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N.C. teen's hanging death ruled a suicide; mother says it was a lynching

AGENT J

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N.C. teen's death a lynching, mother says - CNN.com

[h=1]N.C. teen's hanging death ruled a suicide; mother says it was a lynching[/h]
Bladenboro, North Carolina (CNN) -- Claudia Lacy says she can accept anything: even that her youngest son committed suicide -- if it's proven and explained to her.However, she says, local and state investigators have done neither to support their theory that Lennon Lacy hanged himself one summer night."That's all I've ever asked for: what is due, owed rightfully to me and my family -- justice. Prove to me what happened to my child," Lacy says.She says she's long lost confidence in the Bladenboro Police Department and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.Now, the FBI is looking into Lacy's death and the local and state investigations that followed.


The last time Lacy saw and heard her son was August 28. Lennon, 17, played the lineman position for the West Bladen High School Knights, and was focused on football.His family says that night, he packed a gym bag, washed his ankle brace and hung it on the clothesline to dry before heading out for an evening walk.The teen had asthma, his mother says, and a doctor had recommended he exercise outdoors at night when the temperature and humidity dropped. Around 10:30, Lennon left his family's small apartment and headed down a dirt road.His family never saw him alive again.The family says Lennon had not changed his routine and was focused on college and football -- and distracted by his girlfriend.
North Carolina protesters call for fresh probe in teen's hanging | Reuters
FBI investigating possible lynching - ABC57 News - See the Difference Michiana
Ruled a suicide, black teen
North Carolina teen's hanging ruled a suicide, but was it a lynching? - LA Times

I wasnt there, dont know what happened but the amount of questions, things that done add up and short comings on the reports and investigation all leave me with an OPINION there was some type of foul play and this wasnt a suicide.

Like the person(s) who burned that girl up I hope they catch them, its very quick justice and death penalties.

just to rehash some of the concerns according to the articles:

- he packed a gym back, washed close and sports equipment and lied out some clothes before leaving to exercise
- took a selfie of himself before so
- a 52yr old woman made the 911 call and supposedly removed the 207lb teen from where he was hanging
- Lennon was 5-foot-9. The crossbar of the swing set frame he was found hanging from was 7-foot-6 and nothing at the scene to explain how he would of hung himself
- belts (possible dog leashes) that were used werent his, they also werent cut which would have probably been needed to bring the teen down
- the shoes he was found in were not his and 2 sizes too small, and these shoes never made it into the medical examiners office.

seems way to shady to me not to be some type of foul play
 
The shoe thing is definitely odd. But why is she calling it a lynching? It could be that he was killed by a rival for his girlfriend, or someone from another football team, or his sister. The use of "lynching" implies that white men/man killed him because he was black. That may or may not be true but you need more evidence than he was cheerful when he left and the shoes weren't him to assume it was a lynching as we understand lynching.

They should reopen the case. That I agree with. But reopen it with an open mind, not because she and the NAACP say it was a lynching.

I hope they get the answers so the family can try to recover some of their lives that had to have been wrecked by the tragedy.
 
I wasnt there, dont know what happened but the amount of questions, things that done add up and short comings on the reports and investigation all leave me with an OPINION there was some type of foul play and this wasnt a suicide.

Like the person(s) who burned that girl up I hope they catch them, its very quick justice and death penalties.

just to rehash some of the concerns according to the articles:

- he packed a gym back, washed close and sports equipment and lied out some clothes before leaving to exercise
- took a selfie of himself before so
- a 52yr old woman made the 911 call and supposedly removed the 207lb teen from where he was hanging
- Lennon was 5-foot-9. The crossbar of the swing set frame he was found hanging from was 7-foot-6 and nothing at the scene to explain how he would of hung himself
- belts (possible dog leashes) that were used werent his, they also werent cut which would have probably been needed to bring the teen down
- the shoes he was found in were not his and 2 sizes too small, and these shoes never made it into the medical examiners office.

seems way to shady to me not to be some type of foul play



I have to agree, many shady questions to just rule a suicide without more investigation.
 
N.C. teen's death a lynching, mother says - CNN.com


North Carolina protesters call for fresh probe in teen's hanging | Reuters
FBI investigating possible lynching - ABC57 News - See the Difference Michiana
Ruled a suicide, black teen
North Carolina teen's hanging ruled a suicide, but was it a lynching? - LA Times

I wasnt there, dont know what happened but the amount of questions, things that done add up and short comings on the reports and investigation all leave me with an OPINION there was some type of foul play and this wasnt a suicide.

Like the person(s) who burned that girl up I hope they catch them, its very quick justice and death penalties.

just to rehash some of the concerns according to the articles:

- he packed a gym back, washed close and sports equipment and lied out some clothes before leaving to exercise
- took a selfie of himself before so
- a 52yr old woman made the 911 call and supposedly removed the 207lb teen from where he was hanging
- Lennon was 5-foot-9. The crossbar of the swing set frame he was found hanging from was 7-foot-6 and nothing at the scene to explain how he would of hung himself
- belts (possible dog leashes) that were used werent his, they also werent cut which would have probably been needed to bring the teen down
- the shoes he was found in were not his and 2 sizes too small, and these shoes never made it into the medical examiners office.

seems way to shady to me not to be some type of foul play

Another interesting fact..... His girl friend was white.
 
The shoe thing is definitely odd. But why is she calling it a lynching? It could be that he was killed by a rival for his girlfriend, or someone from another football team, or his sister. The use of "lynching" implies that white men/man killed him because he was black. That may or may not be true but you need more evidence than he was cheerful when he left and the shoes weren't him to assume it was a lynching as we understand lynching.

