These are the 911 calls in the Juliana Nzita hanging death case
Juliana Nzita’s family called 911 on the evening of May 5 to report her missing, saying she had gone walking hours earlier and hadn’t returned.
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Charlotte Mecklenburg Police responded to the family’s home around 8 p.m. that Tuesday, records show. On Friday, May 8, Juliana’s body was discovered hanging from a tree on a north Charlotte church property.
CMPD released audio last week from the family’s 911 call reporting her missing, and from a man who was at the church when her body was discovered three days later.
[ Read the Observer’s investigation of the Juliana Nzita case ]
Police said they found no physical or forensic evidence of “foul play or external involvement” and believe Juliana’s death was suicide. The Mecklenburg County Medical Examiner’s Office did a “thorough physical examination” that revealed no defensive wounds or signs of assault and did not conduct a full autopsy.
Some in Juliana’s family have said they don’t believe she died from suicide and are working with a civil rights attorney.
Outside experts interviewed by the Observer have described what’s known about the case publicly as suspicious or unusual. Meanwhile, the case has continued to attract on social media, where some users have been speculating since May that Juliana’s death wasn’t fully investigated. An Instagram video reposted by attorney Ben Crump over the weekend had been shared thousands of times as of Monday.
In the family’s 911 call, a woman tells the dispatcher that her daughter had been missing for four or five hours after walking somewhere. When asked whether Juliana had any mental health disabilities or concerns, the caller said no. Separately, an uncle told the Observer Juliana had struggled with her mental health and severe bullying at school.
A CMPD incident report says officers responded to the family’s home at 8:08 that evening on May 5.
Multiple posts about the case on social media say Juliana had been missing since late April. The Observer’s reporting has not found evidence that she disappeared before May 5.
The second 911 call released by police was around 12:40 p.m. on May 8, after a man walking his dog discovered Juliana’s body on property belonging to the United House of Prayer on West Sugar Creek Road.
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The man, Kenneth Tolbert, said he immediately alerted church members who were in the nearby parking lot. One of those members called 911. Tolbert shared the video of the scene with the Observer. It showed Juliana hanging from ratchet straps wrapped around a trunk high above her head. A blue toddler’s chair was near her feet.
“There’s a dead body, looks like a lady hung herself on one of the trees,” the 911 caller told the dispatcher.
CMPD told the Observer that Juliana’s family identified the blue chair as coming from their home, which is about a 20-minute walk from the church.
Juliana’s uncle told the Observer that the family hadn’t received Juliana’s clothing and her phone was never found. CMPD told the Observer that her clothing went with her to the Medical Examiner’s Office, which typically releases personal items to a funeral home after it completes an examination.
Jill Collen Jefferson, the attorney working with Juliana’s family with an independent autopsy, said that some items of clothing were returned. She said it was unclear if the family has received all the clothing.
Last week, City Council members Kimberly Owens and JD Mazuera Arias said they were angered that the council hadn’t been briefed on the case until the day the Observer’s story published.
“The death of a young woman of color, after having been missing for several days, found hanged in a tree of a church is something that merits a different approach,” Owens wrote in an email to city administrators.
Charlotte Mayor Rob Harrington expressed condolences to Juliana’s family.
“I completely trust and defer to the police department and its leadership,” Harrington told the Observer. “I know they do an excellent job. So, I have no questions about the way that they have handled the situation. I think my sort of reaction is just sorrow for the family.”
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