WASHINGTON (AP) – The Justice Department said May 10 it is reopening the investigation into the 1955 murder of Emmett Till, a Black teenager whose murder while visiting Mississippi was an early catalyst for the civil rights movement.
Till was abducted from his uncle’s home in Money, Miss., on Aug. 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 it is possible others were involved in the killing. The five-year statute of limitations on any federal charges has long since expired but a state case could still be brought, Acosta said.
The NAACP and other individuals and groups have called repeatedly for reopening the case.
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