‘New Information’ Leads DOJ to Reopen Emmett Till Murder Case

The federal report, sent annually to lawmakers under a law that bears Till's name, does not indicate what the new information might be.

Ms Donham, who was 21 when the incident occurred and known as Carolyn Bryant, told a court in 1955 that Emmett Till took her arm in her family's grocery store and asked: "How about a date, baby?"

The author of a book that included new revelations about the killing of Emmett Till says he shared all of his research materials with the Federal Bureau of Investigation past year. Bryant said she pulled away, and moments later the young man "caught me at the cash register", grasping her around the waist with both hands and pulling her toward him. He says he assumes his book helped prompt the renewed investigation of the black teen's brutal slaying.

Carolyn Donham claimed Till had accosted her, but told author Timothy B Tyson it was untrue.

The reopening of her son's murder case comes 15 years too late for Mamie Till - who became active in the civil-rights movement following his death - she died in 2003.

A potential witness with the 14-year-old Till in the store that day, cousin Wheeler Parker, said Thursday that he had talked with law enforcement about the case in recent months. Days later, the teen was kidnapped from him bedroom and beaten by white men.

Relatives of Till who have tried to get the case reopened since the release of the book, are grateful for the newfound efforts.

When she spoke to Tyson in 2008, she acknowledged that it was "not true" that Emmett had grabbed her or made vulgar remarks. The Justice Department, per AP, has not commented on the reopening of the investigation.

A legal expert says it's unclear what new charges could result from a renewed investigation into the slaying of Emmett Till more than 60 years ago.

It's unclear what new charges could result from a renewed investigation, said Tucker Carrington, a professor at the University of MS law school.

Donham's then-husband Roy Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam were charged with murder but later acquitted in Till's slaying.

The Department of Justice said it reopened the case based on the discovery of new information. In an interview, Jones said the Till killing or any other case likely wouldn't be covered by this legislation if authorities were actively investigating.

A MS prosecutor isn't saying whether federal authorities have given him any new information since they reopened an investigation into the slaying of Emmett Till in 1955.

Mississippi District Attorney Dewayne Richardson, whose circuit oversees the community in which Emmett was abducted, offered his opinion on the development. An all-white jury freed her husband and the other man even without it.

The federal government has reopened its investigation into the slaying of Emmett Till, the black teenager whose brutal killing in MS shocked the world and helped inspire the civil rights movement more than 60 years ago.

The U.S. Department of Justice is reopening the 63-year-old Emmett Till case after acquiring "new information" about the case. The FBI still conducted an inquiry, which included an exhumation of Emmett's body from an IL cemetery, for about two years to settle whether there were any state crimes that could still be prosecuted.