The mutilated body of 31 year-old Leo Coleman, Jr. of Redding, California was found hanging from a tree in the nearby town of Anderson by two teenage boys November 24, 1997. Police reports document that the police department received three separate reports from three different people on November 24, that Leo Coleman, Jr. was the victim of hanging by adherents of so-called "white pride" elements in the local community. On the day after Leo, Jr.'s death was reported, someone made a drawing of a hanging man and put it on Bobbi Culver, Leo, Jr.''s girlfriend's, front door.
When his mother came to identify his body she could not recognize him and could only identify him by a small tattoo. The Shasta County Coroner did not perform an autopsy saying that he had never done one for a black person. When Coleman’s father visited the site where his son’s body was found, swastikas and symbols of the Aryan brotherhood were carved into the trees. His family wanted to have an open casket funeral to show the violence, but the local funeral home refused and the coroner told them to cremate the body. The police only investigated for two days before declaring it a suicide despite the obvious evidence to the contrary. Some sources have stated that the white supremacy display was intended as a cover-up for an officer who may have committed the crime.

We, the undersigned, demand justice, and implore anyone with information to come forward. The Anderson Police Chief has assigned a new investigator, but the concern is that people have not, and will not, come forward due to fear of reprisal from the perpetrators.

Change is happening in this country. Now is the time to serve justice, and bring peace to Leo Jr's family.