USM student dies

Sunday afternoon Southern Miss student Isaac Taylor was found dead at his apartment on South 31st Avenue near campus.


Funeral arrangements for Taylor will be hosted by Chancellor Funeral Chapel in Florence, Miss.  Official plans should be in place by noon today and will likely be for a Wednesday night visitation and Thursday funeral service, a representative of Chancellor said.


Around 1 p.m. Sunday, Hattiesburg Police responded to a call which told them a male was found hanging outside his apartment by his roommate, said Synarus Green of the Hattiesburg Police Department.

"There was no sign of foul play," Green said.  "However, the autopsy [completed late Monday afternoon] should offer a more conclusive finding as to the cause of death."


Deputy Coroner Johnathan Nobles confirmed that the male found Sunday was Fredrick Isaac Taylor Jr., a 20-year-old Florence native.

"[The cause of death] appears to be a self inflicted ligature hanging," Nobles said.

However, the cause of death will not be made official until the autopsy report is made public.

Taylor was an English major who studied at Mississippi School of the Arts for two years in high school.


"Isaac was the first person I met when I moved to Mississippi 10 years ago," said Julia Fairchild East, a USM photo-journalism major of her best friend.  "We lived in the same neighborhood. He was very much an artist, and very much an artistic person."


Kameron Smith, a former Southern Miss student, knew Taylor for close to three years.

"Last person I ever expected," Smith said.  "Happiest person you'd ever meet.  You'd never see Isaac frown. I was in so much shock."


For official information regarding funeral arrangements, please call Chancellor Funeral Chapel at 601-845-4449.