Juliana Nzita: 2 Months Later, Still No Answers In Hanging

It seems like at least several times a year, we come across a fresh story about a young Black person found mysteriously hanging from a tree or other structure, and before the headlines have even had time to make the rounds in the news cycle, a medical examiner has already determined it was a suicide, and law enforcement is already spreading the word.

This appears to be the case for 16-year-old Juliana Umba Nzita, whose lifeless body was found hanging from a tree in Charlotte, North Carolina, in early May, just a few days before it was determined that she took her own life.

From the Charlotte Observer:

In early May, a man walking his dog through his north Charlotte neighborhood spotted what appeared to be someone standing still by a tree in a shady churchyard.

His dog tugged him closer. As he approached, he realized to his horror the figure was a lifeless Black girl, held up by a ratchet strap around her neck. Her feet, in slip-on sandals, rested on the ground near a blue toddler-size chair.

The ratchet strap — typically used for securing truck cargo — was wrapped around a leaning tree trunk at least twice the girl’s height. This was on a Friday afternoon.

By Monday, the medical examiner ruled her death a suicide. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police closed the case four days later.

The Charlotte Observer investigated the circumstances around Juliana’s death and how CMPD handled her case. Police apparently never found her cell phone. No one from CMPD contacted the man who found Juliana’s body. Authorities did not do an autopsy, although police said a thorough inspection of the body was performed.

Look, I’m no medical expert. Most of us aren’t. But it’s difficult to imagine a medical examiner determining within three days that a teenager died by suicide, especially if it’s true that no autopsy was performed. Did the examiner know anything about the victim’s mental health background? Did the police have that information, considering they didn’t even so much as question the man who discovered Juliana’s body, according to the Observer?

To be fair, according to a GoFundMe page launched by the family, Juliana did struggle with her mental health. In fact, her life “was shaped by struggles no child should ever have to endure,” the page reads.

Still, just like in virtually all the other cases involving a Black person found hanging, Juliana’s family members, who emigrated to the U.S. from the Congo, have expressed doubt that their loved one took her own life, as have members of the United House of Prayer for All People Church, a predominantly Black church, where she was reportedly an active member. The church is located about a 20-minute walk from where Juliana’s body was found. 

In fact, according to attorney Jill Collen Jefferson, a civil rights attorney who is working with the family, Juliana’s relatives are currently waiting on the results of an independent autopsy, which will include DNA analysis.

Meanwhile, the man who discovered the teen’s body, Kenneth Tolbert, also doubts she died by suicide, mainly because he doesn’t think she was physically capable of hanging herself in the manner in which she was found.

More from the Observer:

“I wanted to talk to you all about it first, this being y’all’s property and all,” Tolbert is heard saying on the video he recorded with his phone. One of the church men thought at first that Juliana’s body was a doll. When they realized it wasn’t, they said they’d call 911.

“Who would hang themselves on a church?” one asked.

Tolbert shared the video with the Observer. Some sort of pink fabric was knotted up around where the ratchet strap was strung from the tree. Juliana was wearing a dark jacket, black pants and sandals.

Tolbert provided his name and number to the church members to give to the police and left. The person who called 911 told the dispatcher that a young woman had hanged herself from a tree in the yard, according to a copy of the call obtained by The Observer under a public records request.

If CMPD had called, Tolbert would have told them he didn’t believe there was any way Juliana could have hanged herself. He doubted the small chair could have held her weight or that it was tall enough to lift her to that tree limb.

“I couldn’t even reach it myself,” Tolbert said, referring to the limb. He stands 5 foot 9 inches.

Now, Tolbert is just frustrated over how difficult it appears to be to find updates on Juliana’s case, going on three months after he discovered her on May 8.

“If this were a white girl who was found hanging at a Myers Park church, the police would have been all over this. It would have been national [news] in 72 hours,” he said. “We cannot let Juliana’s death be in vain. There has to be transparency and an investigation.”

CMPD told the Observer via email that a thorough physical examination revealed no defensive wounds, signs of physical or sexual assault, or signs of foul play in general. The email also noted that a tree limb had broken during the incident, and that could have affected how Juliana’s body was positioned when she was found.

“We fully recognize the important role the media plays in informing the public, and we respect First Amendment rights. Please know there was never an effort to stop the Charlotte Observer from writing this story,” the department said in a statement. “However, through our standard process, we typically do not release public details on suicide investigations, specifically to protect family privacy, uphold the victim’s dignity, and respect the sensitive nature of these cases. In every case, we strive to balance providing information while keeping those critical considerations in mind. We would caution anyone against drawing definitive conclusions when full information isn’t available or supported by investigative facts.”

But, again, the issue isn’t the public “drawing definitive conclusions” so quickly, as public opinion won’t ultimately determine the outcome of a case. We’re worried about how fast medical examiners are definitively drawing their conclusions and delivering them to a justice system that simply doesn’t have a track record for valuing Black lives.

And that’s exactly why people, especially Black people, aren’t buying it.

SEE ALSO:

Black Student Found Hanging At Mississippi’s Delta State University

Man Found Hanging In Fair Oaks Park Identified As 21-Year-Old Kyle Bassinga

Black People Lynched: 10 Recent Cases That Shook America