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THE ATTORNEY GENERAL’S

SECOND ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS

PURSUANT TO THE EMMETT TILL

UNSOLVED CIVIL RIGHTS CRIME ACT OF 2007

MAY 13, 2010
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INTRODUCTION

This report is submitted pursuant to the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act of 

2007 (“The Emmett Till Act”).1 This second Department of Justice (“DOJ” or “Department”) 

Report describes the Department’s activities in the year since the first report2and summarizes 

prior Department activities. 

Section I of the Report gives a history of the Department’s civil rights cold case work and 

provides an overview of the factual and legal challenges we face in our ongoing efforts to 

prosecute unsolved civil rights era homicides. Over the past year, Department attorneys and FBI 

agents interviewed potential witnesses, reviewed thousands of pages of documents, files, and 

evidence and we have now concluded our investigation into 56 of 109 cold cases involving 122 

victims. Though very few prosecutions have resulted, the Department’s efforts have helped 

bring closure to many families. This Section describes the Department’s efforts locating the 

victims’ next of kin, personally notifying them of the closure, and providing them with a detailed 

letter explaining the facts of their relative’s case and our decision. 

Section II of the Report sets forth the steps we have taken since we began the Cold Case 

Initiative in 2006 and describes how our efforts to bring justice and/or closure to the families has 

evolved as it has become apparent that most of these cases will not result in prosecutions. This 

Section describes our ongoing efforts to generate leads, uncover relevant information and 

heighten public awareness through extensive outreach efforts. This year, the Department 

conducted significant outreach to interested community groups, law enforcement organizations, 

academic communities, and the media. Section II chronicles our cold case presentations at 

national conferences, in classes, and as part of town hall meetings. And, this Section updates the 

Department’s efforts regarding our successful prosecution of James Ford Seale for the 1964 

 

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Pub. L. 110 – 344 (2008). The Act requires the Attorney General to annually conduct a study and 

report to Congress not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, and each year 

thereafter. Among other issues, the study and report is required to discuss the number of open 

investigations within the Department for violations of criminal civil rights statutes that occurred not later 

than December 31, 1969, and resulted in a death. The Act also requires the report to discuss any 

applications submitted for grants under section 5, the award of any grants, and the purposes for which any 

grant amount was expended. Additionally, the Act requires the Attorney General to designate a Deputy 

Chief in the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division to coordinate the investigation and prosecution 

of these criminal cases, and authorizes the Deputy Chief to coordinate investigative activities with State 

and local law enforcement officials.

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 The Attorney General’s First Report to Congress Pursuant to the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil 

Rights Crime Act of 2007 was submitted on May 13, 2009.
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murders of Charles Moore and Henry Dee. Over the course of this year the Department 

participated in extensive appellate litigation to uphold this conviction in a process that 

culminated on March 12, 2010 when the Fifth Circuit affirmed the conviction. 

Section III of the Report sets forth where things currently stand with respect to the 109 

matters opened for review during this process. Section III identifies by name all 122 victims and 

the approximate date and location of death. It also identifies the two cases which were 

successfully prosecuted and the 54 matters for which, after significant investigation and review, 

we have made a decision to close the matter without prosecution. In the vast majority of the 

matters that we have closed without prosecution, all identified subjects are deceased. In others, 

there is insufficient evidence to establish that a racially motivated homicide occurred, as opposed 

to some other manner of death outside the scope of the Emmett Till Act. 

We believe that we have made great progress this year, and look forward to continued 

progress in the upcoming year. 

I. THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE’S EFFORTS TO INVESTIGATE AND

PROSECUTE UNSOLVED CIVIL RIGHTS ERA HOMICIDES

A. Overview and Background

The Department of Justice continues to fully support the goals of the Emmett Till Act. 

For more than 50 years, the Department of Justice has been instrumental in bringing justice to 

some of the nation’s most horrific civil rights era crimes, including the Department’s 

groundbreaking federal prosecution of 19 subjects for the 1964 murders of three civil rights 

workers in Philadelphia, Mississippi, a case commonly referred to as the “Mississippi Burning” 

case. These crimes occurred during a terrible time in our nation’s history when all too often 

crimes were not fully investigated or prosecuted or evidence was ignored by juries because of the 

color of the victims’ skin. The Department of Justice believes that racially motivated murders 

from the civil rights era constitute some of the greatest blemishes upon our history. As such, the 

Department stands ready to lend our assistance, expertise, and resources to assist in the 

investigation and possible prosecution of these matters.

Unfortunately, federal jurisdiction over these historic cases is quite limited. The Ex Post 

Facto Clause of the Constitution and federal statutory law have limited the Department’s ability

to prosecute most civil rights era cases at the federal level. For example, two of the most 

important federal statutes that can be used to prosecute racially motivated homicides, 18 U.S.C. §

245 (interference with federally protected activities) and 42 U.S.C. § 3631 (interference with 

housing rights), were not enacted until 1968. Under the Ex Post Facto Clause, these statutes 

cannot be applied retroactively to conduct that was not a crime at the time of the offense. 
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The five-year statute of limitations on federal criminal civil rights charges presents 

another limitation on such prosecutions. In 1994, death-resulting violations of 18 U.S.C. § 242 

(civil rights violations committed under color of law) and 18 U.S.C. § 245 (interference with 

federally protected activities) became capital offenses; as capital offenses, these statutes are no 

longer subject to a statute of limitations. However, even death-resulting civil rights violations 

which occurred prior to 1994 are governed by the then-existing five-year statute of limitations.

