At this point, it’s difficult not to get upset or suspicious each time a Black man is found hanged and his death is swiftly ruled a suicide.
On Sept. 17, 2024, the body of 29-year-old Jayvon Givan was found hanging from a metal chain from a commercial building in Corrales, New Mexico, according to The Kansas City Defender. The Albuquerque Police Department ruled his death a suicide, as did an investigator with the Office of the Medical Investigator (OMI), who reportedly examined Givan’s body at the scene and determined there were no signs of foul play. Already, this story is sounding eerily similar to that of several recent cases of Black people found hanging, only for it to be ruled, seemingly immediately, that they took their own lives. The only real difference this time is that Givan was found hanging from a chain and pillar rather than a tree.
“They did find the man, hanging by a chain, basically a pillar of a wall that was outside of a business that was closed for renovations,” APD’s Director of Communications Gilbert Gallegos told KOAT 7. “There was a bolt or something at the top of the wall. Not very high, maybe seven feet or so. The chain kind of wrapped around it. So, he was just a couple feet up from the ground. It wasn’t a tree. There wasn’t a forest or anything like that.”
Another similarity Givan’s story shares with that of other Black people found hanging is that his family is not buying that he killed himself — and with good reason. One thing law enforcement officials have not come up with a reasonable explanation for yet is why Givan’s family didn’t know about his death until more than a year after it happened.
On Oct. 1, 2025, 384 days after Givan’s body was discovered, his twin sister, Jaivryon Walker, filed a missing person’s report, saying the family hadn’t heard from Givan since August 28, 2024, which would have been 20 days before authorities said he died.
“He reached out to everybody for money on the same day,” Walker told The Defender. “More than 20 people said that Jayvon contacted them on August 28, 2024. Everybody said the same thing. It seemed like he was running from something.”
From KOAT:
- Officers were dispatched to APD in reference to a caller who advised her twin brother had been missing for approximately one year.
- She advised she was calling from Kansas City, and Givan was last known to be in Albuquerque
- According to APD, she told officers Givan left Kansas City to backpack through America approximately one year and two months ago. According to officers, she stated he advised her he was in “trouble,” but was OK.
- According to Givan’s sister, the family had not heard from Givan since.
- She described her brother as an approximately “5’07” Black male adult, approximately 140 pounds with black hair and brown eyes.” Givan has a tattoo on his left arm with clouds and hands. She did not mention any physical or mental health issues.
- Givan was entered into the NCIC (National Crime Information Center, Missing and Unidentified Persons system)
“She had officers report him as missing, which they did. Those officers turned it over to the dispatcher to turn it over to the missing persons unit on Friday, and our detective with the missing persons unit looked up his name, found that there was a report from last year from that death that was ruled a suicide,” Gallegos said. “The missing person’s detective contacted this man’s sister, who had called us, reported to her that he unfortunately had died by suicide, and explained the circumstances as he understood it. That’s the last contact we had with the family member. It’s obvious that she didn’t know ahead of time.”
Source: Black Student Found Hanging At Mississippi’s Delta State University
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