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The federal government has reopened its investigation into the murder of Emmett Till, the black teen whose murderous brutality in Mississippi shocked the world and inspired the civil rights movement over there. 60 years old
. A report in March, he is reviewing the assassination of Till in Money, Mississippi, in 1955 after receiving "new information." The case was filed in 2007 and authorities said the suspects were dead. A state grand jury has not filed any new charges
Deborah Watts, a cousin of Till, said she was unaware that the case had been reopened before D & # 39; to be contacted by the Associated Press on Wednesday.
The federal report, sent annually to legislators under a law that bears the name of Till, does not indicate what the new information might be.
But it was published in late March following the publication last year of "The Blood of Emmett Till" The book, by Timothy B. Tyson, quotes a white woman, Carolyn Donham, as grateful at 39, an interview in 2008 that she was accused of lying about the events that preceded the 14-year-old massacre of Chicago
was not truthful when she testified that Till l & # 39; Grabbed, whistled and made sexual advances in a store in 1955.
Two white men – Roy Bryant, then Donham's husband and his half-brother JW Milam – were charged with murder but were acquitted in the assassination of Till, who had stayed with relatives in northern Mississippi at the time. The men later confessed to the crime in a magazine interview, but were not retried. The two are now dead
Donham, who is 84 years old this month, lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. A man who came to the door of his residence declined to comment about the reopening of the FBI's investigation.
"We do not want to talk to you," the man said before returning to the interior.
Paula Johnson, co-director of an academic group examining unresolved civil rights murders, said she could not think of anything other than Tyson's book that would have could prompt the Department of Justice to reopen the Till investigation.
the case so that eventually or finally someone can be held accountable for his murder, "said Johnson, who leads the Cold Case Justice initiative at Syracuse University.
The Department of Justice declined to comment on the status of the investigation.Wattts, Till's cousin and co-founder of the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation, said that he was "wonderful" that murder had another look, but did not want to discuss details.
"None of us wants to do anything any investigation or hindrance, but we are al Till was removed from home where he was staying, Till was beaten and shot, and his mutilated body was found heavy with a cotton fan in the Tallahatchie River. Images of her mutilated body in the coffin have testified to the depth of racial hatred in the Great South and helped to give impetus to subsequent civil rights campaigns
Till's relatives have pushed Attorney General Jeff Sessions to reopen the case last year.
Donham, then known as Carolyn Bryant and then 21, testified in 1955 as a potential defense witness in the Bryant and Milam trial. With jurors coming out of the courtroom, she said that a "negro" she did not know took hold of her arm.
"What did he say when he caught your hand?" Defense lawyer Sidney Carlton has asked, according to a transcript of the FBI's published case ten years ago.
"He said," How about a date, baby? "Bryant says that she went away, and a few moments later, the young man" grabbed me at the cashier ", gripping her by the waist with both her hands and pulling her toward the he
"He said:" What is baby? "" Do you take it? ", she testified." Bryant also said that he told her "you do not need to be afraid of me", saying that he used an obscenity and mentioned something that he had done "with white women before. "
A judge ruled the evidence inadmissible.A wholly white jury released her husband and the other man even without her.The testimonies indicated that a woman could have been in a car with Bryant and Milam when they removed Till, but no one else was ever charged.
In the book, author Tyson wrote that Donham told him his testimony about true.
"Nothing of this boy has ever could justify what happened to him ", quotes the book saying:
Sen. Doug Jones, D-Alabama, introduced legislation this week that would allow the government to disclose information about unresolved civil rights killings. In an interview, Jones said the killing of Till or any other case would probably not be covered by this legislation if the authorities were actively investigating.
"You Should Leave In Judgment Of Some Of The Law Enforcement Agencies That Are Jones
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Allen G. Breed, Associate Press Writer In Raleigh, North Carolina , contributed to the writing of this report.
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