Washington (CNN) The hanging death of an African-American man who had been missing since early this month and was found Thursday by local authorities in Mississippi has drawn the scrutiny of the FBI and the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division.

The sheriff's office in Claiborne County, Mississippi, had organized a search for the man, who had been missing since March 2 and was reported missing March 8. Authorities said the man's body was found with a bed sheet tied around his neck and a skull cap on his head, hanging from a tree. The man's hands were not tied up.

FBI Supervisory Special Agent Jason Pack said that it's unclear how the man died, and "it is too early to say what happened and speculate."

"We don't know what happened out there, if it is a suicide, a homicide, that is why we investigate these types of cases to determine exactly what happened," he told CNN affiliate WAPT.

Law enforcement believes that Otis Byrd is the man found hanging in Mississippi.

The FBI and Mississppi Bureau of Investigations have not released the man's name, but a law enforcement official said he's believed to be 54-year-old Otis Byrd, and both the Claiborne County chapter of the NAACP and family members have confirmed his identity.

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