In addition, there are certain difficulties inherent in these cold cases: subjects die; 

witnesses die or can no longer be located; memories become clouded; evidence is destroyed. 

Even with our best efforts, investigations into historic cases are exceptionally difficult, and 

justice in few, if any, of these cases will ever be reached inside of a courtroom. Notwithstanding 

these legal and factual limitations, the Department believes that the federal government can still 

play an important role in these cases. 

The Department has always been willing to reassess and review cold cases when new 

evidence came to light, and, as set forth below, played a major role in successfully prosecuting 

three such cold cases prior to the Cold Case Initiative. In order to further the Department’s 

mission, in 2006, the FBI began its Cold Case Initiative to identify and investigate the murders 

committed during our nation’s civil rights era. 

In October 2008, the Emmett Till Act was signed into law, directing the Department to 

designate a Deputy Chief in the Civil Rights Division to coordinate the investigation and 

prosecution of civil rights era homicides, and a Supervisory Special Agent in the FBI’s Civil 

Rights Unit to investigate those cases. The Civil Rights Division and the FBI were also given 

the authority to coordinate their activities with State and local law enforcement officials. For 

fiscal years 2009 through 2018, the Act authorized $10,000,000 per year to the Attorney General, 

to be allocated as appropriate by the Department’s Civil Rights Division and the FBI; $2,000,000 

per year for grants to State or local law enforcement agencies for expenses associated with the 

investigation and prosecution by them of civil rights era homicides; and $1,500,000 per year to 

the Department’s Community Relations Service (“CRS”) to bring together law enforcement 

agencies and communities in the investigation of these cases. For fiscal year 2009, no funds 

authorized by this Act were appropriated; thus, the Department had to meet its obligations under 

this project by shifting resources from other important civil rights programs, projects, and 

prosecutions. For fiscal year 2010, Congress approved the President’s budget request, which 

included, among other things, a request for $1,600,000 for the Civil Rights Division’s Cold Case 

Unit. 

B. Pre-Cold Case Initiative Efforts

For many years now, the Department has played an important role in the investigation 

and prosecution of civil rights era homicides, notwithstanding the constitutional and 
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jurisdictional limitations noted above. Even prior to launching the Cold Case Initiative in 2006, 

the Department was able to play an important – indeed, essential – role in three successful cold 

case prosecutions.

For example, in 1997, the FBI reopened the investigation into the 1963 bombing of the 

Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama which resulted in the deaths of an 

eleven year old and three fourteen year old girls. Civil Rights Division attorneys worked with 

the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama in conducting a federal grand 

jury investigation. We were able to assume federal jurisdiction because a predecessor statute to 

the current arson and explosives statute, 18 U.S.C. § 844, provided that in situations where death 

resulted from an explosive transported in interstate commerce, the penalty was death, and under 

18 U.S.C. § 3281, crimes punishable by death have no statute of limitations. Ultimately, we 

could not prove that the explosive traveled in interstate commerce, so we released the grand jury 

investigation to the State of Alabama. State charges were filed against defendants Thomas 

Blanton and Bobby Cherry in Birmingham, Alabama, in May 2000. Defendant Blanton was 

convicted in April 2001, and sentenced to four life terms; Cherry was convicted in May 2002, 

and sentenced to four life terms. The United States Attorney for the Northern District of 

Alabama was cross-designated to serve as the lead prosecutor in the state trials. Thus, this case –

which was investigated by federal agents and a federal grand jury, and ultimately successfully 

prosecuted by a federal prosecutor in state court – provides a perfect example of the 

Department’s efforts to find creative ways to pursue civil rights era cases.

In 1999, the Civil Rights Division and the United States Attorney’s Office for the 

Southern District of Mississippi reopened the investigation into the 1966 murder of Ben Chester 

White, an elderly African-American farm worker, by Ernest Henry Avants, a Mississippi 

Klansman. Avants, along with two other men, lured White to Pretty Creek Bridge in the 

Homochitto National Forest outside of Natchez, Mississippi. Once there, White was shot 

multiple times with an automatic weapon, and also was shot in the head with a single barrel 

shotgun. Following the killing, which was intended to lure Dr. Martin Luther King to the area, 

White’s body was thrown off the bridge. His bullet ridden body was discovered several days 

later. A 1967 state prosecution for murder resulted in an acquittal for Avants and a mistrial for 

another defendant who is now deceased. A third defendant, also now deceased, was never 

prosecuted by state officials. The Justice Department opened an investigation into the death of 

White in 1999, using a federal statute that prohibits murder on federal property, 18 U.S.C. §

1111. Avants was indicted in June 2000, convicted in February 2003 and sentenced to life in 

prison in June 2003.

