WOODVILLE &045; Wilkinson County Coroner Travis Sharp on Monday night announced he has formally ruled Roy Malcom Veal’s death a suicide.

Veal, 55, a Woodville native and Washington state resident, was found hanging from a tree along a secluded dirt road near his mother’s house in the Donegal community of Wilkinson County on April 23. A pillow case was over his head.

Wilkinson County Sheriff Reginald Jackson had said evidence in the case strongly indicated Veal’s death was a suicide.

However, Jackson and Sharp had both refrained from releasing autopsy results or making a formal ruling in the case pending receipt of toxicology test results from the state crime lab. Sharp said he received those reports Monday.

&uot;The toxicology tests had negative results. There was no evidence of drugs, alcohol or any other toxins in his body,&uot; Sharp said.

Sharp said an autopsy report stated the cause of Veal’s death was ligature hanging. He said the report stated the manner of Veal’s death was &uot;consistent with suicide.&uot;

The autopsy was conducted on Veal’s body April 24 by a forensic pathologist at the Mississippi Mortuary Service in Pearl, Sharp said.

Sharp said the pathologist confirmed no other signs of trauma were found on Veal’s body during the autopsy.

&uot;I’m basing my ruling on the autopsy report along with the evidence found by sheriff’s department and the state and federal investigators,&uot; Sharp said.

Agents from the FBI and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation assisted in the investigation.

Authorities said Veal’s body was discovered by two turkey hunters at about 9 a.m.

&uot;We can’t be sure of the time of death, but we believe it was in the early morning hours the same day,&uot; Sharp said.

Family members could not be reached for comment at Veal’s mother’s residence Monday night.

Jackson could not be reached for comment Monday night. But earlier this month he said a family member had positively identified the pillow case as one taken from Veal’s mother’s house.

Jackson said a relative identified a pair of gloves retrieved from the tree as Veal’s.

&uot;His (Veal’s) hands were not tied. There was no sign of a struggle &045; no signs of trauma to his body,&uot; Jackson said.

Jackson said Veal’s body was hanging just a few inches off the ground.

Veal’s Ford F-150 pickup, bearing Washington license plates, was parked several yards away from the tree. In it, Jackson said investigators found legal pads filled with Veal’s writings.

Jackson would not release any specifics of what Veal wrote about, but he said the writings indicated Veal was troubled.

Jackson said other physical evidence at the scene indicated Veal was alone at the tree.

&uot;The only tracks we found at the scene were from his truck and his boots,&uot; Jackson said.

Veal is believed to have used an old feed trough found propped against the tree as a makeshift ladder, Jackson said.

Veal had stayed at his mother’s house since returning to Wilkinson County a few weeks prior to his death to tend to a lawsuit he and his family were involved in, relatives said.

The lawsuit, filed by adjoining landowners, seeks to confirm land title and recover $18,514.54 in damages for timber the Veals allegedly sold from four acres. No judgment has been entered in the suit.

As news of Veal’s death first broke, the Associated Press reported Veal’s sister in San Francisco said some papers were found burned at Veal’s feet. But Jackson said no evidence was found to support that claim.