On Friday morning, August 29, 17 year old African American Lennon Lacy, of rural Bladenboro, North Carolina, was allegedly found hanging from a children’s swing set in a predominantly white trailer park less than a half mile from his home. Within hours, authorities on the scene determined ‘suicide’ - despite strenuous objections from the Lacy family, despite the fact that the shoes found on the body were a size-and-a-half too small and didn’t even belong to Lennon, despite the fact that the belts used to make the noose did not belong to Lennon, and despite the absence of a suicide note (not that they bothered searching for one).
According to those authorities, sometime between midnight and 7:25 a.m., 5 foot 9, 207 pound, 17 year old African American high school student, Lennon Lacy:
• Finished a long, lively, front porch chat with his brother’s girlfriend.
• Hand washed his football gear for the next day’s big game. The first game of the season.
• Hung that gear on the back line to dry.
• Became overwhelmed by suicidal depression triggered by the passing of his 78 year old great uncle earlier in the week.
• Took off his new Nike Jordan shoes and hid them so they would never be seen again.
• Located a pair of too-small shoes with no laces and shoved them on his feet.
• Placed his cellphone under the pillow of his neatly made bed.
• Walked a half-mile down to a predominantly white trailer park.
• Located one black and one blue belt that didn’t belong to him. Cut the buckle off the black belt without using a knife and then tied the two together.
• Hung himself on a children’s swing set.
From here, the story only gets more complicated and implausible. There are, for example, multiple versions of how the body was discovered and what happened next. Going by the 911 call, almost 45 minutes after sunrise, a female resident of the trailer park discovered the body and untied it. As I understand the ‘official’ version, she was out mowing the lawn and came across the gruesome scene. According to what I was told by the County Coroner, however, the 911 caller had actually been contacted by another resident of the mobile home park who said that ‘a black man had been standing under the swing set for some time’ and she went to check it out. The person who made that call was allegedly evicted the same afternoon. My sources tell me that Lennon’s feet were said to be about two inches off the ground when he was found. The only people who can say for sure, however, are the 911 caller and the now evicted woman because they were the only ones to see the body suspended.
For everyone except investigators, a number of red flags are immediately apparent. First, the crossbeam of the swing set is 7 feet 6 inches (90 inches) off the ground and there were no swings, stools, crates or other implements to either stand on to attach the noose or to kick away from. At 5 foot 9, Lennon was 69 inches tall.
One end of the swing set has a climbing platform attached. The noose was reportedly tied to the supporting cross beam (appears to be a 2 x 6") and then fed through a metal grommet that was screwed into the wood. This grommet was 22.5" away from the platform. Lennon was 69" tall. The height of the cross beam to the ground was 90". In a photo provided his brother who is 6'4" could not reach up and touch the beam. There were no swings on this swing set to act as a step to reach the beam. There was no item present at the scene that Lennon could have stood on, applied the noose and then kicked away. The only other way to reach the beam and grommet therefore had to be from the climbing platform. No measurements are available at this time for the noose (described below) but it does not appear long enough to have been tied around the beam, fed through the grommet and still allow a large enough loop for him to be able to place over his head. The side structure of the platform is a rather small square that is further obstructed by the v-shaped vertical supports of the swing.
Second, the swing sets are smack dab in the middle of two rows of mobile homes. How was it possible for a body to be hanging, unspotted, for almost 45 minutes after sunrise on a Friday when people go to work and school?
And then there is the noose.
While reports have said that the 911 caller cut Lennon down, the audio tape of the 911 call indicates that the caller untied the noose from the swing set. To be sure, the evidence picture clearly indicates that the noose was not cut: The only cut is at the knot where the two belts are still joined together. Look again at the picture of the swing set. How did a relatively petite woman manage this unaided and with nothing to stand on?
Presumably wondering the same thing, on the scene, the State Bureau of Investigation reportedly had the woman recreate her actions and she demonstrated how she climbed up on the platform, stretched her arm over and untied the belt. A key part missing from this recreation, however, was 207 pounds of hanging dead weight.
And then there is the length of the hanging apparatus itself. In the words of the independent pathologist hired by the NAACP to review the case:
There are a number of concerning factors about the apparent noose. The picture provided show [sic] that the black belt was not consistent with the one worn by Lennon. The blue belt is reported to be consistent with a belt worn by a male who resided in the mobile home where Lennon was last known alive.
What is most concerning about the apparent noose is that the person who called 911 said she was going to the cut the person she found down. Review of the photographs show that the 2 belts are tied together with a single cut to each at the tie point. The other free ends of the belts are completely intact and have no secondary cuts. Only a very short piece of each belt extends past the tied area and could not have been tied around the cross beam. Note that when meeting with Dr. Radisch she stated that when she examined the belt she thought some portion must be missing because there was no secondary cut in either belt.
Lennon weighed 207 pounds and was reportedly completely suspended. It is very unlikely that a female could lift his body weight, support it for a prolonged period and untie the belt. Also, as she did not have anything to stand on she would have to be well over 6'6" to accomplish this from the ground. Note that funeral home personnel stated that it took 3 men to move Lennon while making preparations.
The independent pathologist also reports:
It should be noted that there are variations of the choke hold. The variation called the lateral vascular neck restraint (LVNR) is where the anterior neck is held in the antecubital fossa (front of the elbow) and the forearm is pulled towards the arm, compressing the vessels in both sides of the neck. This is basically a pincher movement with both sides of the neck between the arm and forearm. This hold can be applied without injury to the underlying internal neck structures or if there is a struggle there can be blood in the muscles and fractures of the superior cornu of the thyroid cartilage. During our conversation with Dr. Radisch she agreed that one would be unable to tell at autopsy if death occurred via this type of choke hold and then the body was placed in a suspension noose.
My understanding of the original autopsy is that it was relatively cursory and left several significant factors unexplored.
1. Lennon was reportedly fully suspended and my understanding is that in the majority of such hangings, abrasions are usually only found on the front of the neck because of the pressure exerted by the body. But the autopsy report notes that abrasions were found around the entire circumference of the neck. Given that the noose in the picture indicates looping through the belt buckle - it would have been impossible to secure the buckle through the belt holes given the vast difference between the width of a neck and the width of a waist - how does 207 pounds of hanging weight create enough tension around the entire neck to leave abrasions?
2. The report does not mention injury to the cervical muscles or the sternocleidomastoid muscle – my understanding is that this type of damage is almost universal in full suspension suicides.
3. It is my understanding that one should see significant pooling of blood in the legs, forearms and hands in cases of suspension hangings. The autopsy report mentions none.
Based just on what is discussed in this diary, it seems more than clear that authorities should not have rushed a conclusion of suicide. But there is much more to this story
In the coming days, I will be bringing you more of what I have learned over the last few weeks of investigating the death of Lennon Lacy including: insight into how law enforcement has treated the grieving Lacy family, a broad introduction to some of Lennon's more troubling associations and neighbors, and background of a rural county with few opportunities and a lot of illegal drugs.
Until then, feel free to KosMail me any messages of condolence or support for the Lacy family. I will make sure that your words reach them.
Finally, please mark your calendar. A march demanding a federal investigation into this case will be held in Bladenboro at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, December 13.