Danye Jones’ Death Is Being Investigated as a Suicide. But His Mother, a Ferguson Activist, Says It’s a Lynching

By: Anne Branigin, Theroot

A rally and news conference have been organized today by the family of Danye Jones, a 24-year-old man who was found dead, hanging from a tree on his family’s property, earlier this month. St. Louis County says they are investigating Jones’ death as a suicide. But his mother, Melissa McKinnies, a prominent protester who helped organize demonstrators during the Ferguson Uprising in 2014, says her son was lynched in retaliation for her activist work.

“She insisted he was upbeat, not suicidal, and did not know how to tie the types of knots used in the ligature. The sheet used did not match the family’s sheets. And he had packed an overnight bag, which had been left on the patio, a suggestion that he trusted and had planned to leave the house with the person who killed him, she said.”

McKinnies told the Post-Dispatch and KMOV-TV that she and her family have received death threats related to her work organizing protests following the killing of Michael Brown in 2014. Those threats, which were delivered through social media, appeared to have escalated in the last two months. McKinnies said she would elaborate on the death threats she and her family received at a news conference scheduled for Thursday.

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