Despite the nature of his death, officials stated that there was no immediate evidence of foul play, according to 11Alive. Investigators have largely pointed toward suicide as the cause of death, a conclusion that has been met with immediate and fierce resistance from social media users.

Authorities say the case remains open as they await the medical examiner’s final autopsy report, but that reassurance has not calmed scepticism online.

A significant portion of the online discourse has focused on the perceived lack of mainstream media coverage during the week Bassinga was missing. Advocates argued that if a white student had disappeared under similar circumstances, the story would have been national news immediately. That perceived silence has deepened public distrust of the institutions tasked with reporting and investigating the case

For many, the death of Kyle Bassinga cannot be viewed in isolation from the long and brutal history of lynching in America. Civil rights organisations have documented thousands of such killings in the 19th and 20th centuries, noting that these acts of terror were used to enforce racial hierarchies and social control.

Oh fuck that! Godammit! Kyle Bassinga had everything to live for, in school, with a good community and family.

"Since 2017, Jefferson has been compiling records of Black people found hanging across the country, concentrating on Mississippi. According to her, many of those deaths were ruled suicides, even as families insisted they were lynchings. 'There is a pattern to how these cases are investigated,' she said. 'When authorities arrive on the scene of a hanging, it's treated as a suicide almost immediately. The crime scene is not preserved. The investigation is shoddy. And then there is a formal ruling of suicide, despite evidence to the contrary. And the case is never heard from again unless someone brings it up.' "

The search for Bassinga concluded when his body was discovered in a Cobb County park in Marietta, Georgia, reportedly hanging from a tree along a popular walking trail. Local authorities received a 911 call and moved quickly to process the scene, but their preliminary findings have done little to quiet the growing unease.

Despite the nature of his death, officials stated that there was no immediate evidence of foul play, according to 11Alive. Investigators have largely pointed toward suicide as the cause of death, a conclusion that has been met with immediate and fierce resistance from social media users.

Sounds an awful fucking lot like the lynching of a black person who was cataloging and investigating lynchings.