The medical examiner could not determine a cause or manner of death for Jimmie “Jay” Lee, the University of Mississippi student whose disappearance and death sparked a movement in Oxford’s LGBTQ+ community.

Missing for more than two years, Lee’s remains were found earlier this year in a wooded gully in rural Carroll County – about an hour and a half south of Oxford – where people have been known to illegally dump trash.

But the cause of death could not be determined in part because of the decomposition of Lee’s body, said Carroll County Coroner Mark Stiles who responded to the scene. The remains were skeletal, with no soft tissue.

“It’s kind of hard for us as coroners when we go to a scene like a homicide or a suicide or a natural death,” he said. “We’ve got the body there, and we’ve

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