<text>  A Mississippi sheriff said Friday that a black man found hanging from a tree did not appear to have stepped off of anything before he died and that he had last been seen on camera leaving a casino. The mans identity has been confirmed as that of Otis Byrd, a 54-year-old ex-convict who lived just about 200 yards from the tree and had been declared missing by his family about two weeks ago. Claiborne County Sheriff Marvin Lucas Sr., who knew Byrd as he had to check in with the sheriffs department as a condition of his parole in 2006 after serving 26 years in prison for the murder of a woman during a robbery in 1980, also confirmed his identity earlier this week. Scroll down for video . What happened? Otis James Byrd, 54 above, was found hanging from a tree in Mississippi after he was reported missing March 2 . Claiborne County officials prepare to leave a home in Port Gibson, Miss., where authorities were investigating the hanging death of Byrd . Lucas said that the body was found Thursday hanging by a bed sheet from a tree limb about 12 feet high, and that the mans feet were dangling about two feet off the ground. The hands on the body were not bound, he said. The results of an autopsy by the Mississippi Crime Lab to determine whether the death was homicide or suicide could take days, Lucas said. The hanging is being investigated by the FBI, the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division and the United States Attorneys office as well as the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation. The feds are there to determine if its a potential hate crime or other violation of federal law, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Friday. We simply dont know enough facts, Holder told MSNBC. We do have a substantial federal presence to determine what the facts are. Vicksburg Police Chief Walter Armstrong said Friday that after local authorities asked his department to check on a report that Byrd had been at a casino, video surveillance was recovered showing Byrd at the Riverwalk Casino on March 2. We didnt see anything of significance on the tape. He was just walking around the casino. We did not see him after that, Armstrong said. The body was found by state wildlife officers and had obvious sign of decomposition, suggesting that it had been hanging in the woods for some time, said Jim Walker, a , a spokesman for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. The owner of the land, 87-year-old Johnie Baker, said that the area where Byrds body was found is covered in pecan and black walnut trees. He added that hunters sometimes hunt in the area and that there are also wild boars on the land. Spotted: The last time Byrd was seen he was leaving a casino 30 miles north on March 2 . So far, authorities say its too early to determine whether the victims death was a homicide or a suicide. However, the NAACP is petitioning to have the U.S. Department of Justice involved in the investigation, fearing Byrds death may have been a hate crime. The Claiborne County Sheriffs Department and Mississippi Bureau of Investigation are also involved in the investigation. Lynching was a common form of mob justice in the late 19th century, particularly in the south. A report by the Equal Justice Initiative claims there were nearly 4,000 lynchings of African Americans in the Jim Crow era across 12 states of the US. Byrd spent 25 years in prison for the murder of Lucille Trim, the Clarion-Ledger reported according to the Mississippi Department of Corrections. He allegedly robbed Trimm of 101 and then killed her. He was convicted of capital murder in February 1980 and then was paroled in November 2006. Trim is the mother of Martha Ranville, who was the first woman in the history of the National Guard to serve as State Adjuntant General. She became the Adjutant General in Vermony in 1997 and currently lives in Virginia with her husband, the Hon. Paul McHale. McHale is a former Pennsylvania congressman and assistant secretary of defense. Read more: Follow us: MailOnline on Twitter DailyMail on Facebook . 