Black North Carolina hanging victim’s white girlfriend, 32, reveals neighbors had hassled them over interracial romance
Michelle Brimhall believes that 17-year-old Lennon Lacy 'was murdered' and claims that they had been the targets to racial slurs in Bladenboro, a rural town with a predominantly white population.
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Friday, December 19, 2014, 9:26 AM
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LACEY FAMILYLennon Lacy was found dead on Aug,. 29. The 17-year-old's parents and the North Carolina branch of the NAACP rejected a medical examiner’s findings that he took his own life.
The mysterious hanging of a black North Carolina teen took new twist Thursday when a 32-year-old white woman he was dating said she fears he was murdered over their interracial romance.
Michelle Brimhall broke her silence in the death of 17-year-old Lennon Lacy, revealing they had been hassled by white neighbors upset over their relationship.
“I believe Lennon was murdered,” Brimhall told DailyMail.com. “The police ruled his death a suicide but Lennon would never harm himself. He’s got too much love for life.”
The FBI launched an investigation earlier this month into the high school football player’s Aug. 29 death after his parents and the North Carolina branch of the NAACP rejected a medical examiner’s findings that he killed himself.
Findings by an independent pathologist hired by the local NAACP contradicted the medical examiner’s ruling and added fuel to suspicions that Lacy was the victim of a lynching.
Brimhall said she had been alarmed by racist slurs she received over her relationship with Lennon from neighbors in Bladenboro — a small rural town whose population is 80% white and 18% black.
“Neighbors had told me they were against interracial relationships and it was ‘not right’ me being with a black guy,” said Brimhall, who went into hiding following Lennon’s death.
She added that the Ku Klux Klan has held marches in Bladenboro and even has a meeting house in the community some minorities have dubbed “Crackertown.”
“We tried to keep it (our relationship) a secret,” Brimhall told DailyMail.com. “We would walk to the store together but we never held hands or kissed or any of that stuff out in public.”
Lennon’s mother, Claudia Lacy, told the Daily News on Sunday that she and Lennon’s father were against the May-December affair and even tried to get Brimhall to break it off.
A close friend of Lennon also said Brimhall was a crack-addicted prostitute. Brimhall’s father confirmed in an interview with The News that she has a drug problem.
“We told his mom and dad that we had stopped seeing each other because they were getting on him because of the age difference,” said Brimhall, who denied she is a drug addict.
“Miss Claudia didn’t want to see her son hurt,” Brimhall said. “But I always tried to help him and push him forward.”
While Lennon’s parents suspect she knows more about their son’s death than she is letting on, but Brimhall said she has nothing to hide. She denied her estranged husband, who lives in Illinois, was involved in Lennon’s death.
“I don’t know what happened but I know my ex-husband would not get the bus down from Illinois to kill my boyfriend,” Brimhall said.
