A family fights for answers after a Black man was found hanging from a tree in Wisconsin

The Medley family demands transparency after their son and brother, Tory Medley, was found dead, hanging from a tree.

A family in Wisconsin is grieving and questioning the death of their brother and son, Tory Medley, who was found hanging from a tree at the Brookfield Hills Golf Course on November 13. Since then, his family and representatives of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) have been actively searching for answers. 

“On November 13th, life as my family knew it changed forever. My baby brother, Torrance “Tory” Medley, was found dead in Brookfield, Wisconsin — hanging from a tree on a golf course in this exclusive enclave,” Medley’s older sister Shena wrote on Facebook. “His death was immediately labeled a “possible suicide” by the Brookfield Police Department, before critical questions about how he got there and what truly happened were fully examined. Our family has been pushing for a thorough, transparent investigation from the start.” 

As she noted in her statement, local police ruled the 39-year-old’s death a suicide, claiming they had “no information at this point to indicate a crime was involved,” in a statement released hours after Medley was found. 

However, the family’s attorney, William Sulton, believes officials rushed this claim, telling Fox News: “The chief of police arrived at a conclusion on a death where they haven’t actually completed their investigation and won’t talk to the family about it. We all know the negative relationship that Black men have with lynching in our country, and this is a big deal.” 

Reports of Medley’s death come just two months after 21-year old Demartravion “Trey” Reed was found hanging from a tree at Delta State University. Like the Reed family who hired attorney Ben Crump, Sulton says they have requested a meeting with Brookfield’s chief investigator and the Waukesha County Medical Examiner’s Office in hopes of receiving more details about Medley’s death and injuries. 

“Regardless of what the ultimate conclusion is here, the family deserves to know what actually happened,” Sulton told WISN 12 News. 

“If it was suicide, we’ll accept that. But if it was something else, we’ll accept that, too. We just need to know that all i’s have been dotted, t’s have been crossed, and it’s been fully reviewed and investigated, which is only fair,” Shena added. 

The family has also received the support of the Milwaukee and Waukesha chapters of the NAACP. 

“These types of circumstances, it’s extraordinarily unusual. And again, with that being the case, we want to make sure the communication is there, the respect is there,” Montre Moore, a member of the Waukesha NAACP chapter, said at the news conference.

On November 23, the Brookfield police department released a statement confirming their awareness of “several speculative and inaccurate statements circulating publicly regarding the ongoing investigation into the death of Torrance Medley,” and a deeper investigation of Medley’s death. Officials also confirmed that they have been providing updates to the Medley family. 

Ultimately, the Medley family’s mission remains the same, as Shena noted on Facebook: “I want to be clear: we expect and demand complete transparency from the Brookfield Police Department. My family deserves answers. Tory deserves answers. The community deserves answers. I will not stop asking questions until we know exactly what happened to my brother.”