CLEVELAND – An independent autopsy has yet to be released for Demartravion “Trey” Reed, the student who was found dead on the Delta State University campus in September, and speculation continues to swirl on campus and online.  

The initial examination by the Bolivar County coroner and the autopsy completed by the Mississippi medical examiner’s office concluded the death of the 21-year-old Black man was a suicide, and no foul play occurred.

The independent autopsy, conducted later, was paid for by civil rights activist Colin Kaepernick, a former NFL quarterback.

Reed’s body was found hanging in a tree. Some members of his family and activists say they believe he was lynched, and they point to Mississippi’s racist history of lynchings of Black people.

Jeremy Marquell Bridges, an activist from Alabama, said he’s been in recent contact with Reed’s mother, Sophia, and Ben Crump, a nationally prominent attorney representing Reed’s family.

Bridges said this week that Crump needed more time to complete a reenactment as part of the independent investigation. Crump did not specify when that would be complete.

Bridges said the independent investigation revealed injuries sustained from a recent attack by white male students, but he did not provide any proof to Mississippi Today as of Friday.

Delta State University confirmed that Reed had listed his grandmother, Sharon Candy Tillman, as his emergency contact. Tillman said she is waiting to see what the independent autopsy says about claims that Bridges and others are making. 

In an interview with The Chicago Crusader, Bridges said preliminary findings from the independent autopsy alleged that Reed lacked significant bruising around the neck consistent with a suicide by hanging. Bridges also claimed to Mississippi Today that the state crime lab was late supplying Reed’s organs and X-ray imagery to Nebraska pathologist Dr. Matthias Okoye, who the Reed family retained to conduct the independent autopsy.

On Oct. 16, Mississippi Today reached out to Bridges to ask for proof of these claims. Bridges had also claimed that Reed had defended a Black female student who was harassed by white students, and that the buckle was missing from the belt that hung him.

Bridges was unable to provide proof, but he and a member of the Reed family said they were expecting the independent autopsy last week.

Mississippi Department of Public Safety spokesperson Bailey Martin did not address Bridges’ claims that Reed’s organs were delivered late to Okyoe, but confirmed the funeral home had them as of Oct. 17, she wrote in an email to Mississippi Today.

Reed’s funeral was held at Abundant Life Assembly church in his hometown of Grenada on Sept. 27. 

Reed’s mother joined members of the New Black Panthers Party at a protest Oct. 18 on the Delta State campus in Cleveland. They alleged that his death was the result of a lynching. They repeated claims that Reed suffered “blunt force trauma to the back of the head,” which was not found in the coroner’s examination or the autopsy completed by the Mississippi medical examiner’s office.

Rumors have swirled online in the weeks since Reed’s death with videos and posts on social media sites like TikTok and Instagram echoing the allegation that he was beaten before his hanging. Some garnered more than 130,000 likes.

One TikTok user with nearly 30,000 followers removed his September video echoing many of the allegations surrounding Reed’s case. He attributed his decision to a Facebook post by Tillman, Reed’s grandmother. She clarified that the second autopsy was not yet released – and the initial findings have not yet been substantiated.

“I don’t usually respond to social media, but I’m tired,” Tillman wrote in an Oct. 3 Facebook post.

Security footage from campus is still with law enforcement agencies and can’t be shared due to the active nature of the investigation, according to the university.

The medical examiner’s office received the results of the toxicology report on Sept. 26. Those results have been given to the family, but the Department of Public Safety has not publicly released them.