FBI and MBI on the Scene of a Death Investigation in Claiborne County
Port Gibson, Miss. — According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the FBI and Mississippi Bureau of Investigation are on the scene in Claiborne County conducting a death investigation.
Earlier in the day, the Claiborne County Sheriff’s Department and the Mississippi Wildlife Fisheries and Parks conducted a ground search for a man who had been missing since early March. Officers located a man hanging in the woods near Roddy Road a half mile from his last known residence.
The man was last seen March 2, and his family filed a missing persons report with the Claiborne County Sheriff’s Department March 8. Claiborne County Sheriff’s Department officials reported the man missing to MBI March 13.
The Claiborne County Sheriff’s Department contacted the MBI and FBI for forensic and investigative assistance.
Investigators are currently processing the scene for evidence to determine the cause and manner of death.
The Claiborne County Chapter of the NAACP told reporters that the man was Otis Byrd. Byrd had served twenty-six years in prison for the murder of a woman in 1980 and was paroled in 2006. An early report suggested that his hands were not tied behind his back.
