The FBI revealed that it is monitoring the investigation into the death of Marco McMillan, the openly gay man who was running for mayor of a Mississippi town . And it's seriously considering a federal hate crime investigation.
The FBI said in a statement that it "initiated contact" with Mississippi police on March 1 "to offer assistance."
"The FBI will continue its ongoing dialogue and sharing of information with the local and state agencies, and will continue to monitor this investigation for any indication that a potential violation of federal law exists," FBI spokeswoman Deborah Madden said in a statement.
Marco McMillian, 34, was found dead on Feb. 27. He was the Democratic candidate for mayor in the delta town of Clarksdale, Miss., and was considered one of the first viable openly gay candidates to run for office in the state. According to his family he was beaten, dragged from his car and burned after his death.
Lawrence Reed, 22, is the sole suspect and has been charged with murder.
The move came two days after Congressman Bennie Thompson asked federal authorities to look into the matter. Thompson was a very close friend of McMillan, and his district includes Clarksdale. Mississippi's hate-crime statute doesn't cover sexual orientation, but the federal one does.
If the FBI does decide to start an investigation, they may want to talk to some people Reed called immediately after McMillan's death. According to WPTY-TV in Memphis, Reed told a pair of family friends early on the morning of February 26 and told them he killed Reed in self-defense just before slamming Reed's SUV into a truck.
(T)he sisters say Reed told them everything. Just after midnight on February 26, their youngest sister received a panicked call from Reed. One sister says, "He called at 12:11am and he told her that the dude (McMillian) was trying to rape him. He was exposing himself to him, playing with himself, telling him to do things and then he'll take him home."
He told the girl he was on a back road and couldn't get away. A few minutes later a bruised, bloody and broken Reed showed up at their back porch. "He just looked like he had been through war..." one sister describes, "He was standing in the back, back here, telling God to forgive him. He didn't mean to do it, and he was saying that he just wanted to die."
She says when Reed couldn't get away from McMillian, he used the chain on his wallet to choke the 200 pound politician. "He was shaking real hard, he was crying real hard, he was circling, begging for somebody to talk to him."
The sisters say Reed was inconsolable and, they believe, suicidal. "When he left out, he just drove out, sped up and hit a white truck head on."
This apparently confirms
earlier suspicions that Reed may use a "gay panic" defense at his trial.