Another matter in which federal resources contributed to the conviction of a civil rights 

era murderer involved the reopened investigation into the 1964 the murder of three civil rights 

workers in Philadelphia, Mississippi - an incident commonly known today as the “Mississippi 

Burning” case. At the time of the murders, the Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights 
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Division, John Doar, personally led the investigation and prosecution of these murders. Despite 

facing extraordinary hurdles, he was able to secure the convictions of 7 of the 18 defendants 

charged with these murders; however, they received sentences ranging from just 4 to 10 years of 

imprisonment. One of the ringleaders, Ku Klux Klan member Edgar Ray Killen, received a 

mistrial because one of the jury members refused to convict a “preacher.” The Department, 

however, remained committed to ensuring that Justice eventually prevailed in that case. The FBI 

worked with local law enforcement and provided invaluable assistance on the reopened 

investigation, which resulted in the indictment of Killen on three counts of state murder charges 

on January 6, 2005. Killen was finally convicted on June 21, 2005 for three counts of 

manslaughter for his involvement in the case. The then-80-year-old Killen was sentenced to 

twenty years for each count, to be served consecutively. 

In addition to the three successful cold case prosecutions, the Department also made 

significant contributions in the recent re-investigation of the murder of Emmett Till, the then-14-

year-old victim of a brutal murder in Money, Mississippi in 1955, and the individual for whom 

the Congressional Act authorizing renewed federal investigations of these cold cases is named. 

Photographs of Mr. Till’s mutilated body caused a national outcry and galvanized the civil rights 

movement. Two men, now deceased, were acquitted by a jury of 12 white men of murdering 

Emmett Till in a 1955 state prosecution. Shortly after the trial, the two men admitted to a 

magazine reporter that they had killed the teenager. Since then, allegations persisted that there 

were others – most of whom are also deceased – involved in the murder. At the request of the 

District Attorney for the 4th Judicial District of Mississippi and the Department’s Civil Rights 

Division, the FBI commenced a new investigation of the murder in May 2004, and in March

2006 turned over a more than 8,000 page report to the District Attorney.3 The District Attorney 

presented the matter to a grand jury in February 2007 and the grand jury declined to issue any 

new indictments in the matter. Although the grand jury did not issue an official report on the 

matter, several members of the biracial grand jury spoke with members of the press, and they 

reported that the grand jury unanimously agreed that there was insufficient evidence to establish 

probable cause that any surviving individual participated in the kidnapping or murder of Emmett 

Till. In March 2007, the FBI and the District Attorney met with family members of Emmett Till 

and discussed the investigative findings with them. Additionally, the FBI produced a detailed

report on the investigation, a redacted version of which is available on the FBI’s website, 

www.fbi.gov. Although this particular case did not result in a successful prosecution, we believe 

that the exhaustive investigation conducted by the FBI gave some sense of closure to the victim’s 

family members and the community. Additionally, the investigation served to benefit history by 

unearthing the long-lost transcript of the 1955 trial.

 

3 The five-year statute of limitations on any potential federal criminal civil rights violation has 

expired, and there were no other applicable federal statutes; thus, there was no possibility of a federal 

prosecution. 
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These four cold cases represent the four different models in which the Department of 

Justice has participated in the investigation and prosecution of civil-rights era crimes: 1) noncivil rights federal statutes, such as the federal murder statute, have been used to successfully 

prosecute the perpetrators in federal court; 2) when the federal investigation failed to establish 

federal jurisdiction, a federal prosecutor was cross-designated to serve as a state prosecutor and 

was able to use the federal investigation in a successful State trial; 3) federal and local 

investigators have jointly investigated and provided assistance to a State prosecutor in an effort 

to bring a State prosecution; and 4) a thorough investigation has been completed and even 

though no prosecution has resulted, some closure has been provided. 

II. THE COLD CASE INITIATIVE

A. Overview

In order to further the Department’s commitment to investigating and prosecuting civil 

rights era homicides, the FBI in 2006 began its Cold Case Initiative (the Initiative) to identify 

and investigate the murders committed during the civil rights era. The Department and the FBI 

have jointly participated in a multi-faceted strategy to address these investigations. 

The first step was to identify cases for inclusion under the Initiative. Each of the 56 field 

offices was directed to identify cases within its jurisdiction that might warrant inclusion on a list 

of cold cases meriting additional investigation. In 2007, we began the next phase of this 

initiative, which includes a partnership with the National Association for the Advancement of 

Colored People (NAACP), the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and the National Urban 

League to identify possible additional cases for investigation and to solicit their assistance with 

already identified matters.

