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VANCE COUNTY, N.C.–The Vance County Sheriff is dismissing claims of a lynching after a Black truck driver was found dead near the base of a tree with a rope around his neck, but the county’s history tells a different story.

On September 11, Javion Magee, an Illinois resident raised in east Texas, was found in a parking lot on Vanco Mill Road near Henderson, N.C., according to Vance County Sheriff’s Office. His body was seated in an upright position beneath a tree with a rope around his neck.

“In my opinion, it’s a hate crime, because this young man had no indication of suicidal ideation,” Candice Matthews, a family spokesperson, told WRAL News.

The family told local media they spoke with the medical examiner regarding the preliminary report.

“He did have a broken neck with blood around the neck which came from the hanging…. They also feel that this entire investigation is no way transparent,” the family said in a statement.

Surveillance footage shows Magee purchasing rope

On Monday, the Sheriff’s Office released surveillance footage that showed Magee purchasing rope at a Walmart that was found near his body in the lot.

Walmart Surveillance footage shows Javion Magee purchasing rope that was found with his body on Sept. 11, 2024. (Vance County Sheriff’s Office)

However, the family says the rope can be explained as an item truckers use for loading trucking equipment.

They’re accusing the Sheriff’s Office of refusing to be transparent about the ongoing investigation, which has been classified as a “suspicious death.”

“The family still suspects foul play, and the family still wants transparency; they want accountability and justice,” Matthews said.

Authorities looking for 9-11 caller

Authorities say they’re still trying to determine who placed the 9-11 call that alerted them to Javion Magee’s body.

“I’m at my job mowing grass, and I think there’s a man out here who hung himself in a tree,” a caller told dispatch.

The dispatcher asked if Magee had hung himself in a tree.”Yeah, he looks dead. He’s still got a rope around his neck,” the caller responded.

Vance County Sheriff under fire

After the morbid discovery, Vance County Sheriff Curtis R. Brame, who is Black, appeared to suggest Magee’s death wasn’t a lynching because there was no noose in the rope. Brame also denied not being transparent with the family.

“The young man was not dangling from a tree. He was not swinging from a tree. The rope was wrapped around his neck. It was not a noose. It was not a knot in the rope. So, therefore it was not a lynching here in Vance County,” Sheriff Brame said.

He also disputed the family’s claim that his office was dismissing the death as a suicide.

“At no point in time have we said this was a suicide,’ Sheriff Brame said. He’s brought in the Vance County District Attorney’s Office and the State Bureau of Investigation to help with the case. An autopsy was reportedly conducted on Friday as the family and many around the country wait for further updates.

Ultimately, while it’s currently unclear whether Magee died by suicide or foul play, North Carolina is no stranger to lynchings of Black men.

Lynchings in Vance County

The Equal Justice Initiative has documented over 4,000 known lynchings against Black Americans between 1877 and 1950, when racial terror campaigns against Black people raged across the country with little to no accountability.

During that period, 120 lynchings took place in North Carolina, with two known lynchings taking place in Vance County.

Courtesy of Equal Justice Initiative

One of those lynchings involved the vicious killing of the biracial Perry family.

On March 12, 1915, Bessie Perry was just 25 years old when a racist mob invaded her Vance County home, shooting Perry and her daughter Josephine before setting the house on fire, according to an archive of lynchings at University of North Carolina.

“Joe, his brother John, and another infant child reportedly escaped the flames. No motive for the murder or further legal intervention in the crime could be found,” the archive states.

According to Vance County District Attorney Mike Waters, his office has been advising the Sheriff’s Office on the case. He said he understands the family wants answers.

“That is very helpful with respect to their grief, but in the end, information sometimes, if it leaked out, could damage an investigation,” Waters said.

Anyone with information into the death of Javion Magee can contact the Vance County Sheriff’s Office at 252-738-2200 or Henderson-Vance Crime Stoppers at 252-492-1925 for those who wish to remain anonymous.

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