{"id":30049,"date":"2026-08-06T17:09:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T12:09:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=30049"},"modified":"2026-08-06T17:09:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T12:09:27","slug":"2-months-later-still-no-answers-in-hanging-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=30049","title":{"rendered":"2 Months Later, Still No Answers In Hanging Death"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-page-number=\"1\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>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.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>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.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>The ratchet strap \u2014 typically used for securing truck cargo \u2014 was wrapped around a leaning tree trunk at least twice the girl\u2019s height. This was on a Friday afternoon.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>By Monday, the medical examiner ruled her death a suicide. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police closed the case four days later.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>The Charlotte Observer investigated the circumstances around Juliana\u2019s death and how CMPD handled her case. Police apparently never found her cell phone. No one from CMPD contacted the man who found Juliana\u2019s body. Authorities did not do an autopsy, although police said a thorough inspection of the body was performed.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\"\/>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Look, I\u2019m no medical expert. Most of us aren\u2019t. But it\u2019s difficult to imagine a medical examiner determining within three days that a teenager died by suicide, especially if it\u2019s true that no autopsy was performed. Did the examiner know anything about the victim\u2019s mental health background? Did the police have that information, considering they didn\u2019t even so much as question the man who discovered Juliana\u2019s body, according to the Observer?<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To be fair, according to a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/donate-in-memoty-of-juliana-nzita?attribution_id=sl:f5709137-ff9e-42fc-bc08-871fa4f13e54\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">GoFundMe<\/a>\u00a0page launched by the family, Juliana did struggle with her mental health. In fact, her life \u201cwas shaped by struggles no child should ever have to endure,\u201d the page reads.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Still, just like in virtually all the other cases involving a Black person found hanging, Juliana\u2019s 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\u2019s body was found.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In fact,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.julianfreedom.org\/about-us\/who-we-are\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according to attorney Jill Collen Jefferson<\/a>, a civil rights attorney who is working with the family, Juliana\u2019s relatives are currently waiting on the results of an independent autopsy, which will include DNA analysis.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, the man who discovered the teen\u2019s body, Kenneth Tolbert, also doubts she died by suicide, mainly because he doesn\u2019t think she was physically capable of hanging herself in the manner in which she was found.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-page-number=\"2\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\"\/>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More from the Observer:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u201cI wanted to talk to you all about it first, this being y\u2019all\u2019s property and all,\u201d Tolbert is heard saying on the video he recorded with his phone. One of the church men thought at first that Juliana\u2019s body was a doll. When they realized it wasn\u2019t, they said they\u2019d call 911.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u201cWho would hang themselves on a church?\u201d one asked.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>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.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>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.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>If CMPD had called, Tolbert would have told them he didn\u2019t 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.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u201cI couldn\u2019t even reach it myself,\u201d Tolbert said, referring to the limb. He stands 5 foot 9 inches.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div data-page-number=\"3\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, Tolbert is just frustrated over how difficult it appears to be to find updates on Juliana\u2019s case, going on three months after he discovered her on May 8.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf 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,\u201d he said. \u201cWe cannot let Juliana\u2019s death be in vain. There has to be transparency and an investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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\u2019s body was positioned when she was found.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe 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,\u201d the department said in a statement. \u201cHowever, through our standard process, we typically do not release public details on suicide investigations, specifically to protect family privacy, uphold the victim\u2019s 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\u2019t available or supported by investigative facts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But, again, the issue isn\u2019t the public \u201cdrawing definitive conclusions\u201d so quickly, as public opinion won\u2019t ultimately determine the outcome of a case. We\u2019re worried about how fast medical examiners are definitively drawing their conclusions and delivering them to a justice system that simply doesn\u2019t have a track record for valuing Black lives.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And that\u2019s exactly why people, especially Black people, aren\u2019t buying it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>RELATED CONTENT: <a href=\"https:\/\/madamenoire.com\/1668241\/ashlee-jenae-death-social-media-reactions\/\">\u2018Rest In Preference\u2019 \u2014 Ashlee Jenae\u2019s Death Sparks Conversations On Black Women\u2019s Safety &amp; Sanity In Dating: 27 Reactions<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30050,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/madamenoire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/06\/17811977915913-e1785852324750.jpg?quality=80&strip=all&w=311&crop=0,0,100,183px","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-gossip"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}