MS - U.S. reopens 1955 killing of Emmett Till, 14, abducted and mutilated *arrests*

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Justice Department said Monday it is reopening the investigation into the 1955 murder of Emmett Till, a black teenager whose death while visiting Mississippi was an early catalyst for the civil rights movement.

Till was abducted from his uncle's home in Money, Mississippi, on August 28, 1955. The mutilated body of the 14-year-old from Chicago was found by fishermen three days later in the Tallahatchie River.

Pictures of the slaying shocked the world. Two white men charged with murder -- Roy Bryant and his half brother, J.W. Milam -- were acquitted by an all-white jury. Both men have since died.

R. Alexander Acosta, assistant attorney general for civil rights, said a recent public television documentary about the killing and other new information brought to the Justice Department's attention suggests that additional people still alive were involved in the killing.

"This brutal murder and grotesque miscarriage of justice outraged a nation and helped galvanize support for the modern American civil rights movement," Acosta said. "We owe it to Emmett Till, and we owe it to ourselves, to see whether after all these years some additional measure of justice remains possible."

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/LAW/05/10/civil.rights.killing.ap/index.html
 
Body to Be Exhumed in 1955 Racial Killing
Body of Emmett Till, Black Youth Whose 1955 Death Galvanized Civil Rights Movement, to Be Exhumed

By DON BABWIN Associated Press Writer
CHICAGO May 4, 2005 — A half century after the murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till shocked a nation and galvanized the civil rights movement, his body will be exhumed as authorities attempt to determine who killed him, the FBI said Wednesday.

Till's body, buried in a cemetery in the Chicago suburb of Alsip, will be exhumed within the next few weeks for an autopsy, said Deborah Madden, spokeswoman for the FBI office in Jackson, Miss.

The Justice Department announced plans last year to reopen the Till investigation, citing several pieces of information that included a documentary by New York filmmaker Keith Beauchamp.

"The exhumation is a logical continuation of that," Madden said. "An autopsy was never performed on the body and the cause of death was never determined."
--->>

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=728641

50 years later an autopsy and investigation in this crime that was committed because this 14-year-old black teen allegedly whistled at a white woman. I hope the crime is solved and the killer/s brought to justice.
 
Little man... I read about him years ago. Hopefully they can find the TRUTH about this little guy. Only 14 years old. Sweet baby. :(
 
Emmett Till's family divided over exhumation
By Charles Thomas
May 5, 2005 — The family of Emmett Till is divided over plans by federal authorities to exhume his body. The Chicago teenager was murdered in Mississippi 50 years ago by white racists. The FBI wants to conduct an autopsy to confirm Till's identity. Some members of Till's family joined the Reverend Jesse Jackson Thursday and accused the FBI of grandstanding. --->>

Two relatives, cousins Simeon Wright and Wheeler Parker, who were with Till when he was abducted support the autopsy and the investigation to find other suspects who may have been involved.
--->>

ABC7 has learned the court order to allow the exhumation is already signed by a judge, and the plan is to begin digging in Alsip's Burr Oak Cemetery later this month. Bertha Thomas says she will fight it, as Mamie Till Mobley would have fought it if she were alive.

"Never, in all of my life, have I heard her say that she wanted an autopsy done," said Bertha Thomas.

FBI agents met with the cemetery manager today to make preliminary arrangements for the exhumation. Federal officials will not reveal the exact day and time the coffin will be raised or for how long the remains would stay above ground for the autopsy.


http://abclocal.go.com/wls/news/050505_ns_till.html

Hard to imagine that Emmett Till himself wouldn't want his body exhumed if it might lead to identifying and punishing his murderer/s. Looks like it will happen, too, even if some relatives object.
 
Do they feel the autopsy would point to a certain suspect? I'm a little confused. :crazy:

Anyway, I hope justice is done for that poor sweet boy.
 
[font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050517/NEWS01/505170383/1002

<LI>Missing document called key to prosecuting any living suspects in boy's 1955 murder
The FBI's search for killers of Emmett Till has turned up something missing for decades — a transcript of the 1955 murder trial.

"We found a copy of a copy of a copy," said Robert J. Garrity Jr., special agent in charge of the FBI in Mississippi. "We had to painstakingly go through it and retype it."

In the trial, an all-white jury acquitted Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam in Till's Aug. 28, 1955, killing.