As the investigations progressed, we fully realized the challenges associated with locating 

surviving subjects, witnesses and family members of the victims. In an effort to generate leads

and other information, we began an extensive outreach campaign, soliciting assistance from 

community groups and other NGOs, engaging the academic community, reaching out to the 

media, and working with state and local law enforcement organizations. We have received 

valuable information as a result of these efforts, and our outreach campaign will continue. And 

at a minimum, we believe that our demonstrated commitment already has provided the 

communities with the assurance that they are being heard and that the Department is doing 

everything possible to investigate these important cases. 

B. Ongoing Outreach Efforts

As part of the Department’s efforts to uncover relevant information regarding our 

unsolved civil rights era homicides, we continue to engage in a comprehensive outreach 

program, meeting with a broad array of interested individuals and organizations. 
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i. Meetings with NGOs and Community Activists

In July 2009, the Attorney General met with the Chairman of the Emmett Till Justice 

Campaign, a cousin of Emmett Till, and other interested advocates, academics, journalists and 

members of the media to discuss issues related to the Emmett Till Act. This meeting followed 

up on an earlier meeting in which Department officials met with a number of key supporters of 

the Cold Case Initiative, including the Chairman of the Emmett Till Justice Campaign, and the 

brother of slain civil rights worker James Chaney to update them on the status of the 

Department’s cold case work. During these meetings, we also discussed how these groups and 

individuals could: (1) help law enforcement locate witnesses and family members of the victims; 

(2) assist in providing psychological comfort and closure to victims; and (3) fulfill a historical 

role by documenting the stories underlying these cases through investigative journalism, 

research, and documentary films. We expect these productive dialogues with these groups to 

continue throughout the Initiative. 

Senior officials with the Department and the FBI have also met with and will continue to 

meet with representatives from the NAACP, SPLC, and the National Urban League. The 

purpose of these meetings is threefold: 1) to encourage those organizations to reach out to their 

field offices and to try to obtain information on cold cases; 2) to provide the organizations with 

updates on our progress; and 3) to educate these organizations on the scope of the Emmett Till 

Act and the impediments that we face in pursuing these matters. 

ii. Law Enforcement Outreach

We have also reached out to federal and local law enforcement officials and 

organizations to educate them about the Emmett Till Act and to solicit assistance and 

information. As noted earlier, the FBI reached out to all of its field offices and instructed them 

to identify all potential cold cases in their districts. The Department has proactively reached out 

to all of the United States Attorneys’ Offices in districts in which there are open cold cases, 

notifying them of the cases in their districts and seeking their assistance. 

A Department official presented on the Emmett Till Act at the 2009 Criminal Civil 

Rights Conference at the National Advocacy Center in Columbia, South Carolina. The 

conference was attended by Assistant United States Attorneys and FBI agents from across the 

country. A Department official also gave a presentation on the Emmett Till Act at the FBI’s 

Civil Rights training program in 2009, attended by agents from across the country.

In an effort to broaden the outreach to prosecutors at a state and local level, Department 

officials participated in the annual conference of the National Black Prosecutors Association in 

July 2009, and presented on the James Ford Seale case. The FBI and Department officials have 

also met with representatives from the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol, the Alabama Bureau 

of Investigation, and numerous other state and local law enforcement agencies.
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iii. Collaboration with Academic Communities

In January 2008, November 2008, July 2009, and October 2009, Department officials met 

with professors from the Syracuse University College of Law. The Syracuse law school founded 

a Cold Case Justice Initiative (CCJI) project in response to the unsolved 1964 murder in 

Ferriday, Louisiana of shoe shop owner Frank Morris, who suffered fatal burns when his store 

was set on fire, presumably by members of the Ku Klux Klan.4 Under the supervision of the 

professors, Syracuse University College of Law students have researched thousands of 

documents related to the Morris matter and other cold cases in that geographic area. In addition, 

in October 2009, the Department and FBI met with a Syracuse undergraduate class in which 

students have done significant research on civil rights homicides. Syracuse has generously 

shared the results of the research conducted by its students.

We have also been in contact with a professor from Northeastern University School of 

Law, who is directing Northeastern University’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project, 

which engages students in matters relating to the civil rights movement. These students have 

also done extensive research on a number of our cold cases, and have shared their findings with 

us.

iv. Conferences and Town Hall Meetings

In addition to our efforts with scholars, the Department continues to reach out to local 

civil rights organizations and participate in conferences in an effort to encourage the active 

assistance of these groups. For example, an official from the FBI participated in the Mississippi 

Civil Rights Veterans Conference in Jackson, Mississippi in March 2009 and March 2010. In 

both instances, the official met with journalists, veterans of the civil rights movement, and others 

to discuss issues related to cold cases, explain our achievements with the Initiative, answer 

questions regarding specific cases, and request assistance with our efforts. In connection with 

the 2010 conference, the Attorney General issued a statement in support of the Emmett Till Act 

in which he encouraged citizens to come forward with any information they might have 

concerning civil rights era racially motivated homicides. 

