The Associated Press is reporting that an autopsy report shows that a man admitted to killing Mississippi mayoral candidate Marco McMillian in February, and that the victim died of from a lack of oxygen. The report does not list a cause of death beyond calling it a homicide.
The report says blunt force trauma most likely contributed to Clarkdale mayoral candidate Marco McMillian's death, but the cause of death is listed as "asphyxia by undetermined etiology," which is the medical branch dealing with causes. That means McMillian died from a lack of oxygen, but exactly what caused that could not be determined.
"Additional autopsy findings that most likely contributed to his death are multiple areas of blunt force trauma to the head that are consistent with a beating," Dr. Mark LeVaughn, the state medical examiner, wrote in the report dated May 1.
McMillian's death on Feb. 27 got significant attention after his campaign said he was the first viable, openly gay candidate for office in Mississippi. McMillian's sexuality was not an issue in his campaign, but because McMillian was gay and black, some speculated that his death might have been a hate crime.
Read more at the Huffington Post.