CLEVELAND – The Black student found hanging from a tree Monday at Delta State University died by suicide, according to the state medical examiner’s office. The Bolivar County coroner had earlier drawn the same conclusion and determined no sign of foul play.

The body of Demartravion “Trey” Reed was discovered shortly after 7:30 a.m. in a tree beside pickleball courts and dorms on the Cleveland campus.

In the hours and days after, many students and staff have felt besieged as what seemed like every few minutes their cellphones buzzed with new rumors and speculation. The campus was rattled.

What students and faculty saw and heard did not resemble a Cleveland they know.

It was a hot late summer day when Reed’s family joined Delta State University President Dan Ennis and local law enforcement for a press conference Wednesday. Across campus, students still pulled up to empty parking spots closest to their classes, loitered outside the student union and brought food to friends in the library or to their dorms.

Eight students and three faculty members interviewed by Mississippi Today shared a mix of fear, hope, grief and numbness.

One longtime Delta State employee and father said what took place was hard to put out of mind. He saw the body hanging when he approached the pickleball courts Monday morning, with police patrol car lights flashing nearby.

He said it remains the worst thing he’s seen during 14 years of working on campus. 

“I just hope it gets better before it gets worse,” said “D,” who works as a groundskeeper and gets to work around 4 a.m. He wished to go by a nickname for fear of retaliation at work.

“You’ve got to take care of yourself,” he said. “That’s all you can do.”

A Delta native, he said Cleveland and Delta State are generally safer than nearby cities. He looked out on the main drive where a Cleveland police car followed a Delta State police car in a ring around the main quad. They maintained a moving perimeter.

He said he doesn’t trust local law enforcement and is skeptical of their statements that there was no evidence of foul play. The state medical examiner on Thursday confirmed the cause of death hanging and the manner of it was suicide.

It’s been a hard three weeks for the young father, whose son died three weeks ago from gun violence in a nearby city.

“I hate it,” he said of Reed’s death. “He was almost 21 years old. You can’t act like it didn’t happen.”

A different kind of Delta

Leticia Stevenson of Clarksdale is studying at Delta State to become a teacher. She said she was “a little freaked out” when she heard what happened.

“I was thinking to myself: Where is the public safety at?”

Her family 45 minutes away wanted her to withdraw from school, but she said she is determined to get her education and work in her dream field.

Her older relatives brought up the history of lynching. 

She’s been leaning on her faith and has been keeping the Reed family in her thoughts. Despite the fear that she felt at first, she said she is looking forward to finishing her fall semester.

Cleveland is a lot more peaceful than where she grew up in Clarksdale, she said. The campus has been welcoming and locals are friendly, she’s found.

“It’s a small town,” she said.

For another student from Madison, the hanging similarly provoked fear. The student, who said she wanted to remain anonymous because she’s looking to get hired for a job on campus, found out about the death from an email blast when she was leaving a morning class.

She said she was nervous about attending school in the Delta given “its reputation” of crime. But has found Delta State to be a laid back, secure and warm environment. She has never felt it was dangerous because campus and city police are always patrolling.

One eight-year Delta State employee was in the cafeteria when he found out about Reed’s death.  He saw a number of students and faculty clustered near each other following the developing story. He found himself conversing with several students that day.

“There’s just a lot of unknown. There’s still a lot we’re going to know,” said the employee, who did not want to give his name because of fear of retaliation in his administrative role. “I’m waiting for the process to work its way out.”

He said he feels comfortable on campus. He said Delta State and Cleveland are the kind of places where people know each other and tend to trust each other regardless of race and status. If your car is in a ditch, several cars will stop to ask if you need help, he said.

“It’s not a big campus,” he said.

Delta State’s enrollment in fall 2024 was 2,654, making it one of the smallest public universities along with Mississippi Valley State University and Mississippi University for Women. More than most other public universities in the state, Delta State draws primarily from nearby counties and cities.

