Roosevelt Champion III's death has been ruled a suicide by local authorities, 11 Alive reports, putting to bed the notion that the 43-year-old Georgia man had been hanged from a tree by a racially motivated perpetrator.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Tuesday that autopsy results pointed to suicide. Champion was found dead Monday morning hanging from a tree behind a house in Greensboro, Ga.
"There's nothing to suggest any, any foul play at this time," GBI Agent Joe Wooten said, going on to describe the position of Champion's body when he was found. "Mr. Champion's feet were touching the ground, his knees were slightly buckled."
According to Wooten, Champion's arms and legs were not bound, and there were no cuts or gunshot wounds of any kind on his body. Another GBI representative said that the autopsy "indicated" that the cause of death was by hanging, 11 Alive reports.
Champion's sister Miranda Wright, however, is having a tough time believing that her brother committed suicide. "I'm angry; I'm angry because I don't have answers," Wright said. "He do a lot of things, but he wouldn't have harmed himself. I doubt it."
One week before his death, Champion had been interviewed twice by the GBI about the slaying of a local woman. However, authorities stressed that Champion was not a suspect in that case. Champion had been imprisoned for a drug-related offense, DUI, public indecency and obstruction of a police officer, 11 Alive reports.
Read more at 11 Alive.