18-year-old Ben Keita had been missing for two months, then in January he was found hanging by a rope from a tree near his home in Lake Stevens, Washington.

He was pronounced dead and his death was ruled a suicide.

The family had a lot of questions about the ruling, his father Ibrahima told a local news station Q13 Fox that his son had:

“no history of depression, anxiety, any psychological breakdown at all, so he was a very … happy young man,”

“We believe that somewhere, someone must know something about this case, and we urge people to come forward and contact the police,”

The family, along with activists, urged the ruling to be looked into and the investigation to be continued.

After looking at the case again the medical examiner changed the death from ‘suicide’ to ‘undetermined’ after an earlier k-9 search of the area did not find the body and the fact that the rope which hung Keita was tied 50ft above in the tree.

So, this has prompted an FBI review of the case although it’s been cautioned that it may not result in a re-open of the investigation.

The Root reported:

A coalition led by the Washington Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations stepped in at that point, asking the FBI to investigate, KIRO 7 notes.

“We are careful not to rush to judgment,” the Rev. Kele Brown, from the Plymouth Congregational Church in Seattle, said, according to the news station. “Historically, lynchings were often deemed quickly as suicide without the benefit of thorough inquiry.”

Keita’s family added that four co-workers were not interviewed before Lake Stevens police closed the investigation.

“We just want to make sure that the expertise, the experience and the human resources of the FBI are brought to make sure everything is comprehensively investigated, no stone is left unturned,” Washington CAIR Executive Director Arsalan Bukhari added.

Read more in the Root.