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At sheriff's request, the FBI is investigating the death of a Black man found hanging

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

A warning about our next story - it includes mentions of a possible suicide. The FBI is investigating the death of a black man in Alabama, who was found hanging in an abandoned house in late September. The local sheriff's department ruled that the death of 39-year-old Dennoriss Richardson was a suicide, but his family disagrees. WBHM's Noelle Annonen reports.

NOELLE ANNONEN, BYLINE: Leigh Richardson was at her youngest son's football game in the small city of Sheffield, west of Huntsville, when she got a text about her husband. He was one of the football coaches, and he had been missing for several days.

LEIGH RICHARDSON: We had known something wasn't right. It just wasn't in his character to not respond to my kids at all. So we were all kind of worried.

ANNONEN: The text was about her husband's car. It was parked in a rural part of Colbert County miles from home. Officers with the sheriff's department would find the body of Dennoriss Richardson hanging in the carport of an abandoned house. The sheriff's office ruled his death a suicide. But Leigh Richardson doesn't believe that her husband took his own life. For one thing, she says Dennoriss had severe asthma.

RICHARDSON: He always had a fear of not being able to breathe. He always kept his asthma pump on him at all times, and he would actually have panic attacks if he couldn't breathe.

ANNONEN: Dennoriss, who had five children, also did not leave a note. He had close relationships with many in the Sheffield community. The family also has questions about the scene of his death, as he had no ties to the abandoned house. But Colbert County Sheriff Eric Balentine stands by his department's ruling.

ERIC BALENTINE: Whenever you have a family member that passes away, especially due to a suicide, it's just hard to process - that it's very difficult to believe that someone you know and care about would do. Unfortunately, it does happen.

ANNONEN: Richardson had a history with Sheffield police. In 2006, he pleaded guilty to drug possession and was sentenced to five years in prison. In the year since then, he was arrested at least six times in Sheffield on charges ranging from disorderly conduct to assault. Most of those charges were dropped. Leigh Richardson says her husband was pulled over frequently, and he thought that Sheffield police were using the legal system against him.

RICHARDSON: He felt that he was being harassed and targeted.

ANNONEN: The family is not pointing fingers, but Richardson had filed a civil rights lawsuit against five Sheffield police officers and the city of Sheffield earlier this year. He alleged that while in custody, he was assaulted by police officers. Attorney Roderick Van Daniel represents the family.

RODERICK VAN DANIEL: He feared for his life. He said, "I thought he was going to kill me."

ANNONEN: Days before his lawsuit, Richardson was arrested for drug trafficking and was out on bond when he died. The Sheffield Police Department did not respond to requests for comment. County Sheriff Balentine says this case has rattled the community.

BALENTINE: There is a area of concern, and they've gone back over the history of the Black community in the South.

ANNONEN: That history includes more than 360 lynchings in Alabama, according to the Equal Justice Initiative, and 11 of them happened in Colbert County.

BALENTINE: Black males that die from hanging has gone on historically, not in recent years, but in past years.

ANNONEN: And Attorney Van Daniel says the community just wants more information on Richardson's death.

VAN DANIEL: The family need answers - from his wife to his kids. He has kids. The kid needs some answers. His mother needs some answers, but it's a family issue. It's a community issue. It is an issue that concerns the whole state of Alabama.

ANNONEN: That's why Sheriff Balentine has asked the FBI to review the case.

BALENTINE: I'm confident that this is going to come back as a death by suicide.

ANNONEN: And he says if investigators made any mistakes, he wants to know about them. This Saturday, Leigh Richardson said, the community will gather at Sheffield City Hall to call for answers about what happened to her husband, Dennoriss. For NPR News, I'm Noelle Annonen in Birmingham, Alabama.

CHANG: And when we have stories that mention suicide, we want to let you know that if you or someone you know might be considering suicide or is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Noelle Annonen