Similarly, in March 2009, officials from the FBI and the Civil Rights Division jointly 

participated in a two-day conference in Monroe, Georgia, sponsored by the Moore’s Ford 

Memorial Committee. During that conference, officials participated in a panel discussion and 

met with community members, civil rights veterans, local law enforcement, jury consultants, and 

others in an attempt to re-invigorate the Moore’s Ford investigation, which focuses on the 

 

4

It should be noted that the Department is continuing to vigorously pursue the Morris murder case

and the FBI has offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to an indictment in the Morris matter.
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lynching of two African-American couples on the Moore’s Ford bridge in 1946. The FBI has 

offered reward money for information leading to an indictment in this matter.

During the October 2009 visit to Syracuse, New York, officials participated in a town 

hall meeting, which began with the screening of a documentary film about one of the cases under 

review as part of the Initiative. The officials granted an interview to a local public television 

program and met with community members, professors, journalists, and other interested persons 

in an attempt to identify leads and other information for the Cold Case Initiative in the northeast, 

where many African Americans relocated during the turbulent civil rights era.

The FBI also participated in a town hall meeting in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in November 

2009, again partnering with a documentary filmmaker to screen one of his Cold Case 

documentaries in a community where some of these crimes occurred and where witnesses might 

reside. 

In July 2010, a Department official is scheduled to deliver a presentation on the Cold 

Case Initiative at the NAACP’s annual conference in Kansas City, Missouri.

v. Media Outreach

The Department and the FBI have embarked on an aggressive media outreach campaign, 

granting interviews to the Washington Post, National Public Radio, the British Broadcasting 

Company, 60 Minutes, Dateline, and other local media outlets to continue to elicit the public’s 

assistance with locating witnesses to these crimes, as well as family members of the victims. 

As noted in the first Report, in January 2009, the Department sponsored a joint press 

conference held by representatives from the FBI, the Civil Rights Division, the United States 

Attorneys and other prosecutors from the Northern and Southern Districts of Mississippi, senior 

officials from the United States Marshals Service, and the Mississippi Attorney General. During 

this press conference, the Department released the names of the victims whose murder cases are 

currently under review in the state of Mississippi, provided a phone number for a cold case 

hotline, and asked for citizen assistance in solving these crimes. 

The Department continues to meet with journalists to seek input, ideas, and possible 

leads. For instance, we are regularly in contact with members of the Civil Rights Cold Case 

Project, a multi-partner, multi-platform effort focused on the unresolved history of the South 

during the civil rights era, seeking any information that it may have relevant to cold cases. 

Among the participants in that project are investigative reporters from Alabama, Mississippi, and 

Louisiana, who are vigorously investigating the matters in their respective regions. Investigative 

reporters from Michigan and Massachusetts are also contributing to the project. Another 

participant in that project is a documentary film maker from the Canadian Broadcasting 
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Corporation, who provided the Department with invaluable information during the investigation 

and successful prosecution of the James Ford Seale case.5 

C. Prosecutions

The Cold Case Initiative resulted in one successful federal prosecution which was upheld 

on appeal this past year. This case involved the 1964 murders of 19-year-old Charles Moore and 

Henry Dee, in Franklin County, Mississippi. On May 2, 1964, James Ford Seale and other 

members of the Ku Klux Klan forced Moore and Dee into a car and drove the teenagers into the 

Homochitto National Forest. Mistakenly believing that Dee was a member of the Black Panthers 

and that he was bringing guns into the county, the Klansmen beat the boys while interrogating 

them about the location of the weapons. In order to stop the beating, the boys falsely confessed, 

telling the Klansmen that guns were stored in a nearby church. The Klansmen then split into two 

groups. One group went to search the church for the guns. The other group, including Seale, 

transported the victims across state lines, into Louisiana, and then back into Mississippi to a 

remote location on the Mississippi River. Moore and Dee, bound and gagged, were chained to a 

Jeep engine block and railroad ties, and were taken by Seale out onto the water in a boat, and 

were pushed overboard to their deaths. Their severely decomposed bodies were found months 

later.

Seale and another Klansmen, Charles Edwards, were arrested on state murder charges in 

late 1964, but the charges were later dropped. The Civil Rights Division and the United States 

Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi reopened an investigation into the 

murders in 2006. The new investigation revealed evidence that supported a federal prosecution 

under the federal kidnapping statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1201. Edwards, who was in the group of 

Klansmen who searched the church, but who did not participate in the actual murders, was 

granted immunity and testified against Seale, the only other surviving participant. Seale was 

indicted in January 2007, and convicted in June 2007, of two counts of kidnapping and one count 

of conspiracy. He was sentenced to three life terms. On appeal, when Seale’s conviction was 

reversed by a three judge panel on a legal technicality involving the statute of limitations, the

Department successfully sought en banc review. The en banc panel reinstated Seale’s conviction 

and returned the case to the original panel for consideration of the remaining issues. On March 

12, 2010 Seale’s conviction was affirmed by the original Fifth Circuit panel. 

