Police on Wednesday released major updates on a case that has gripped social media for days after Chicago-area truck driver Javion Magee was found dead in North Carolina.
According to the Vance County Sheriff's Office, 21-year-old Magee was found with a rope wrapped around his neck 11 times in a rural area near Henderson, leading social media users and family members to demand more details around how he died.
The driver's family reportedly spoke out, questioning the circumstances surrounding his death, with TikToks from alleged family members going viral.
"We obviously don't believe (the narrative)," a user by @scottieprimprim, who identified herself as Magee's cousin, said after Magee's his death.
Police said they spoke to members of Magee's family and, at their request, showed them where his body was found and showed evidentiary photos of his case.
In their latest update, the sheriff's office revealed a detailed timeline of Magee's final moments, based on what they described as GPS information, witness statements and cell phone data.
At 1 a.m. on Sept. 10, Magee, a truck driver, had picked up a load of goods from Pennsylvania to deliver to the Walmart Distribution Center in Henderson, North Carolina.
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After he arrived and unloaded the shipment in North Carolina, he was seen on video making a number of stops in the following hours.
At around 6 p.m. that evening, he traveled to a Walmart Center on North Cooper Drive in Henderson and was seen on surveillance cameras walking into the store and purchasing a rope.
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The footage showed Magee leaving the store, but stopping his truck on the way out and handing something to a homeless person sitting in the entrance. Investigators said they spoke to that person and learned Magee handed him money, saying, "I don't know how much it is, but if I had more I would give it to you." The money totaled $228.
After that, Magee entered a Hampton Inn Hotel in town, speaking to a front desk clerk before his truck is seen leaving the parking lot less than 10 minutes later.
By 6:45 p.m., his vehicle pulled into a dirt lot and the ignition was turned off. Surveillance video showed him exiting the vehicle and walking alone toward the woods with an object in his hand.
While he returned to the truck multiple times, the ignition was turned off one final time -- at 7:30 p.m. -- and "never started again," police said. Magee is seen walking away from his truck toward the trees and video does not show him returning.
At 10:08 a.m. on Sept. 11, police said a 911 call from the owner of a truck repair company reported "a man with a rope around his neck" outside a fence at 285 Vanco Mill Road. The caller said the man was not breathing.
When detectives arrived, they found Magee with a rope wrapped tightly around his neck. The other end of the rope was wrapped around a tree branch.
Police said the North Carolina Chief Medical Examiner's Office found no defensive wounds and said there were no signs of physical or sexual assault.
"Javion did have hemorrhaging around the soft tissue of the neck. Toxicology results are still pending, therefore autopsy results are not complete at this time," the department said.
The rope was branded Ozark Trail, which is sold at Walmart and was the same rope Magee was seen purchasing the night before.
Police said the man who found Magee's body had been called to the scene by Magee's employers, who reached out requesting a check on their driver because the truck had not moved in some time.
According to KLLM trucking, where Magee, who is from Aurora, Illinois, worked, the 21-year-old recently obtained his commercial driver's license earlier in 2024.
Magee's wallet and cell phone were both found in his truck by police, the department said.
"We have been able to see some of the recent searches from Javion’s phone and are working through proper legal authorities to obtain more information in hopes of having a complete picture of what occurred before Javion’s body was found on the morning of September 11, 2024," the sheriff's office said.
Police said an investigation remains ongoing and asked anyone with information to come forward at (252) 738-2200.
