A Georgia family is looking for answers after the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department determined that a Black man found suspended from a tree took his own life.
According to FOX-5 Atlanta, Stephen Styles disappeared last month. The 43-year-old man’s family told the news outlet that details of the man vanishing were vague. The police reportedly found Styles’ vehicle in a wooded area close to his grandparents’ home in Winston, Georgia, on Feb. 20. Winston is about 25 miles west of Atlanta. The car had been vandalized.
“The windows were busted out,” Keaton Styles, Stephen’s brother, said. The man also told FOX 5 that the inside of the car was full of mud, and his license and wallet were missing from the scene.
Styles’ body was discovered near his car hanging from a tree.
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According to FOX 5, Styles’ death report from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department said that there was no medical examiner at the scene when his body was found. The law enforcement agency didn’t provide any other details.
Although the sheriff’s department doesn’t believe that foul play played a role in his death, they are actively investigating the vandalism.
The Styles family doesn’t buy it.
“I just don’t know how they could be so quick as to call this a suicide,” Keaton said. “It seems like racial activity.”
FOX 5 pressed the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department about seemingly rapid suicide determination, but authorities wouldn’t answer any further questions while the case was being investigated.
Keaton isn’t convinced that his brother committed suicide. He expressed that the two men were extremely close, especially since both their parents were deceased.
“We used to tell each other we’re all we got,” the grieving man said. “He was a good person. A caring person, he was funny.”