D. Notifying Victim Family Members

 

5 An FBI official was also interviewed by another film maker for a documentary on another 

particularly egregious cold case – the murder of Johnnie Mae Chappell, and African-American mother of 

ten who was gunned down by a car full of white men as she walked along the side of the road searching 

for her wallet. At the end of the documentary, which aired on the History Channel in February 2009, the 

film maker provided an FBI phone number for viewers to call with information related to any cold cases.
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During the past year, the FBI has completed its work on many of the investigations and 

has submitted them to the Department for review. The Department is in the process of reviewing

these investigations and the thousands of documents provided by the FBI. Unfortunately, during 

this process, it has become apparent that due to the many impediments discussed earlier in this 

report, few, if any, of these cases will be prosecuted. 

In an effort to nonetheless bring some sense of closure to the family members of these 

victims, the Department is writing letters to the next of kin when found. Pursuant to 68 Fed.Reg. 

47610-01, excepting certain categories of disclosure from the Privacy Act, the Civil Rights 

Division has the authority to disclose information about the results of an investigation or case to 

family members of the victims. Thus, we have made the decision that our notification letters will 

detail our investigative efforts and our findings. We have also made the decision to have FBI 

agents hand deliver these letters to the family members.

The FBI has devoted considerable resources to locating the next of kin for the victims, 

successfully locating family members for 93 of the 122 victims. This past year, the FBI enlisted

the public’s assistance in locating next of kin at a town hall forum on November 18, 2009, at 

Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana by presenting a list of the victims for whom the 

FBI was searching for next of kin. A press advisory alerted media to the announcement 

beforehand, and press packets were available at the event. Following the announcement, the FBI 

posted the Next of Kin list on the Seeking Information page of its website, and simultaneously 

issued a press release with updates and a link to the Seeking Information poster. Additionally, 

the information was publicized with a front page story on www.fbi.gov, email alerts to 

www.fbi.gov subscribers, a video on the FBI’s YouTube channel, announcements on the FBI’s 

Twitter feed and Facebook page, and through the “Wanted by the FBI” Podcast. A large number 

of media outlets picked up the story, including the Associated Press. This effort helped the FBI 

locate 12 of the 93 next of kin. 

III. COLD CASE STUDY AND REPORT

As set forth above, the Department’s efforts to investigate and prosecute unsolved civil 

rights era homicide cases predate the Emmett Till Act. During the course of the Department’s 

focus on these matters, we have opened 109 matters, including 122 victims, for review. Two of 

those matters have been opened since the First Report to Congress was submitted in May 2009. 

Thus far, the Department’s efforts have resulted in two successful federal prosecutions, 

and two successful state prosecutions. The first federal case was United States v. Avants, 367 

F.3d 433 (5th Cir. 2004), which was indicted in the Southern District of Mississippi in June 

2000. Avants was convicted in February, 2003, and sentenced to life in prison. The second 

federal case was United States v. James Ford Seale, --- F.3d ---, 2010 WL 909199 (5th Cir. 

March 12, 2010), described in Section II.C. above, which was indicted in the Southern District of 
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Mississippi in January 2007. Seale was convicted in June 2007, and sentenced to three life 

terms.

The first successful federally-assisted state prosecution was the Sixteenth Street Church 

bombing case described above. The second successful federally-assisted state prosecution was 

the State of Mississippi v. Edgar Ray Killen. Charges were filed against Killen in Philadelphia, 

Mississippi, in January 2005; he was convicted of three counts of manslaughter in June 2005, 

and was sentenced to 60 years in prison.

Six of the 109 matters have been referred to state authorities. One of those matters is In 

re: Emmett Till. As discussed above, the District Attorney for the 4th Judicial District of 

Mississippi presented the matter to a grand jury in February 2007, and the grand jury declined to 

issue any new indictments. In another matter, State charges have been filed against thenAlabama State Trooper James Bonard Fowler for the 1965 murder of Jimmie Lee Jackson in 

Marion, Alabama. The murder of Jackson, an unarmed civil rights protester, was one of the 

events which led to the Selma to Montgomery marches. In May 2007, Fowler was charged with 

murder in Marion, Alabama. His October 2008 trial date was vacated, and the court has not yet 

set a new trial date.

Thus far, our review has revealed no viable federal statutory authority for any of the 

matters other than the federal murder statute used in United States v. Avants and the federal 

kidnapping statute used in United States v. Seale. In 39 of the cases closed without prosecution, 

all identified subjects are deceased. In 14 of the closed cases, there was insufficient evidence of 

a racially motivated homicide, as opposed to an accidental death, a suicide, a heart attack, a 

homicide committed by a black subject for non-racial reasons, or some other manner of death

outside the scope of the Emmett Till Act.

Since January 2007, at least 57 federal prosecutors have worked on cases under review as 

part of the Department’s Cold Case Initiative and the Emmett Till Act. Although no matters are 

currently under federal indictment, several cases have been identified as potentially viable 

prosecutions at the state level. The resources involved in a viable prosecution are enormous. 

More than 40 federal employees participated in the Seale prosecution alone. That number does 

not include the numerous retired federal employees, local law enforcement officials, or contract 

employees who provided additional assistance. 

The Department has received no applications for grants from State or local law 

enforcement agencies under the Emmett Till Act.

