unusual for cowards to do in the south, as well as lie in a police report by writing took his own life
OK Dorothy. Keep perpetuating that falsehood. Just because you say that catchy little euphemism that Fox News and Reagan taught you doesn’t make it true. Click you heels together and you’ll wake up and realize that your comment is just a dream.
im a go by way of shawshank redemption maybe the man just couldnt take living on the outside ,everybody go to racial motivated things. and i havent met a white person with all that type of hate in there heart..
Only an ignorant WHITE person would make the above remark!!! Blacks were brought here as kidnapped slaves, and abused in various ways (including hung from trees) since the 1600s. READ!!! Accept the facts and hopefully alleviate your profound ignorance.
Barbary pirates in Africa raided ships and sold white sailors into slavery, blacks were not kidnapped they were sold by there own people, and there will be backlash but half as many white people were lynched as blacks, not as significant but still. o also you morons that post about karma and god need to stfu (CHURCH and mitchellrand) karma is based on the hindu belief of reincarnation and as such there is really no such thing as good or bad karma. this is something I would say about 85-90% don’t understand, possibly more, so as a Christian posting on karma, ur a f^ckin retard. o and mitchellrand you and everyone of these venom spewing Christian hatemongers should be drug behind a denny’s and shot in the back of the skull. you have no proof that a ‘god’ exists or does not exist, also you have no idea what that being wants or how they feel. Christians are the most blasphemous f^cks in the entire world and are the cause of pretty much all the problems in this country
Your opinion doesn’t matter. You are a nobody, a sad ghost who shouts in an empty room. I feel sorry for you.
How brave the social media has made otherwise cowards come out of the closet and make bold statements such as these. For those making comments regarding Christianity I suggest you leave that to those who God has truly called. You don’t understand it because you are not chosen by God! I know it’s a bitter pill to swallow but all are not meant to be saved and part of not believing is a way God has devised for those who not meant to be saved not to believe the truth but rather a lie instead. Remember, your unbelief in
God does not make Him not exist! You can’t see the air we breathe but let it cease to exist and see what happens to you.
kill yourself the world will do just fine without both of you
funny how you call someone a coward when you post as anonymous as well
lol angsty teenager tier post
His name was Anthony Johnson. Look him up and learn a little.
Have you noticed that when a tragic death occurs where the victim is black it will make the national news but not if the victim is of any other race. The race hustlers who foment divisiveness along with a complicit media with no interest in truth make sure the story gets twisted to meet their objectives.
None of these people have any interest in, or direct knowledge about, the human being whose life was ended.
Let’s pray that the souls of all who pass from this life to the next find peace and happiness.
No offense but where was the media when he shot our aunt four times in the face over $100 and left her to drown in her own blood until her husband came and found her dead
What the hell does fact #5 have to do with James Otis Byrd. Race-baiting rears its ugly head…again. Wait for the facts in the Byrd case.
#4 Port Gibson Has an ‘Ethnically Diverse White Population’ – why would the author say that? Why did he phrase it just that way?
Afraid of the truth? That Port Gibson is mostly black with a black Sheriff, black deputies, black Mayor, black fire department, black ambulance driver. the only white guy on the scene was the one sent by Obama’s FBI to gin up the race hatred.
Black Chief of police. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htNJ2Df6jhE&t=33
Here’s a video of Chief Armstrong having coffee with a reporter.
Watch that video and ask yourself, is that the guy covering up a lynching? He seem like that type of guy to you?
Race-Baiting and other reverse racism terms are used by certain White people to justify years of racially motivated hatred toward Blacks both overtly and covertly. It’s used as a psychology tactic–its purpose is to alleviate the white guilt in the country for all the heinous things they have done to their fellow man. They try, through BS rhetoric, to create the false idea that Blacks victims of these deeds did terrible things to deserved it or hate them too. It’s the new face of Modern Racism- outward appearance of non-prejudicial views while inwardly still holding those racist views. You are not fooling anyone.
Whether this man killed someone or not in his past, if he did his time and was lynched for the color of his skin, it is racist no matter how hard you sad “conservatives” try to say otherwise. If this was a White person who the media was reporting on, they would never highlight his past criminal history in a way that made him somehow responsible for his death as they obviously have in this article. Race-baiting has nothing to do with this article. It is a another attempt to systematically deconstruct the Black man into “threating” parts so some Whites can further justify their fear, loathing. and hatred. This is how you desensitize the sheep–the” hardening of pharaoh’s heart”, so to speak. Thank God this trick doesn’t work on everyone.
