US Justice Department closes Emmett Till case

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The US Department of Justice announced Monday that the investigation into the murder of Emmett Till has come to an end.

Till was a 14-year old African American boy whose dead body was thrown in the Tallahatchie river of Mississippi, after being brutally disfigured and tortured in 1955. Till was visiting relatives when his murder occurred. 

His mother, Mamie Elizabeth, insisted on an open-casket funeral. Elizabeth said she "wanted the world to see what they did to my baby." 

The case was reopened in 2018 when an important witness retracted her testimony of events leading to Till's death. 

A white woman by the name of Carolyn Bryant had claimed Till had flirted with her in a store she was employed at and touched her on the arm, hand, and waist. 

Afterward, Bryant's husband Roy Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam murdered Till. 

The pair were acquitted of the charges by an all-white, all-men jury, although they admitted to the murder in a magazine interview.

Both Milam and Roy Bryant are deceased.

What changed?

In his book "The Blood of Emmett Till," author Timothy B. Tyson wrote about his interviews with Carolyn Bryant, now called Carolyn Donham, and detailed how she retracted parts of her testimony. 

The Justice Department, however, says Donham "denied to the FBI that she ever recanted her testimony and provided no information beyond what was uncovered during the previous federal investigation."

In a statement, the US Department of Justice said there was "insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she lied to the FBI when she denied having recanted to the professor." 

"The government's re-investigation found no new evidence suggesting that either the woman or any other living person was involved in Till's abduction and murder," it added.

Till's family speaks

Thelma Wright Edwards, Till's 90-year-old cousin, expressed her heart is broken over the closed case, but added she was "not surprised".

At a press conference, she said "I have no hate in my heart, but I had hoped we could get an apology... That didn't happen. The case is closed and we have to go on from here."