 Below is a chart listing the 122 victims whose deaths the Department has reviewed and is 

reviewing in accordance with the Emmett Till Act: 
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NAME OF VICTIM INCIDENT LOCATION INCIDENT 

DATE

CLOSING 

DATE

1. Louis Allen Amite County, Mississippi January 31, 1964

2. Andrew Lee Anderson Crittendon County, Arkansas July 17, 1963 April 9, 2010

3. Frank Andrews Lisman, Alabama November 28, 1964

4. Isadore Banks Marion, Arkansas June 8, 1964

5. John Larry Bolden Chattanooga, Tennessee May 3, 1958 April 15, 2010

6. Preston Bolden San Antonio, Texas May 8, 1953

7. James Brazier Dawson, Georgia April 20, 1958 April 6, 2009

8. Thomas Brewer Columbus, Georgia February 18, 1956 April 6, 2009

9. Hilliard Brooks Montgomery, Alabama August 13, 1952 April 9, 2010

10. Benjamin Brown Jackson, Mississippi May 11, 1967

11. Charles Brown Yazoo City, Mississippi June 18, 1957 April 16, 2010

12. Gene Brown/a.k.a Pheld 

Evans

Canton, Mississippi 1964 April 21, 2010

13. Jessie Brown Winona, Mississippi January 13, 1965 April 19, 2010

14. Carrie Brumfield Franklinton, Louisiana September 12, 1967

15. Eli Brumfield McComb, Mississippi October 13, 1961 April 16, 2010

16. Johnnie Mae Chappell Jacksonville, Florida March 23, 1964

17. Jesse Cano Brookville, Florida January 1, 1965

18. Silas Caston Hinds County, Mississippi March 1, 1964 May 2, 2010

19. James Chaney Philadelphia, Mississippi June 21, 1964

20. Thad Christian Anniston, Alabama August 28, 1965

21. Clarence Cloniger Gaston, North Carolina October 10, 1960 April 3, 2009

22. Willie Countryman Dawson, Georgia May 25, 1958 April 6, 2009

23. Vincent Dahmon N/A N/A April 12, 2010

24. Jonathan Daniels Lowndes County, Alabama August 20, 1965

25. Woodrow Wilson Daniels Yalobusha County, Mississippi June 25, 1958 April 12, 2010

26. Henry Hezekiah Dee Parker’s Landing, Mississippi May 2, 1964 March 15, 2010

27. George Dorsey Monroe, Georgia July 25, 1946

28. Mae Dorsey Monroe, Georgia July 25, 1946

29. Roman Ducksworth Taylorsville, Mississippi April 9, 1962 April 12, 2010

30. Joseph Dumas Perry, Florida May 5, 1962 April 9, 2010

31. Joseph Edwards Vidalia, Mississippi July 12, 1964

32. Willie Edwards Montgomery, Alabama January 23, 1957

33. James Evansington Tallahatchie County, Mississippi December 24, 1955 April 12, 2010

34. Andrew Goodman Philadelphia, Mississippi June 21, 1964

35. Mattie Greene Ringgold, Georgia May 20, 1965

36. Jasper Greenwood Vicksburg, Mississippi July 10, 1964

37. Jimmie Lee Griffin Sturgis, Mississippi September 24, 1965

38. Paul Guihard Oxford, Mississippi September 30, 1962

39. A.C. Hall Macon, Georgia October 11, 1962

40. Rogers Hamilton Lowndes County, Alabama October 22, 1957
15

41. Adlena Hamlett Sidon, Mississippi January 11, 1966

42. Samuel Hammond Orangeburg, South Carolina February 8, 1968

43. Collie Hampton Winchester, Kentucky August 14, 1966

44. Alphonso Harris Albany, Georgia December 1, 1966 April 12, 2010

45. Isaiah Henry Greensburg, Louisiana July 28, 1954

46. Arthur James Hill Villa Rica, Louisiana August 20, 1965

47. Ernest Hunter St. Marys, Georgia September 13, 1958 April 6, 2009

48. Jimmie Lee Jackson Marion, Alabama February 18, 1965

49. Luther Jackson Philadelphia, Mississippi October 25, 1959 April 16, 2010

50. Wharlest Jackson Natchez, Mississippi February 27, 1967

51. Ernest Jells Clarksdale, Mississippi October 20, 1963 April 16, 2010

52. Joseph Jeter Atlanta, Georgia September 13, 1958 May 2, 2010

53. Nathan Johnson Alabaster, Alabama May 8, 1966

54. Marshall Johns Ouachita Parish, Louisiana July 13, 1960 April 22, 1010

55. Birdie Keglar Sidon, Mississippi January 11, 1966

56. Bruce Klunder Cleveland, Ohio March 7, 1964 April 16, 2010

57. William Henry “John” Lee Rankin County, Mississippi February 25, 1965

58. George Lee Belzoni, Mississippi May 7, 1955

59. Herbert Lee Amite County, Mississippi September 25, 1961 April 16, 2010

60. Richard Lillard Nashville, Tennessee July 20, 1958 April 15, 2010

