Murdered Mississippi mayoral candidate was a Pigtown leader

Marco McMillian, the 34-year-old, openly gay mayoral candidate in Clarksdale, Mississippi. who was discovered dead by a Mississippi River levee on Tuesday, was previously the president of the board of Baltimore's Pigtown Main Street, a group committed to revitalizing the Southwest Baltimore neighborhood. According to John Lam, another former president of that board, the group recruited McMillian in 2010 because of his experience in the non-profit sector. Before coming to Baltimore, McMillian worked as executive director of Phi Beta Sigma, the historically black fraternity. Then, he started

, a consulting firm for non-profit organizations, which he continued to operate after accepting the position with Pigtown Main Street. He was pictured on his Facebook page with President Obama. He returned to Mississippi to run for mayor in his birthplace, as one of the first openly gay people to seek office in Mississippi. "In March of 2011, he stepped down from the position and allowed me to take over as President of the board," Lam wrote

City Paper

in an email. "I can identify so greatly with his desire to go back to his hometown and attempt to make it a better place through a leadership position. And it makes me incredibly sad for him, and for the people of Clarksdale, that someone brutally stole away his opportunity to do that." According to the

Lawrence Reed, a 22 year-old man has been charged with the murder.