Ferguson activist Melissa McKinnies insists she isn’t in denial about her son’s mental state after he was found hanging from a tree near the family’s home in St. Louis County, Missouri. Danye Jones, 24, would not have committed suicide, she says. She believes someone else is responsible for his death.

McKinnies, known in St. Louis as a grassroots organizer following the death of Michael Brown, says her family had received death threats prior to her son’s death on October 17. Jones’s death has sparked the hashtag #DanyeJones (which contains graphic images of his body) on social media, by people who say they believe he was lynched. Public skepticism regarding Jones’s death is heightened by the fact that he is the latest person related to the 2014 Ferguson protests to die under what some view as suspicious circumstances.

Days before her son's death, McKinnies says, Jones was looking to the future. After making plans to have chicken alfredo for his birthday on November 19, he wrote a poem for a woman he was seeing. In the poem he talked about getting married someday.

“He had a lot to look forward to,” McKinnies says. “My son was not depressed.”

From left: Danye Jones, his mom Melissa McKinnies, and her son Javon. Courtesy Melissa McKinnies

Experts say suicide isn’t always preceded by warning signs. “Suicide isn’t directly related to mental illness — even individuals without mental illness can be prone to suicidal thoughts,” Cynthia Catchings, LCSW-S, of Talkspace, told Teen Vogue earlier this year.

But based on the circumstances surrounding her son's death, McKinnies says she doesn’t believe he committed suicide. Despite that, police are investigating Jones’s death as such. Sergeant Shawn McGuire, spokesperson for St. Louis County police, tells Teen Vogue that officers responded to a report of a suicide on October 17, but McKinnies denies ever using that word.

“I remember saying, 'Send somebody, my son is hanging from a tree,'” McKinnies says, and believes she’s the only one who called 911 regarding the incident.

McKinnies says she wants the St. Louis County police to consider possibilities other than suicide. She also plans to have her own investigation conducted. She insists that the sheets used to hang her son didn’t come from inside the family’s home, and she doesn’t believe her son knew how to tie a navy knot, the type of knot she says was used in the hanging. In addition, McKinnies tells Teen Vogue that she’s skeptical of a chair that was located near her son's body.