Attorneys for Javion Magee‘s family are demanding transparency after the sheriff’s office has released a video and what they believe is the timeline of events after the 21-year-old truck driver was found dead with a rope around his neck.
Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, attorney Lee Meritt said deputies prematurely told Magee’s family that he died by suicide.
“I don’t know that lynching or a hate crime is in fact that case,” Merritt said at the news conference, per WRAL. “What we discovered was that Mr. Magee came into the county on Sept. 11 and he died by hanging from his neck. The sheriff concluded early on, and we believe prematurely, that it seemed to be a suicide to him. Well, that doesn’t seem to be a suicide for me.”
However, Vance County Sheriff Curtis Brame denied the attorney’s statement.
“At no point in time have we said this was a suicide,” Brame said, according to WRAL.
As Blavity previously reported, the sheriff’s office stated Magee was found “outside of a fenced-in area” near a tractor repair business and a church in Vance County, North Carolina. Officers said they found Magee in a seated position near the base of a tree with one side of the rope wrapped around his neck and the other end attached to the tree, per WRAL.
The timeline of events seems to show that Magee bought a rope from a Walmart store during a delivery stop before he died. Magee’s advocates, however, remain skeptical about the possibility of suicide.
“As a truck driver, this is part of the equipment used for loads,” Civil rights activist Candice Matthews said in an interview with The TRiiBE. “This is part of his job and part of the equipment that’s used to tie down loads.”
What the sheriff’s office says is the timeline of events
As reported by WRAL, which states that this timeline was put together by using “the GPS from Magee’s truck, surveillance video, witness statements, a 911 call and cell phone data,” the sheriff’s office timeline is the following:
- 1 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 10: Magee left Hazelton, Pennsylvania, after picking up a load of goods to deliver to the Walmart in Henderson, North Carolina.
- 6:50 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 10: The truck stopped at a truck stop on Highway 207 about 12 hours north of Ashland, Virginia, for about an hour. Investigators are working to get video from the truck stop for review.
- 10 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 10: The truck stopped at Chex Truck Stop in Middleburg, North Carolina. Surveillance video shows Magee walking into the truck stop alone, using the restroom and getting food from the truck stop grill. Magee is seen walking back to his truck and getting in his truck alone.
- 12:21 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 10: Magee then left the Chex Truck Stop to continue south on I-85 into Henderson.
- 12:37 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 10: Magee arrived at the Walmart Distribution Center in Henderson. After unloading, Magee left the center around 4:43 p.m. to purchase tobacco products at a smoke shop.
- 6:11 p.m. Tuesday, Sept, 10: Magee went to the Walmart Supercenter on North Cooper Drive, which is a separate location of the Walmart Distribution Center. The Walmart Supercenter had at least five cameras show him walking into the store, buying blue Ozark Trail rope and leaving the store.
- 6:28 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 10: Magee arrived at Hampton Inn at 385 Ruin Creek Road in Henderson and left within 10 minutes. Magee’s attorneys said there were no rooms available.
- 6:45 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 10: Magee pulled into a tractor repair shop, turned his truck off and walked to the woods with something in his hands.
- 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 10: Magee returned to the truck empty-handed, turned it on and sat there. About 30 minutes later, he turned the truck off and walked to the woods alone.
- 10 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 11: The owner of the tractor repair shop called 911.
Authorities also state that Magee reportedly gave $228 to a homeless person he saw when leaving Walmart, telling them, “I don’t know how much it is, but if I had more, I would give it to you.”
That man, Patrick West, told WRAL, “It blows my mind to hear about that because he seemed like a pretty good guy. He didn’t look sad at all. He just seemed normal. He gave me everything in his wallet. He gave me all the cash he had on him.”
Merritt also said on Wednesday that he doubts that Magee would take his own life.
“I don’t know too many 21-year-old, gainfully employed, happy individuals that travel into North Carolina, buy a rope and kill themselves,” he said. “That would be an oddity. It’s a possibility, but we would need more evidence before we jump to that conclusion.”
An autopsy report from The North Carolina Chief Medical Examiner’s Office revealed that Magee didn’t have defensive wounds or signs of physical and sexual assault. But Magee did have hemorrhaging around the soft tissue of his neck.
“Our main focus here is [to] find out what happened to Javion,” attorney Harry Daniels said, per WRAL. “This is why … the family is here because there’s no indication whatsoever that 21 years he was on Earth that they brought him here and raised him that showed any signs that he would commit suicide.”
“We don’t have a video of that,” he also said. “But we do know, like I stated before, that Javion had a rope tied around his neck and that rope was tied to a tree.”
On Wednesday, Magee’s parents, Tiara Roberson Gates and Cori Magee, viewed their son’s body for the first time since his passing.
“We’re not pointing any figures because it’s still under investigation,” his father Cori said, per WRAL. “I just ask that you guys keep us in prayer.”