The defense suggested a sinister group had planted the body, and the jury foreman told reporters the state failed to prove it was Till's body.

Several months later, Bryant and Milam confessed to Look magazine they had beaten and shot Till because the 14-year-old Chicago youth had wolf-whistled at Bryant's wife, Carolyn, at the family's grocery store.

[/font]
 
This pretty much sums up how I feel.




'Although 50 years have passed, the horror resonates today, Garrity said. "It was a vicious, brutal crime against a child. For God's sake, he was only 14." '
 
browneyes said:
Do they feel the autopsy would point to a certain suspect? I'm a little confused. :crazy:

Anyway, I hope justice is done for that poor sweet boy.
An autopsy could show that others who are still living today could've possibly been involved. From what I understand, those who were tried were not convicted based on "circumstantial evidence". Those persons could not be retried due to double jeopardy, but they are deceased anyway. However, the person who is thought to be involved and who has never been tried for this crime is found to have been involved due to some evidence at the autopsy and from the transcripts, then she can be tried:

"Bryant and Milam have since died, and legal experts say a transcript is key to putting together the case against any living suspects, particularly if that suspect is Carolyn Bryant, whom relatives say maintains her innocence.

Experts say it's possible some of the transcript could be used against her, but there's no guarantee a judge would admit such testimony."

And this:

"Because no medical examination was done then, Garrity said authorities are forced to seek an autopsy now."

And this:
"Others have interpreted the exhumation as proof a prosecution will take place.

Asked about that Monday, Garrity replied, "It would not be a quantum leap to think if we had absolutely no potential defendants, there would be no need for an exhumation.""

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050517/NEWS01/505170383/1002
 
Also:

"The FBI said DNA tests done on Till's body will be matched by swabs taken from family members. The tests hope to verify the identity of the body, which Till's mother was able to identify only by a ring on the youth's finger.
In a letter mailed to media outlets last week, Garrity said the government's decision to exhume Till's body is vital to the investigation.

"The investigation has now progressed to a point where the exhumation and examination of Till's remains are essential," Garrity said."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050517/ap_on_re_us/civil_rights_killing
 
As district attorney, Gerald Chatham Sr. was delegated to prosecute two white men in Mississippi for the 1955 brutal beating death of a 14-year-old black child from Chicago named Emmett Till.

"The governor (J.P. Coleman) offered to take him off that case but he said the people elected him to do a job and he was going to do it to the best of his ability," said Gerald Jr.

The media firestorm that ensued put young Gerald and his family squarely in the national spotlight. NBC's John Chancellor, then a roving reporter, paid a visit to the family's DeSoto County farm.

"I feel anybody would be relieved. Somebody feels there's enough evidence out there and there are people out there who are guilty of that heinous crime," said Chatham.

"But just to bring it up serves no real purpose. Right or wrong they had a fair trial," said Chatham of the trial afforded Till's alleged killers under the circumstances of the day.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14612293&BRD=1838&PAG=461&dept_id=104621&rfi=6
 
FBI Hoping Till's Body Will Yield Clues
By MIKE COLIAS
The Associated Press
Wednesday, June 1, 2005; 11:19 AM

ALSIP, Ill. -- Federal investigators located the casket of Emmett Till at a suburban cemetery Wednesday, hoping that exhuming his body would lead to new clues into the 1955 Mississippi slaying that became a key event in the civil rights movement.

Diggers at a suburban Chicago cemetery found the casket entombed in a concrete vault, FBI spokesman Frank Bochte said. Investigators planned to transport the whole vault to the Cook County medical examiner's office later Wednesday, Bochte said.

The work began after a private graveside service for the family of Till, a black Chicagoan who was 14 when he was killed.

Till's body was to be autopsied by the Cook County medical examiner's office. No autopsy was performed at the time of Till's death.--->>
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/01/AR2005060100511.html
 
Apparent bullet fragments reportedly have been discovered in the exhumed body of Emmett Till, who was killed by white supremacists in 1955 in Mississippi.

The Chicago Sun-Times cited sources close to the investigation who said that examiners are waiting for DNA tests to determine if the body is the 14-year-old's.

http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20050611-020956-8922r.htm
 
Nearly 50 years after Emmett Till's killers dumped his body in the Tallahatchie River, the state today honored the Chicago youth whose lynching helped fuel the civil rights movement.