They should reopen the case. That I agree with. But reopen it with an open mind, not because she and the NAACP say it was a lynching.

I hope they get the answers so the family can try to recover some of their lives that had to have been wrecked by the tragedy.

Because hanging a person to death isn't the normal method of killing someone else except in very specific circumstances.
 
the "facts" reported in the articles, such as the belts & wrong size/color shoes, aren't coming from the local authorities.
 
Because hanging a person to death isn't the normal method of killing someone else except in very specific circumstances.

I didn't know we had a "normal method of killing someone else" defined somewhere. Who decided what's a "normal method of killing someone else", and what specifically is the "normal" method?
 
207 pound High School Football player isn't just going to sit there and let someone hang him.

Unless of-course he was suicidal.

There's going to be a struggle and evidence of a struggle.

Calling this " lynching " ??

Ridiculous. They're not even sure there was a crime committed.
 
If the details stated in the OP are true then it is quite suspicious.
 
Top 10 Murder Weapons and Methods in the U.S. - Listosaur | Hungry for Knowledge

Well how people commit murders is a good place to start. Firearms being the normal method, followed by knives or cutting instruments. As you can see hanging isn't even mentioned in the article. Since we went ahead and stated the obvious....

Poison isn't listed on there yet I know someone who was poisoned by her spouse last year.

I missed all of the lynchings of black men by racist whites on that list too. But I would imagine on a list of suicide methods hanging would be quite high. Actually according to this list it's the #3 most common.

Top 10 Common Methods of Suicide

So, if the argument is based on what's "normal" there's a far greater chance that this young man committed suicide by hanging than was hung by another person.
 
207 pound High School Football player isn't just going to sit there and let someone hang him.

Unless of-course he was suicidal.

There's going to be a struggle and evidence of a struggle.

Calling this " lynching " ??

Ridiculous. They're not even sure there was a crime committed.

That's what I don't get either. It would be very hard to get a 200+ pound man into that state. Not saying it's impossible, but it would be hard.
 
I didn't know we had a "normal method of killing someone else" defined somewhere. Who decided what's a "normal method of killing someone else", and what specifically is the "normal" method?

Shooting, stabbing, bare hands, vehicle collisions, etc
 
207 pound High School Football player isn't just going to sit there and let someone hang him.

Unless of-course he was suicidal.

There's going to be a struggle and evidence of a struggle.

Calling this " lynching " ??

Ridiculous. They're not even sure there was a crime committed.

Did it cross your mind that it could be a group of people?
 
207 pound High School Football player isn't just going to sit there and let someone hang him.

Unless of-course he was suicidal.

There's going to be a struggle and evidence of a struggle.

Calling this " lynching " ??

Ridiculous. They're not even sure there was a crime committed.

You are probably right but I allow for that I haven't seen any reports that indicated for certain there was or was not any other trauma to the body, so I do not rule it out as foul play, but suspect that it was just a plain old suicide.
 
If the details stated in the OP are true then it is quite suspicious.

I don't know, usually if it's framed as a suicide there's usually evidence to show that it was in fact a homicide. It is not uncommon for people to follow their regular routines before killing themselves. And in many cases people who do actually successfully killed themselves do not exhibit signs or symptoms. People who talk about killing themselves are usually the type who just want attention. His mother must be feeling really terrible right now, many people don't wish to believe their loved one really kill themselves because they wrongfully believe that they are the reason for the suicide. Or that they could have stopped them if they knew.

However it does appear that this may have been an assisted suicide. unless there is a suspect with a motive, I don't know we should bring this out as a lynching. Despite stereotypes, interracial relationships are not uncommon in the south, relationships involving 17 to 31 yo couples are less so, which leads me to wonder just what the kids state of mid was.
 
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Poison isn't listed on there yet I know someone who was poisoned by her spouse last year.

It actually is..
One More: Poison (8 annual murders)
Poisoning generally involves some degree of premeditation. And prospective killers who give this method of murder any thought whatsoever — or who have seen a few episodes of CSI — probably realize that modern post-mortem toxicology reports will usually show if someone has been slipping their loved one poison with his or her dinner.

I missed all of the lynchings of black men by racist whites on that list too. But I would imagine on a list of suicide methods hanging would be quite high. Actually according to this list it's the #3 most common.
Well...I responded to you saying "if it's a murder why is it called a lynching?". Well if it's a murder it's not a suicide.
 
Because hanging a person to death isn't the normal method of killing someone else except in very specific circumstances.


yep, not to mention the reality is that while hanging and lynching was popular in the slave days and extreme racist days of this country the term lynching actually has nothing to do with race lol

it comes from "lynch mob" and wild west days where vigilant hangings took place, not race. So the assumption that the word is used based on race is a personal subjective one and has nothing to do with the word lynch
 
Of course not...when have a group of people ever worked together to hang a person to death? That's crazy talk Middleground

correct, which would actually be the definition of lynch which has nothing to do with RACE
 
It actually is..



Well...I responded to you saying "if it's a murder why is it called a lynching?". Well if it's a murder it's not a suicide.

That doesn't make it a lynching as we know it. It makes it a murder by hanging, unless there is evidence that it was racially motivated as lynchings once were.
 
Another interesting fact..... His girl friend was white.

Age 31.

Mother says not his belts. Shoes that don't fit disappeared? Nothing showing how he hanged himself? No motive for suicide?

It sounds the was a murder. Covered in fire ants suggest he was killed elsewhere and then moved there.
 
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