View our timeline on Trey Reed’s death and the investigation.
GRENADA, Miss.—The family of Demartravion “Trey” Reed is seeking an independent autopsy following the Delta State University student’s death on Monday, when his body was found hanging in a tree on campus. At a press event at Living Faith Miracle Temple Church of God in Christ in Grenada late Tuesday afternoon, Vanessa J. Jones of the Jones Law Firm, who is representing the Reed family, told the media that the family is still waiting for answers.
“The family does not know exactly what happened on September the 15th of 2025,” she said. “We are seeking answers from Delta State University. We’re seeking answers from the coroner’s office.”
Delta State University staff discovered Reed’s body hanging from the tree at 7:05 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 15, in the middle of the campus, where the 21-year-old had just begun attending college. Hours after his discovery, Delta State University Police Chief Mike Peeler said in a press conference that no foul play was currently suspected. The same day, two officials from the Bolivar County Coroner’s Office said Trey Reed had no other visible injuries that would indicate an attack prior to his hanging.
‘The Media Knew Before the Family Did’
Vanessa Jones criticized Delta State University and Bolivar County officials, telling the Mississippi Free Press that both had left the Reed family completely in the dark after the discovery of Trey Reed’s body, failing to properly communicate with them in their darkest moment.
“The media,” the lawyer said, “knew about Trey’s death before the family did.”
“ That’s one of the reasons for the urgency of this press conference,” Jones continued, “because the family is getting all of their information secondhand through the news.”
And a confusing incident occurred the morning of Trey’s death, she said.
“The Grenada County Sheriff’s Department arrived at Trey’s family’s home … at approximately 9:15, and informed the family that Trey was found dead in his dorm room, in his bed,” she said.
Not long after, the family would learn that Trey had died in the center of campus, hanging from a tree.
The day after this story first published, Grenada County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Ricky Williamson told the Mississippi Free Press in an interview that neither he nor his investigator, Sonja Willis, specified where he had been found when they informed the family of Trey Reed’s death on Monday. Grenada, his childhood hometown, is located roughly an hour east of Cleveland, where he was studying at Delta State University.
“That was never the words that were said when they were notified of his death. Absolutely not. The conversation was that me and my investigator went there (to) the grandparents of Trey Reed, had them sit down on the porch, and we told them that we had been sent to notify them that Trey Reed had been found deceased at Delta State University, and that the (DSU Police) chief was on scene,” Williamson said on Wednesday afternoon.
“I said, and I don’t recall the exact wording, but that they didn’t believe it had been done by anyone else,” he continued. “I handed them the note with the chief’s name and phone number and asked could we pray with them. We prayed, and as we were leaving, the grandmother asked, ‘Was he down on the floor, was he by his bed?’ I said, ‘Ma’am, I do not know.’ And that’s when we walked away.”
The family needs clarity on the moments leading up to Trey’s death, Jones said.
“ If this young man was on the campus of Delta State University with all these cameras and all this modern technology, from the moment he left his dorm room or entered the campus, there should be surveillance of all his actions,” Jones said. “That’s what we want. Bring the surveillance, bring the cameras so that we’ll know exactly what happened.”
Jones did not allege that Reed’s death had been violent, but demanded a full and independent investigation. “We’re not here to point fingers—yet. But we will have answers. The possible constitutional violations of releasing Trey’s name to the media immediately after it happened—we’ll get to that. But for now, the family is asking for answers.”
Speaking at the same press event, Pastor Jerry Reed, Trey’s uncle, told the media that his nephew had been a “happy young man,” filled with purpose and excited for a new chapter at Delta State University.
“ When I talked to him, he always told me that he had a plan for his life, and many things he wanted. He wanted to go to college,” Jerry Reed said. “He wanted to be a truck driver. Because that’s what I was, for nearly 30 years, and that’s what he wanted to be.”
Civil Rights Attorneys, Mississippi Leadership Respond
Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump will also join the Reed family in seeking a full and independent investigation of the death of Reed.
“Trey Reed was a young man full of promise and warmth, deeply loved and respected by all who knew him,” Crump wrote in a media statement on Tuesday afternoon. “His family and the campus community deserve a full, independent investigation to uncover the truth about what happened. We cannot accept vague conclusions when so many questions remain. I stand with this family, and I will lead a team of civil rights leaders and organizations in pursuing transparency and answers for Trey’s family.”
U.S. House Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat whose district includes Bolivar and Grenada counties, called for a federal investigation into Reed’s death by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
“It is always a tragedy when a young life is cut short,” Thompson said in the statement Tuesday afternoon. “We must leave no stone unturned in the search for answers. While the details of this case are still emerging, we cannot ignore Mississippi’s painful history of lynching and racial violence against African Americans. My deepest condolences and prayers are with Trey’s family during this difficult time.”
