70-Year-Old Warrant Found In Emmett Till Case, Family Seeks Arrest

Emmett Till

70-Year-Old Warrant Found In Emmett Till Case, Family Seeks Arrest

The family of Emmett Till continues to fight for an arrest to be made in his murder.

A team searching for evidence in a Mississippi courthouse basement found an unserved warrant charging a white woman in Emmett Till‘s 1955 kidnapping. The team consists of members of the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation and two of Till’s living relatives – his cousin, Deborah Watts, and her daughter, Teri Watts.

They now want authorities to arrest Carolyn Bryant Donham, who was named on the arrest warrant as “Mrs. Roy Bryant.” The unserved warrant was found in a file folder that was placed inside a box. Teri Watts said that the warrant accusing her of kidnapping is exactly “what the state of Mississippi needs to go ahead.”

As you may already know, a white woman named Bryant Donham was at the center of the case, accusing 14-year-old Emmett Till of whistling at her at a store in Money, Mississippi.  She also testified in court that Till grabbed her and made a lewd comment. The woman is now in her 80s and is said to live in North Carolina. Donham has never spoken on the matter of her involvement and possible arrest.

District Attorney for the Fourth Circuit Court of Mississippi Dewayne Richardson said “no prosecution was possible” after referencing a report about the Till case from the Justice Department.

However, according to law professor Ronald Rychlak, any new evidence combined with the uncovered arrest warrant could “absolutely” be a step towards probable cause for a new case.

Till was in Mississippi visiting family when he was kidnapped after the store incident, brutally murdered, and dumped into a river. The men charged with his murder were acquitted shortly after.

What do you think about new evidence in the Emmett Till case? Let us know in the comments below!