In another stunning development today, Lacy’s former girlfriend, Michelle Brimhall, broke her silence and told Dailymail.com that she believes Lennon Lacy was murdered because of their interracial relationship.
âI believe Lennon was murdered,â Brimhall told the online news site.
The 31-year-old woman said she had been âtargeted by racists duringâ because of her relationship with a black teenager almost half her age. Brimhall, who is now living in Illinois, âfled the town for her own safety,â the Daily Mail reported.
In an interview with Don Lemon on CNN Tonight, the victimâs mother, Claudia Lacy, said there are inconsistencies in the evidence surrounding her sonâs death.
âDo you think his death could have been racially motivated?â Lemon asked Claudia Lacy. âIt could have been,â she responded.
Her son recently had broken up with Brimhall, who had three children, an ex-husband and a drug history, according to media reports. Brimhall denied any involvement with drugs in her interview with the Daily Mail.
Still, there are questions and inconsistencies over the way the death scene was processed. The victimâs hands were not covered with plastic bags, which is normal protocol, so forensic pathologists can check for foreign DNA and other evidence.
Most disturbing, the mother said, is that her son had just left home wearing a new pair of Air Jordan shoes. But they were never located after his lifeless body was found on Aug. 28 hanging from a wooden swing set with two belts tied around his neck. The shoes on his feet were two sizes too small, without shoe laces, and they werenât his.

âItâs not feasible,â Claudia Lacy told CNN. âTwo sizes too small? Why?â
Her son was excited about the start of school and his first home football game on Aug. 29. Investigators found no suicide note. The autopsy report makes no mention of the missing shoes or those found on the body.
The victimâs mother and private attorney Allen Rogers, of Fayetteville, along with  Rev. William J.Barber II, the president of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP, asked U.S. Attorney Thomas G. Walker of the Eastern District of North Carolina to request the FBI investigation. There was a march supporting that effort last weekend in Bladenboro.
âWe are glad to hear that the request made by the North Carolina NAACP and the family of Lennon Lacy for a federal investigation has been accepted,â Barber said, adding there is a need for âa thorough investigation.â
âThere are too many questions and contradictions raised by our independent pathology report and stories in the community about the facts, quick conclusions, and how the death scene was not protected,â Barber said in a statement released to Hatewatch.