By Mark O’Brien
Impunity Watch Reporter

WASHINGTON, United States — The family of a respected gay African American candidate for Mayor in Clarksdale, Miss., said this week that they view his death as a hate crime.

The body of Marco McMillian, 33, was beaten, dragged, and burned, a family member said on Monday.  Carter Womack, McMillian’s godfather, said the coroner told relatives that someone dragged McMillian’s body under a fence and left it near the Mississippi River last week.

Coahoma County Coroner Scotty Meredith declined to comment.  But the Associated Press reported that a person with direct knowledge of the investigation confirmed that McMillian had bruises and burns on at least one area of his body.

“We remember Marco as a bold and passionate public servant, whose faith informed every aspect of his life,” McMillian’s campaign said in a statement to the media.

McMillian was reportedly the first openly gay man to become a viable candidate for public office in Mississippi.  The Coahoma County Sheriff’s Department, however, said it would not investigate McMillian’s death as a hate crime, according to spokesperson Will Rooker.

“There’s a lot of people upset about [McMillian’s murder],” said Dennis Thomas, who works at Abe’s Barbeque.  “Why would somebody want to do something like that to somebody of that caliber?  He was a highly respected person in town.”

Investigators have arrested 22-year-old Lawrence Reed of Shelby in McMillian’s death.  Authorities arrested Reed when he crashed McMillian’s SUV into another car near the Coahoma border with Tallahatchie County.  McMillian was not in the car, and his body was ultimately discovered about 30 miles away from the crash, in the woods near the Mississippi-Yazoo levee.

Sources told WPTY, the ABC News affiliate in Memphis, that McMillian was strangled, but authorities would not confirm that.  The family did not address that issue in its public statement.

The news station also reported that Reed’s sister claimed that Reed did not know McMillian was gay.  Instead, she said McMillian may have made sexual advances toward Reed in the car.

“[McMillian] was very concerned about his safety,” Womack said.  “People had tried to talk him out of the race.”

According to his website, McMillian graduated magna cum laude from Jackson State University and earned a master’s degree from St. Mary’s University in philanthropy and development.  He also was a CEO of a nonprofit consulting firm called MWM & Associates.

The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is helping the sheriff’s department with the investigation.

For further information, please see:

Clarion Ledger — Family: Marco McMillian’s Murder a Hate Crime — 4 March 2013

Huffington Post — Marco McMillian Beaten, Burned, Family of slain Gay Mississippi Mayoral Candidate Says — 3 March 2013

Time — Man Charged in Mississippi Mayoral Candidate’s Death — 1 March 2013

ABC News — 22-Year-Old Charged with Murder Miss. Politician — 28 February 2013

CBS News — Man Charged in Slaying of Miss. Mayoral Candidate — 28 February 2013