The 14-year-old's relatives, who left Mississippi after he was slain, returned for a ceremony renaming a section of U.S. 49 after Till.

"I can't think of any better, fitting tribute to the person who sparked the civil rights movement not only in Mississippi but throughout the world," Sens. Johnnie Walls, D-Greenville, said at the ceremony Friday.

Simeon Wright of Chicago praised the naming of the highway after his cousin.

Wright said he'd been told by a reporter that Mississippi was changing but he didn't believe it. "What I'm seeing today is Mississippi is changing," he said.

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050701/NEWS01/50701005
 
CNN SUNDAY NIGHT Aired August 7, 2005


LIN: Now a story you will only see on CNN. A new documentary is shining light on a dark chapter of American history. Fifty years ago, a 14-year-old black boy from Chicago named Emmett Till, was kidnapped, tortured and murdered in Mississippi. The brutal murder shocked the nation and helped galvanize the civil rights movement.

The U.S. Justice Department recently reopened the case, citing the documentary, "The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till," as one of the reasons.

Joining me from Chicago are the filmmaker Keith Beauchamp, and Emmett Till's cousin, Simeon Wright. Emmett was in bed with him the night he was dragged away and killed.

Good evening, gentlemen.

SIMEON WRIGHT, EMMETT TILL'S COUSIN: Good evening.

LIN: Keith, let me start with you. A compelling story. This little boy goes down to the South, goes into a store, and just, almost as a, you know, an afterthought or a prank, whistles at a white woman. A couple of days later, he is dragged out of the house, never to be seen again, and brutally murdered.

KEITH BEAUCHAMP, DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER: Yes.

LIN: Your documentary, you weren't even born when Emmett Till was murdered. Why did you take on this project?

BEAUCHAMP: Well, it's amazing -- it's funny, because -- well, it's not funny. When I learned about the case at the age of 10, I was -- I grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and it was an educational tool that my parents often told me, to keep aware about the racism that still lurks in these societies.

But I came across a "Jet" magazine, and it shocked me tremendously at that time. My parents sat me down and explained the story to me. Emmett Till's name was always in my household. Again, it was an educational tool that was taught to many African-American men of the Deep South, to keep us aware of the racism that still lurks in these Americas.

LIN: Because the murder was one thing, but the subsequent trial of two white men was a whole different story. Simeon, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam. They actually were tried, but it appeared to be a farce, because later on, they were acquitted, but they sold their story to a journalist and confessed to the killings, and even told of some of the brutal details.

WRIGHT: Exactly. They did that.

LIN: Now, even though they confessed, but they're dead. There is now a new investigation by the Justice Department?

WRIGHT: Yes, there is.

LIN: So what are you hoping will come out of this, and what role is the documentary going to have in this?

WRIGHT: Well, I hope that those who was involved in the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till, every one of them will be brought to justice.

(CROSSTALK)

LIN: More than just those two...

WRIGHT: Oh, yes. Yes. There was more. There was another man standing on our porch. And there was a lady in the truck that identified Emmett when he was taken out to the truck.

LIN: Simeon, the body was exhumed. Emmett Till's body was exhumed. What clues came of that that is going to help in this investigation and name more names?

WRIGHT: Well, in order to get the case reopened, the state of Mississippi wanted the FBI to ascertain that the body that was buried in Bare Oak (ph) was exactly Emmett Till. And the autopsy and the DNA specimen would tell us that.

LIN: Because the prosecutors even alleged that Emmett Till was, in fact, still alive. There were rumors abound that this was all a setup.

WRIGHT: That was part of their defense back in 1955.

LIN: So what...

WRIGHT: Ludicrous, but...

LIN: Ludicrous, yeah, because it was proven through DNA that it was in fact Emmett Till, your cousin. So where does the investigation go from here, then?

BEAUCHAMP: Well, what we're looking at at the moment is, of course you heard they've just exhumed the body of Emmett Till. We're currently waiting for them to tell us what was found. Of course, there's been a lot of rumors in the newspapers and things of that nature, that they found the bullet that was lodged in Emmett Till's head. But then, other things, reasons why this autopsy needed to be done. One of the things is that the autopsy was never performed on the body in 1955, and this is one of those important elements that needs to be brought into the court of law to go forward with the trial itself.