Trey Reed’s death set off alarms across social media, with countless concerned observers fearing Reed’s death was intentional—a painful echo of the many lynchings of Black men in Mississippi’s past. One persistent rumor falsely asserted that Trey’s limbs had been broken, rendering suicide impossible.
Monday afternoon, the Mississippi Free Press spoke to Bolivar County Deputy Coroner Murray Roark, who said he assisted his colleague, Deputy Coroner Dwayne Proctor, in the examination of Reed’s body. Roark insisted he had seen no evidence of broken limbs on Reed’s body. Later, Bolivar County Coroner Randolph Seals elaborated, confirming that examiners found no evidence of assault on the body of the deceased.
“Based on the preliminary examination, we can confirm that the deceased did not suffer any lacerations, contusions, compound fractures, broken bones, or injuries consistent with an assault,” Seals said. “At this time, there is no evidence to suggest the individual was physically attacked before his death.”
Hours after Reed’s death, police 100 miles south in Vicksburg, Mississippi, found the body of a homeless white man hanging in a tree in a wooded area, sparking rumors of a connection between the two deaths on social media. Vicksburg Police have said they have no indication that the two deaths are related, but that investigation is also ongoing.
Video Exists of Trey Reed, DSU Police Chief Says
At Tuesday’s press conference, Vanessa Jones alleged that University leadership had yet to even call the Reed family, contradicting statements from DSU President Dr. Dan Ennis.
“They said they’re there for the family, but they haven’t even contacted the family. This is what we call a false narrative,” Jones said on Sept. 16. “The president of Delta State University has not taken 30 seconds and called Trey’s family.”
Ennis acknowledged that in a press conference on Wednesday morning, explaining that he was bound by protocol to communicate with the individuals Trey Reed himself listed as next of kin, rather than immediate family relations.
“The student tells us their next of kin, and from the moment we discovered (him), this university has been in regular, frequent contact with the next of kin,” the university president said on Sept. 17. “Trey Reed gave us two names … from the point of view of respecting the student’s wishes, the university has been and will continue to be in direct contact with Trey’s chosen names.”
At the same Wednesday morning event, DSU Chief of Police Mike Peeler stated that Reed’s body had been delivered to the Mississippi State Medical Examiner for a full autopsy, with preliminary results expected back within 24-48 hours.
“This joint investigation remains active and the Delta State University Police is in full cooperation with all agencies involved. This is an isolated incident,” Peeler said. “Due to the support of the state and local law enforcement and the increased law enforcement presence here at Delta State, there are currently no active threats to the campus, and the university remains safe.”
The campus police chief said that video of Trey Reed does exist, but declined to specify if this meant surveillance video showing his death before he was found hanging in the tree. “There are videos and they’re in the hands of the investigative team,” Peeler said. “Right now, Cleveland Police Department is leading the investigation.”
This morning, the Mississippi Free Press reached out to the Cleveland Police Department to clarify this point: does surveillance footage of the area in question exist? A representative from the department declined to provide any further information.
Asked about the broader context of race relations in America during Wednesday morning’s press conference, Ennis defended the culture and people of his university.
“One of the things I love about Delta State is that it’s what America should be. I’ve got 40% African American students and they eat and play and work and learn besides white people … I’m not saying this is heaven, but I am saying I can walk into my cafeteria right now and see black people and white people eating together,” the president said. “I walk into my classroom on Tuesday morning and my classroom looks like America.”
Ennis grieves, he said, both for Trey Reed and for the impression that Delta State University is not safe. “My heartbreak is comprehensive, primarily for Trey, but also for the fact that the rest of the world has an impression of Delta State that is so at odds with what I know to be this institution.”
“Mississippi has produced extraordinary authors, and Richard Wright is one of the best,” Ennis concluded. “Richard Wright said that history comes on us, it surges up and it’s fused, entangled. And so I acknowledge that this history, the imagery is fused, entangled in people’s identities, and sometimes we can’t untangle it. But (Delta State University) is one of the best places to start to pick at that knot, and to acknowledge that situation, and to build off of it.”
Read more of the Mississippi Free Press’ coverage of Trey Reed’s death here.
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This story was updated on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, to add information from the Sept. 17 Delta State University press conference. This story was updated again on Wednesday to add comments from Grenada County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Ricky Williamson.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled Bolivar County Coroner Randolph Seals’ name. We apologize for the error.
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