Cleveland, with a population of roughly 10,000, has branded itself “A Different Kind of Delta” in tourism brochures as part of an effort to showcase the city’s charm. Unlike most other cities in the Mississippi Delta, Cleveland boasts a significant middle class and an engaged junior chamber of commerce. Its downtown rarely has an empty storefront, which is not the case in nearby cities and towns in the long-impoverished region.

‘Always looking around at my surroundings’

DSU student Paris Ricks said the news coverage has been hard to watch. Reed’s death was a tragedy that she struggled to understand.

“It’s sad,” Ricks said. “I’m still concerned, but I do feel safe.”

She first heard about Reed’s death while scrolling through social media. It later came up in conversation with family and friends on campus. Relatives wanted her to visit home and check in regularly.

Delta State is a mostly “chill” campus, she said. Ricks likes seeing familiar faces across campus. Her rural, Delta high school was also small but lacking the excitement of Cleveland and Delta State. Here, she can go to a bowling alley, a Tex-Mex restaurant, a downtown arts center and several boutiques and restaurants. There’s plenty of live music, too.

Despite feeling protected in Cleveland, Ricks takes extra precautions.

“Walk home in groups, especially if it’s at night,” she said. “I’m always looking around at my surroundings.”

One student who was carrying flyers for a student election said he has had trouble sleeping. He didn’t want to share his name because of the election.

While he didn’t know Reed personally, the student had come across him at events on campus. 

“As a young Black male, I’ve never encountered any racial hate incidents or racism,” he said.

He acknowledged the unfortunate significance of the hanging taking place in what he referred to as a PWI, or predominantly white institution. 

At Delta State, nearly 49% of students were white, 42% were Black and 9% were classified as another race in 2024. Among non HBCUs in the state, it boasts the highest Black student population.

According to “JJ,” a current Delta State student who studies humanities and social science, a bigger conversation should be had about mental health.

“I just thought it was sad that he took his own life but I still want to wait till we get all that information,” said JJ, who didn’t want to give his last name because he will join the job market when he graduates in a couple of months.

A north Mississippi native, he said Delta State wasn’t a far college move. This week, his parents have called up each day to express their concerns. Like other parents of Delta State students, they have been expecting a visit as well as regular calls.

“It’s a chill campus and not much happens so when something like this happens, it’s kind of crazy in a way,” he said.

JJ said he doesn’t think what happened should discourage high schoolers from applying to and attending the university.

“You hear a lot of stuff about what they thought happened, and it’s not true,” he said.

A viral TikTok on Monday by a former Delta State University student who falsely claimed to be a relative of the deceased dominated timelines across the country and world. The young man spoke to a culture of racial killings and incidents on campus and in the city, which is neither backed up by crime statistics, local news reports or the experience of nearly all students interviewed on campus.

The video, which has since been taken down, alleged without evidence that Reed was the victim of a modern day lynching. Scrolling through social media applications, videos from across the country echo the same theory.

Mississippi Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell told Mississippi Today that the rush to judgment in this case was “a gross misrepresentation of where we are in Mississippi.” 

It’s unfortunate that people and politicians began calling this a “lynching” before there was any investigation or determination regarding what happened, he said. “It’s frustrating.”

“Suicide is such a tragic situation. I don’t know anybody that hasn’t been impacted by it,” he said. “We  need to do more to raise awareness and for those who need help to get help.”

JJ said he believes that it was a suicide and has been keeping the family in his thoughts. He hopes more students take advantage of the mental health resources and counselors on campus. They really helped out a good friend of his, who was struggling with the transition to college.

Delta State offers free consultations for professional counseling for students, faculty and staff. Counselors are available to help those struggling with anxiety, depression, grief, anger, trauma, adjustment to college life and addiction, among other mental health challenges. Free sessions were recently made available to students with the announcement of Reed’s death.

The campus is still tightknit and “relaxed,” JJ said. He’s glad he chose to attend Delta State when he was a high school senior rather than a bigger school where people feel more disconnected from classmates.

“It’s still home,” he said.

Jerry Mitchell contributed to this report.

If you or someone you love is having thoughts of suicide or mental distress, call or text 988, or chat online at 988lifeline.org. Communications are confidential, and a trained counselor can connect you to resources.