JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — FBI agents and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation got the results of the autopsy for 54-year-old Otis Byrd just five days after he was found hanging from a tree near the home he rented in Port Gibson, Mississippi.
The agencies met March 24 with the Byrd’s family to discuss the results of the autopsy.
Investigators are not saying when they will publicly release the information or whether they consider the death of Byrd to be homicide or suicide.
“At each milestone in this case, the FBI’s first step is to personally brief family members,” Don Alway, special agent in charge of the FBI in Mississippi, said in a statement to The Associated Press on Wednesday.
A call to Byrd’s sister, Florine Hodge, was not answered Wednesday, and it was not possible to leave a message seeking comment from her.
A call to Byrd’s stepsister, Tracy Wilson, was not immediately returned to the AP.
An attorney representing the Byrd family is scheduled to hold a news conference Wednesday in Jackson to discuss the investigation.
The FBI says it is awaiting results of forensic tests from its laboratory. More than 30 federal and state investigators have been working on the case. They have interviewed people who knew Byrd and searched his home and a storage unit he rented.
