There are a whole lot of questions surrounding the death of T. Anthony Spearman, the renowned civil rights leader who died under bizarre circumstances in July 2022.

Many baffling questions remain, but one question was finally answered this week by the North Carolina state medical examiner’s office, which has determined that Spearman died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Spearman, the former head of the NC NAACP and a former member of the Guilford County Board of Elections, was found dead at his home on Tuesday, July 19 of last year in what a 911 caller described as an extremely bloody scene.

Until the autopsy was made public this week, no new information had been released by authorities regarding Spearman’s death or the highly mysterious circumstances surrounding it.

Soon after Spearman’s death, a blogger and internet broadcaster in New Bern told the Rhino Times – as well as his internet audience – that he had been contacted by a 20-year-old male who claimed Spearman had sexually assaulted him a week before Spearman’s death.

The blogger speculated that the 20-year-old and his threats to reveal the assault had led Spearman to commit suicide.

On Friday, July 22, 2022, hours after the blogger made those allegations – and presented his theory of the death ­– to the Rhino Times, the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department put out the following statement: “The Sheriff’s Office is still investigating the circumstances of Dr. Spearman’s death and has not yet reached a conclusion as to the cause of death.  Any information presently circulating as to the cause of death has not originated from the Sheriff’s Office. Pursuant to North Carolina General Statute 132-1.4, and because this is an ongoing investigation, no further information will be released at this time.”

That statement put out by the department eight months ago was the last statement the department has made regarding the case.

In July of last year, several 911 calls from the well-known civil rights leader in the days before his death were released to the public, as required by public records law.

In one of those 911 calls, Spearman claimed he had been robbed by a young man who helped him do chores around the home.

During a 911 call that came before that robbery call, Spearman, for most of the call, spoke to someone in the background rather than to the 911 operator.  For extended periods during that first 911 call, there was no response to the operator’s questions as Spearman engaged in a largely inaudible heated discussion with someone in the room.

In that call Spearman can be heard negotiating and arguing in the background.

“Listen, Listen, man, didn’t I tell you that I would work it out with you?” Spearman said.

After an inaudible response, Spearman added, “Not like that, either.”

In a call later that same day, Spearman told the 911 operator that a young man who sometimes worked for him around the house had assaulted him, robbed him, taken his phone and attempted to obtain money using a financial app on the phone.

The Guilford County Sheriff’s Department, which is investigating the matter, has not released any information about the death despite the passage of eight months.

On Wednesday, Feb. 15, Guilford County Sheriff’s Department Communications Specialist Bria Evans said that the department didn’t have a report to release, but that the department would provide the Rhino Times with a comment as to where that investigation stands at the current time.

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