61. George Love Ruleville, Mississippi January 8, 1958

62. Maybelle Mahone Zebulon, Georgia December 5, 1967 April 6, 2009

63. Dorothy Malcolm Monroe, Georgia July 25, 1946

64. Roger Malcolm Monroe, Georgia July 25, 1946

65. Sylvester Maxwell Canton, Mississippi January 17, 1963 May 2, 2010

66. Bessie McDowell Andalusia, Alabama June 14, 1956 April 9, 2010

67. Ernest McPharland Ouachita Parish, Louisiana July 13, 1960 April 22, 2010

68. Robert McNair Pelahatchie, Mississippi November 6, 1965

69. Clinton Melton Sumner, Mississippi December 3, 1955 April 12, 2010

70. Delano Middleton Orangeburg, South Carolina February 8, 1968

71. James Andrew Miller Jackson, Georgia August 30, 1964 April 12, 2010

72. Booker T. Mixon Clarksdale, Mississippi September 12, 1959

73. Neimiah Montgomery Cleveland, Mississippi August 10, 1964 April 12, 2010

74. Charles Edward Moore Parker’s Landing, Mississippi May 2, 1964 March 15, 2010

75. Harriette Moore Mims, Florida December 25, 1951

76. Harry Moore Mims, Florida December 25, 1951

77. Oneal Moore Varnado, Louisiana June 2, 1965

78. William Moore Attalla, Alabama April 23, 1963

79. Frank Morris Ferriday, Louisiana December 10, 1964

80. James Motley Elmore County, Alabama November 20, 1966 April 12, 2010

81. Samuel O’Quinn Centreville, Mississippi August 14, 1959

82. Herbert Orsby Canton, Mississippi September 7, 1964 April 12, 2010

83. Will Owens New Bern, North Carolina March 5, 1956 April 3, 2009
16

84. Mack Charles Parker Pearl River County, Mississippi May 4, 1959

85. Larry Payne Memphis, Tennessee March 28, 1968

86. Charles Horatious Pickett Columbus, Georgia December 21, 1957 April 12, 2010

87. Albert Pitts Ouachita Parish, Louisiana July 13, 1960 April 22, 2010

88. David Pitts Ouachita Parish, Louisiana July 13, 1960 April 22, 2010

89. Jimmy Powell New York City, New York July 16, 1964

90. William Roy Prather Corinth, Mississippi October 31, 1959

91. Johnny Queen Fayette, Mississippi August 8, 1965

92. Donald Raspberry Okolona, Mississippi February 27, 1965 May 17, 2010

93. James Reeb Selma, Alabama March 8, 1965

94. James Earl Reese Gregg County, Texas October 22, 1955 April 15, 2010

95. Fred Robinson Edisto Island, South Carolina August 5, 1960

96. Johnnie Robinson Birmingham, Alabama September 15, 1963 April 9, 2010

97. Willie Joe Sanford Hawkinsville, Georgia March 1, 1957

98. Michael Schwerner Philadelphia, Mississippi June 21, 1964

99. Marshall Scott Orleans Parish, Louisiana January, 1965

100. Jessie James Shelby Yazoo City, Mississippi January 21, 1956 May 24, 2010

101. Ollie Shelby Hinds County, Mississippi January 22, 1965 April 16, 2010

102. George Singleton Shelby, North Carolina April 30, 1957 April 16, 2010

103. Ed Smith Stateline, Mississippi April 27, 1958 November 5, 2009

104. Henry Smith Orangeburg, South Carolina February 8, 1968

105. Lamar Smith Brookhaven, Mississippi August 13, 1955 April 12, 2010

106. Maceo Snipes Butler, Georgia July 18, 1946 April 12, 2010

107. Eddie Stewart Jackson, Mississippi July 9, 1966

108. Isaiah Taylor Ruleville, Mississippi June 26, 1964 April 12, 2010

109. Emmett Till Money, Mississippi August 28, 1955 December 28, 2007

110. Ann Thomas San Antonio, Texas April 8, 1969 April 15, 2010

111. Freddie Lee Thomas Sidon, Mississippi August 19, 1965

112. Selma Trigg Hattiesburg, Mississippi January 21, 1965 May 2, 2010

113. Ladislado Ureste San Antonio, Texas April 23, 1953 April 20, 2010

114. Hulet Varner Atlanta, Georgia September 10, 1966 April 6, 2009

115. Clifton Walker Woodville, Mississippi February 29, 1964

116. Virgil Ware Birmingham, Alabama September 23, 1963

117. James Waymers Allendale, South Carolina July 10, 1965 April 15, 2010

118. Ben Chester White Natchez, Mississippi June 10, 1966 October 16, 2003

119. Robert Wilder Ruston, Louisiana July 17, 1965

120. Rodell Williamson Camden, Alabama May 20, 1967 May 2, 2010

121. Archie Wooden Camden, Alabama December 25, 1967 April 20, 2010

122. Samuel Younge Tuskagee, Alabama January 3, 1966