Family Demands Answers After Their Muslim Son Was Found Hanged In The Woods

Police found Ben Keita's body more than a month after he disappeared.
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A family in Washington state is asking the FBI to investigate the mysterious death of their son, a young black Muslim man.

Ben M. Keita, 18, was reported missing on Nov. 27, the Lake Stevens Police Department posted on Facebook. On Jan. 9, Officials found that he had been hanged in a wooded area.

Medical examiners originally ruled the death a suicide, but announced Tuesday that the manner of death was still undetermined.

Keita’s family appealed to the public to come forward with any answers.

“He was planning to graduate this year from Lake Stevens High School,” his father, Ibrahim Keita, said Tuesday at a news conference hosted by the Council of American-Islamic Relations. “He was already in the Running Start program at Everett Community College and he was dreaming of becoming a medical doctor and work as a medical examiner. Now those dreams are over.”

CAIR has asked the FBI to open an investigation because “we really want to get answers about what may have happened,” Arsalan Bukhari, CAIR’s executive director for the Washington area, said at the news conference.

“The FBI is communicating with our police partners,” the group said in a statement. “We are aware of circumstances of the individual’s death and will review them with consideration of federal law. If warranted, we may conduct further investigation. A review does not necessarily result in the opening of an investigation.”

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