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QUEENSBURY---The skeletal remains of a man founding hanging in a tree have been identified by a forensic pathologist as Izell "Izzy" Parrott, who had been missing since last February.
Warren County Sheriff Larry J. Cleveland issued a statement that said the cause of death has been ruled a suicide and that the investigation into the man's death was closed.
However, Janique Parrott of Boston, the man's daughter, says she doesn't believe her father's death was a suicide and questions the investigatory techniques of the sheriff's department. She said she didn't think her father's death was thoroughly investigated.
Parrott, 61, a resident of Howard St. in Queensbury, was a popular local chef who operating a mobile barbecue business.
On Wednesday, contractors working in the Veterans Road area of the town, about a mile from Parrott's home, contacted the sheriff's department when they found a wallet belonging to Parrott along with other materials a short distance from a fully clothed skeletal remains of a man hanging in a tree. No suicide note was found.
A forensic examination conducted at Albany Medical Center confirmed that the remains were those of Parrott.
He had last been seen by his girlfriend and other friends in February, 2005 and was reported missing by his girlfriend on March 16, 2005. It was learned he had purchased a bus ticket to North Carolina before he was reported missing but it could not be determined if he ever went to North Carolina.
Although police said that some people have indicated he was depressed prior to his disappearance due, his daughter said that he often was depressed during the winter months because he was unable to operate his mobile catering business because of the weather and because money was tight. She said he had sent her money and a card for Valentine's Day and questioned why, if he was going to kill himself, he would walk a mile from his home in order to hang himself.
She said that when she last spoke with him last February, he didn't seem depressed. She said that "there are many reasons to question why a black man in a rural predominantly white area of upstate New York would be found hanging in a tree".
Due to the advanced state of decomposition, an exact date of death could not be determined. 5-19-06
© 2006 North
Country Gazette
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