The Justice Department announced it had closed an investigation into the abduction and murder of Emmett Till.
On August 28, 1955, Till was kidnapped from the home of his great-uncle after Carolyn Bryant accused the 14-year-old of taunting her in her family’s grocery store. She was 20 years old at the time.
His killing at the hands of two white men in Mississippi helped begin the civil rights movement.
In a news release, the DOJ claimed there was insufficient evidence to pursue charges in the case.
The case was reopened after a historian claimed in the book “The Blood of Emmett Till” by Timothy B. Tyson that Bryant Donham had recanted her claims that he had grabbed her and made sexually suggestive remarks. She says he whistled at her, grabbed her, and said that he had been with “white women before.” However, Donham later denied changing her story so the department could not charge her with perjury.
Citing the statute of limitations and Donham’s denial that she had ever changed her story, the Justice Department said it could not move forward with prosecuting her for perjury.
“A recantation would directly contradict both her testimony at the state proceedings in 1955 and the statements she provided to the FBI during the previous investigation,” the Justice Department wrote.
Her words were not recorded or transcribed by Tyson, who informed authorities that he took detailed notes.
“There remains considerable doubt as to the credibility of (Donham’s) original account of what happened inside the store,” the DOJ memo continued.
“My reporting is rock solid,” Tyson said in a statement to CNN. “Carolyn Bryant denies it and avoids talking about it like it was the plague. I am standing in the public square telling the truth as I see it based on solid evidence.”
