Protect Mississippi's Children
From Horn Island to Senatobia, Mississippi keeps closing cases without showing families the evidence. We track every case, publish the record, and make it easy for you to demand answers.
Join the movement
Officials count on families fighting alone. When thousands of people call, show up and share together, cases get reopened and evidence gets released. Join the community and get one clear action a week, case updates, and invitations to events near you.
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The cases
Every fact is drawn from news reporting, official statements and court records, and every claim links to its source.
Nolan went to Horn Island on July 4 and never came home. Both autopsies list his cause of death as undetermined, and both found unexplained bruising on the back of his head. The county has closed the case. His family is asking the FBI, the Justice Department and the National Park Service to investigate.
Officer cleared October 19
Killed when an officer fired into his mother's car after a call about diapers. The video has not been released.
Read the recordRuling disputed by family
Found hanging from a tree on the Delta State campus. The state ruled it a suicide within three days.
Read the recordCase open
Found hanging from a tree behind a vacant home in Jackson on August 3, 2026.
Read the recordSurvived
Shot in the chest by a police officer after he called 911 for help.
Read the recordThe record in Mississippi
Get involved
Pick what fits your time and skills. Every role starts the same way: join the movement, and we will reach out with your first step.
Callers
Join our call days. We send the number, the script and the moment it matters most.
Count me inAmplifiers
Share each case when it moves. We send ready-to-post graphics and captions.
Count me inResearchers
Help track public records, court filings and news so every fact stays sourced.
Count me inOrganizers
Host a vigil, a letter night or a meeting with your representatives in your town.
Count me inTake action
Each one takes a few minutes. Together they put pressure where it counts.
1 minute
Add your name to the call for full, independent investigations and evidence for families.
Sign now5 minutes
Named officials, direct numbers and the exact words to say, starting with Nolan's case.
Get the call listAny amount
Support pays for records requests, independent experts and travel to stand with families.
DonateThe record
Every fact below comes from news reporting, official statements or court filings, and each one links to its source. We do not claim to know how anyone died. We are asking for the evidence that would let their families know.
1year old
On June 14, 2026, Senatobia police answered a call accusing two women of stealing diapers from Walmart. As the women drove away, his mother lifted Kohen up to show officers there was a child in the car. One officer fired into the car. Kohen, sitting in his mother's lap, was killed. The driver was wounded.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation said the car drove toward officers and almost struck one. The family's attorney released a photo of the car's front side window shot out, which he says shows officers were not in its path. Neither woman has been charged, and officials have not released evidence of shoplifting. His mother says state investigators never interviewed her.
On October 19, Attorney General Lynn Fitch announced the officer's use of force was justified, without releasing details. His grandmother says the family learned of the decision on Facebook. Body camera and store surveillance video had not been released.
What we are asking for: release of all body camera, dash camera and Walmart surveillance video, and the full investigative file, to Kohen's family and the public.
Sources: Mississippi Free Press, Mississippi Today, CNN
21years old
Trey had been a student at Delta State for about a month. On the morning of September 15, 2025, he was found hanging from a tree near the campus pickleball courts. The Bolivar County coroner and the Mississippi state medical examiner both ruled his death a suicide within days and said they found no injuries consistent with an assault.
His family called for an independent investigation and a second autopsy, which was funded through Colin Kaepernick's Know Your Rights Camp. Nearly a year later, the Mississippi Free Press reported that the family says it never received the final results of that autopsy.
What we are asking for: release of all campus and city video, the full state autopsy, and the independent autopsy findings to Trey's family.
Sources: Mississippi Today, NPR, Mississippi Free Press
29years old
On August 3, 2026, Tasia was found hanging from a tree behind a vacant home in a predominantly Black neighborhood of Jackson after neighbors called police. As of late August, hers was reported as the one Mississippi hanging case of 2026 still open.
What we are asking for: a full, independent investigation and regular public updates to her family.
Sources: Baller Alert, 2026 in Mississippi
11years old
In May 2023, Aderrien called 911 for help. A responding Indianola police officer shot him in the chest. He survived. His family asked for the officer's firing and the release of body camera footage, which the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation held while it reviewed the shooting.
His case is why we include children who survived. Protecting kids means being accountable when the people sent to help them hurt them.
Source: NPR
Say their names
A Marshall Project review found at least eight Black men besides Trey Reed found hanging from trees in Mississippi since 2000, every death ruled a suicide. Tasia Fortune's 2026 case remains open. Names from The Marshall Project and cases investigated by JULIAN. This list is not complete.
Our demands
None of this requires anyone to accept a theory. It only requires the state to show its work.
When a Black young person is found hanging or dies in unclear circumstances, an investigator with no ties to the local department reviews the case.
Families receive the autopsy report, toxicology, and all video within a set deadline, without having to sue for it.
No manner-of-death ruling until toxicology, video and witness interviews are complete and documented.
The U.S. Department of Justice opens a civil rights review of these cases, as Rep. Bennie Thompson has requested.
The state publishes each case's status, the agencies involved, and the date of every ruling.
When police harm a child, footage goes to the family promptly. Video of Kohen Wiley's shooting still had not been released when the officer was cleared four months later.
Take action
To Governor Tate Reeves, Attorney General Lynn Fitch and the Mississippi Legislature: investigate the deaths of Black young people in our state fully and independently, give families the evidence, and make every ruling public.
Call or write. Say your name, your town, and that you support independent investigations and evidence for families.
Hi, my name is ___ and I live in ___. I'm calling to ask that every death of a Black young person in Mississippi that the family disputes gets an independent investigation, and that families receive the autopsy and all video. Thank you.
Protect Mississippi's Children is a project of The Devin Kennedy Foundation. Support pays for records requests, independent experts, and travel to stand with families. It is never collected in a family's name. The foundation is not yet a registered nonprofit, so gifts are not tax-deductible.
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Messages ready to send
For Nolan's case, his page has a call script for every official and four more messages.
Social post
Post with a link to this page.
Kohen Wiley was 1. Nolan Wells was 18. Trey Reed was 21. Black young people in Mississippi are dying, and their families still cannot get the evidence: the video, the full autopsies, the files. We are asking Mississippi to show its work. The sourced record and how to help is at the link.
Use the governor's contact form linked in Take action.
Governor Reeves, My name is ___ and I live in ___. I am asking you to support independent investigations when a Black young person in Mississippi dies in disputed circumstances, and to make sure families receive autopsy reports and all video without having to sue for them. That includes releasing the body camera and surveillance video in the death of 1-year-old Kohen Wiley. Thank you, ___
Contact
Questions, media requests, corrections, or a family asking for help. Every message is read.
Sources
Protect Mississippi's Children is a project of The Devin Kennedy Foundation.
