A devastated family in Chicago is demanding answers after their loved one was found dead on Wednesday in a rural area in Henderson, North Carolina against a tree and he had rope around his neck. The family, according to ABC 11, is going from Chicago to North Carolina to demand information on the death of the 21-year-old truck driver, Javion Magee. As the news station reported, Magee was found “leaning with his back up against a tree and a rope around his neck.”

What police have said so far

Although police haven’t yet provided much details, Vance County Sheriff Curtis R. Brame is refuting some of the information circulating on the internet.

“I understand there’s over 1,000 hits on TikTok (accusing) the sheriff’s office of not being transparent, not providing information to the family and that is not true,” Brame said, per ABC 11. “There’s been information put out there that there’s a lynching in Vance County. There is not a lynching in Vance County. The young man was not dangling from a tree. He was not swinging from a tree. The rope was wrapped around his neck. It was not a noose. There was not a knot in the rope, so therefore, it was not a lynching here in Vance County.”

While Magee’s body is sent to the medical examiner for an autopsy, Brame said there are no signs of foul play. According to the sheriff, Magee died shortly after he went to a nearby Walmart. Information will be available to the family as soon as the autopsy report is available, Brame added.

According to CBS 17, deputies said they responded to a call at 285 Vanco Mill Road on Wednesday and found the 21-year-old “in a seated position with a rope wrapped around his neck and the other end of the rope attached to a tree.”

The Aurora, Illinois native was found “outside of a fenced-in area” located near a tractor repair business and a church, the sheriff’s office added.

As WRAL reported, “Brame said evidence shows MaGee purchased a rope from a Walmart, where he had stopped for a delivery before his death, but MaGee’s family is skeptical of that information. A search warrant in the case lays out the timeline of MaGee’s last hours, as captured on surveillance cameras. The sheriff’s office used GPS from MaGee’s delivery truck to track his movements before his death.”

Their report continues, “At 4:20 p.m. on Sept. 10, he was seen on surveillance cameras at the Walmart purchasing the rope that was found with his body. Two hours later, he was later seen going into and out of a Hampton Inn on Ruin Creek Road in Henderson. Surveillance cameras at the hotel show he arrived at 6:28 p.m. and left at 6:36 p.m. Surveillance cameras in the area where his body was found show MaGee pull up in his truck and walk toward the direction of the tree where his body was found the next day around 10 a.m.”

In response to the discourse happening on social media, Mike Waters, the district attorney for multiple North Carolina counties including Vance, told the Raleigh News & Observer, “I feel at this point this investigation has been conducted the same way any other suspicious death investigation would be, and they are doing all that they can do.”

The News & Observer reported that his cell phone information will be reviewed by officials and his truck searched as the investigation continues.

Civil rights attorneys are representing the family

Civil rights attorneys Harry Daniels and Lee Merritt, along with North Carolina attorney Jason Keith, are now representing the family as they search for answers. According to a statement from the family’s spokesperson, per CBS 17, said that “authorities told them that they couldn’t view the body and a video posted by a family member on social media went viral overnight.”

“As of today, the authorities haven’t shown us anything proving that this young man with no history of mental illness took his own life,” Daniels added, per CBS 17. “How can the police expect us to take their word for it when they won’t even let this family view the body?”

Civil rights leader Bishop William Barber II is also urging for officers to provide information.

“We must have truth and transparency in this matter. Hanging is not a form of death that can be easily dismissed, particularly here in the South where it has been used as a weapon of terror against Black families for generations,” Barber said, per CBS 17. “I join attorneys Daniels and Merritt as they seek truth and justice for Javion McGee and his family.”

The NC NAACP has also made a statement

Per WFMY, the North Carolina NAACP has stated the following: “The death of Javion Magee is a heartbreaking event that requires the utmost attention from all levels of law enforcement. We demand a comprehensive and transparent investigation to uncover the truth behind this tragedy. As a community, we cannot rest until we have clear answers. The NAACP will stand with the Magee family and will continue to push for justice in this matter, ensuring that every aspect of this case is investigated with the seriousness it deserves.”

Magee’s death has gone viral on TikTok

Several TikToks and X (formerly known as Twitter posts), including those referenced by Brame, have gone viral after focusing on everything from news reporting to speculation about what happened to Magee.

One TikTok user, @scottieprimpin, identifies herself as Magee’s cousin and posted a TikTok that has now gone viral in which she asks for help.

@scottieprimpin Please help my family in getting Justice for my little cousin #JavionMagee #Henderson #HendersonNC #Chicago #NAACP @ABC News @ABC11 @WGN9Chicago #JUSTICEFORJAVION #SAYHISNAME ♬ original sound – StormiNyte 🌪🖤

The family is questioning what authorities are saying

Candice Matthews, a civil rights activist and state chair for the Texas Democratic Black Caucus who is the spokesperson for Magee’s family, said via The TRiiBe: “How can you say that it was a suicide? We have not even had autopsy report. We haven’t had a full investigation. Now that all of this is out and we’re amplifying the issue, now, all of a sudden, the sheriff has put out a statement and isn’t saying that it is a suicide. Now he’s saying if anyone knows anything to reach out to Crime Stoppers hotline. We’re not going to play this game, sir.”

Matthews also noted that Magee did not have a recorded history of mental health struggles. “So what would make this man hang himself?” she said. “And how he was hung, it was no way that he could have done that himself.”

Per the TRiiBE, Matthews says that the family is calling for transparency and wants government officials to investigate it as a hate crime.

“We demand the Department of Justice to come in and investigate this. We demand the FBI to come in and investigate this as a hate crime,” she said.

This is a developing story with more details to come; if you know anything about Javion Magee’s death, call the Vance County Sheriff’s Office at 252-738-2200 or the Henderson-Vance Crime Stoppers at 252-492-1925.

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