Police say no signs of foul play after Black student found hanging on Delta State University campus

Police and state investigators are probing the death of a 21-year-old Black student found hanging from a tree on the campus of Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi, but said Monday there were no initial signs of foul play.

Delta State Police Chief Michael Peeler said the student's body was discovered early Monday by a staff member near the campus pickleball courts. Peeler said investigators from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation were assisting Delta State police, local police and sheriff’s deputies. He told reporters there was no evidence of an ongoing threat to students or faculty.

Bolivar County Coroner Randolph Seals Jr. disputed online reports that the student had been found with broken limbs, saying in a statement that a preliminary examination found no lacerations, contusions, compound fractures, broken bones or injuries consistent with an assault. The coroner did not immediately return telephone messages seeking further comment.

Attempts to reach the student’s family were unsuccessful. A woman identifying herself as a cousin told The Associated Press in an online message that the family was not speaking to reporters. Two other people who said they were distant relatives declined to comment when reached by phone.

Delta State President Dan Ennis, in a video posted to the university’s Facebook page, said university operations were resuming as the campus continued to mourn. “We know that we can never fully heal this wound,” Ennis said. He added that campus officials were cooperating with investigators and staying in touch with the student’s family.

Classes were canceled Monday and scheduled centennial events marking the 100th anniversary of the school’s opening as Delta State Teachers College were postponed. Delta State, located in the Mississippi Delta near the Arkansas state line, reported fall 2024 enrollment of more than 2,600 students, about 42% of whom were Black.

The discovery prompted immediate discussion on social media and among community members, with some posts invoking the region’s history of racially motivated violence. The Delta State campus is roughly 30 miles (48 kilometers) from a site associated with the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till, a killing that remains a focal point in the history of racial terror in the Deep South.

Police have not provided further details about the circumstances leading up to the student’s death and have not released the student’s name. Authorities said the investigation remains active and declined to speculate on cause while forensic and investigative work continues.

Campus police said Tuesday they had no additional information to release. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and local law enforcement agencies are expected to continue the inquiry and to release findings as they become available.