Good riddance…
GOOD riddance.
2 wrongs don’t make a right.
If Otis killed my Mother and then this this monster was let out to roam the streets again a free man, I can imagine someone doing far worse before hanging him. He should have been put to death in the first place. Vigilante Justice rises up, when Monsters are set free. Does anyone care what happened to this monster? This Monster killed a woman to get $10 dollars!!!!! I can only say….. Justice has been served!
Racial crimes committed by Blacks is way LOWER than those committed by whites. Remember…whites lynched thousands of Blacks and no arrests were made, no trials were held, Many vigilante groups took part in murdering Blacks and none were held responsible because they were protected by white skin!!! This man went to prison for his crime, but made the foolish mistake of moving near the victim’s family (how dumb was that). Had a white man murdered a Black woman, first, he wouldn’t have gone to prison, and second he wouldn’t have suffered any retaliation.
Otis Byrd lived in a town nicknamed Byrdville by the locals. He has 15 brothers and sisters living in his neighborhood. The White lady’s family that he killed moved to Vermont.
Read a paper once in a while.
Lots of Trim family, just poor journalism!
I should know my wife was like Mr. Trims own daughter
Dumbass…white men don’t murder black women….black men do
At the end whether it was remorse or ostracism, Otis did this to himself. The best people are always their own worst judge and jury.
Awesome! One more piece of shit that we don’t have to worry about. Note to other negroes; learn how to tie a really good knot.
Just like you when a negro… grab you beat your ass… fuck and kill you digdanigdowndeep…. you’ve been a child touching coward… you sex offender…
!
Robert when I was a child I witnessed the most horrific thing any child should ever see. My stepmother and my father were arguing and she would not let him into the door. My stepmother was white and my father black. I remember hiding the other 2 children in the room under the bed and holding on to my stepmom’s hand because I wanted to protect her. The next thing I know I hear this loud noise that sounds like a cannon, a wood door splintering coming towards myself and my stepmom and then this wetness. I was still holding her hand as she was falling to the ground and all I saw was red. My father pumped the shotgun again to shoot her again and I jumped on top of her body. He didn’t shoot again. All this because he thought she was cheating on him. He left my stepsisters without a mother, myself traumatized for life, and that bastard only did 25 years in prison. He tried reaching out to me, had his family call me, anything he could do to apologize. I let him know that there is nothing in this world that he could ever do to erase what he did. He killed her in cold blood, I was 7. I didn’t think about black, white, red, or any skin color. Just the dead eyes of a woman staring at me. I was never allowed to go to her funeral. I never saw my stepsisters again. However this monster was let out of prison supposedly became a minister and a pillar of the church. I was enraged because I did not want him to find me. In my mind he could have come back for me to. So people please leave race out of this. There are some very evil people in this world that would not hesitate to kill. Nor do our prison systems rehabilitate anyone, maybe 1%. I don’t believe that murderers , rapists, and child molesters, should be allowed to live. They will do the same thing again. Remember the old saying “History repeats itself”? Instead of everyone arguing and name calling remember that those of us who follow the law should not have our lives put in danger by anyone who is deemed unfit to be in society. I don’t care who they are. Sorry for the long reply. I needed to let people know that it isn’t a black or white thing. It is just sheer evil. Murder is Murder and can never be forgiven or forgotten for the loved ones and friends.
Why are you replying to a comment that’s just an exclamation point?
Sorry for everybodies loss in this maddening event. The race card played out in the media is nothing more than to keep the masses divided.
Why was this guy allowed to live at all, he should have been put down for murder.
Hanging someone though is a cowards thing, unless you are the law, you have no right to take the life of another, leave it to the law.
this was before “life without parole” he got 25 years and then got paroled for good behavior or some BS like that.
Hmmmmm He was last seen being dropped off at a Casino. Who owes the casino? Was he in with some of the wrong people there?
Read the book, Getting Away With Murder: The Twentieth-Century Struggle for Civil Rights in the U.S. Senate