You’re interpreting what you read a bit incorrectly.

The rope was tied above on the tree and an end wrapped around his neck, with no knot. Nothing tied around a trunk. The wrapped end around his neck was holding up the bulk of his weight, but he was close enough to the ground that at least his feet were touching.

The whole thing sounds like he did it to himself, either on purpose as a suicide, or on accident as a sex thing.