So the second thing is, we're waiting for indictments at this point. The FBI will be finishing up their investigation hopefully soon, and then will be handing over their findings to DA Joyce Chiles of the state, who will then in turn begin the process of indictment.

LIN: Keith, you are now a part of history, young man. I mean, your story is going to be airing before the United Nations. It has reunited this investigation. And a 14-year-old little boy may have taught the world a very important lesson. I want to thank both of you, Simeon Wright and Keith Beauchamp, for sharing your story. Good luck with the film.

BEAUCHAMP: Thank you.


http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0508/07/snn.01.html
 
Immunity sought in Emmett Till probe
Friday, July 29, 2005
JACKSON, Mississippi (AP) -- The son of a black man who reportedly accompanied the white men who abducted and killed Emmett Till in 1955 is asking officials to grant his father immunity in the reopened case.

Johnny Thomas said Thursday that his father, Henry Lee Loggins, maintains that he had nothing to do with the infamous lynching. But he thinks that if he is granted immunity, Loggins might tell more than he has so far.

"He's saying that he wasn't (with them). I'm crediting that to, if he was with them, I can imagine the fear that he was under," Thomas, mayor of the small town of Glendora, told The Associated Press.

Thomas said he talked with prosecutors earlier this month. The U.S. Attorney's office in Oxford could not immediately be contacted about the immunity request, first reported in The Delta Democrat Times of Greenville --->>

Two white men -- Roy Bryant, husband of the woman Till whistled at, and J.W. Milam -- admitted taking Till but were acquitted of his murder. They later confessed to the crime in a magazine interview.

Loggins, 82, and living in an Ohio nursing home, worked for Milam. Witnesses reported seeing him with the two white men that night. CBS News reported last year that Loggins was a focus of the renewed probe; Loggins told CBS he had nothing to do with the case.

Thomas said his father left his mother and two siblings in the case's aftermath because he was afraid Milam might hurt his family if he stayed around. He worries that that same fear might have prevented his father all these years from telling all he knew about Till's death.

"Back in that time, it was just like slavery. ... He said that you couldn't do anything but what white folks said," Thomas said. .
--->>

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/07/29/till.immunity.ap/index.html
 
State charges are still a possibility, but no federal charges:

FBI: No Federal Charges in Till Killing

By HOLBROOK MOHR
The Associated Press
Friday, March 17, 2006; 4:38 AM

JACKSON, Miss. -- Although the 1955 killing helped galvanize the civil rights movement, those responsible for Emmett Till's death were never brought to justice. Now, more than 50 years after the black teen died, the FBI says too much time has passed to bring the case to federal court.

In a long-awaited report Thursday, the FBI said that no federal charges will be filed in the brutal death of the 14-year-old Till, who was beaten and shot for purportedly whistling at a white woman. --->>

FBI agent John G. Raucci said in a statement that the five-year statute of limitations on federal civil rights violations had expired. The FBI's report was sent to District Attorney Joyce L. Chiles, who will decide if any state charges can be filed. Chiles did not return a call seeking comment
.--->>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/17/AR2006031700265.html
 
Official: Renewed Emmett Till probe prompted by 2017 book

7/13/2018

"BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A 2017 book that revealed lies by a key figure in the Emmett Till case has prompted the U.S government to renew its investigation into the brutal 1955 slaying, a federal official said Thursday.

The reopening of the case had stayed quiet until the contents of a federal report came to light earlier in the day. Till relatives and social justice activists welcomed a fresh look at the killing that shocked the country and stoked the civil rights movement, but acknowledged that the passage of time could hamper justice.

Hours after news broke about the renewed investigation, a federal official familiar with the matter told The Associated Press that information in the 2017 book was what led federal investigators to re-examine the case. The official wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.

The book “The Blood of Emmett Till” by Timothy B. Tyson quotes a white woman, Carolyn Donham, as saying during a 2008 interview that she wasn’t truthful when she testified that the black teen grabbed her, whistled and made sexual advances at a Mississippi store six decades ago...."

Official: Renewed Emmett Till probe prompted by 2017 book
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COUSIN OF EMMETT TILL SPEAKS OUT (video)

Published Jul 12 , 2018

Cousin of Emmett Till Speaks Out
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220px-14EmmettTillBefore_%282534273093%29.jpg


(Till in a photograph taken by his mother on Christmas Day 1954)
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