Emmett Till

Carolyn Bryant Donham, who is White, had accused the 14-year-old Till of making improper advances at a family store in Money, Miss., in August 1955 — an ...

Her statement directly contradicted her testimony decades before, when she told a jury that Till had grabbed her waist and said crude things to her. Till’s uncle “led the men throughout his home with flashlights until they found Emmett in a bed, sleeping,” according to the PBS report. “This is what the state of Mississippi needs to go ahead.” You really could go in front of a judge today or tomorrow and get a new arrest warrant if you think, in fact, there is probable cause and suspicion for a crime,” Rychlak said. Although Leflore County District Attorney Joyce Chiles (D) brought the case against Donham before a grand jury in 2007, she declined to indict her for the murder of Till. No one was ever convicted of Till’s slaying. According to accounts, Till allegedly whistled at Donham, then Carolyn Bryant, who worked at the store. “The warrant doesn’t really give us new substantive evidence of her role in this crime, but it does indicate she was a suspect at one time and that a judge determined probable cause to arrest her at one time.” Milam and Bryant are now both dead, but Till’s family and supporters have maintained that Donham should be arrested. Since police never served the warrant, it is possible for law enforcement to still seek her arrest. Donham was married to Roy Bryant, one of the two White men who were acquitted weeks after Till was abducted from a relative’s home, lynched and tossed into a river. The Justice Department announced last December that it had ended its investigation into Till’s lynching. While the documents are sorted by decades, it’s unclear where the warrant, dated Aug. 29, 1955, was located for all these years.

A search group comprised of Till's family members found the warrant charging Carolyn Bryant Donham of kidnapping.

As a law professor at the University of Mississippi, Ronald J. Rychlak points out that arrest warrants can “go stale” due to time and changing circumstances. If the warrant can still be served, Banks said, he would have to talk to law enforcement officers in the state where Donham resides. The Associated Press reports Leflore County Circuit Clerk Elmus Stockstill said the group discovered the warrant last week inside a file folder that had been placed in a box.

Relatives of lynched Black teenager call for woman to be charged with his kidnapping, nearly 70 years after the crime.

If the warrant can still be served, Banks said, he would have to talk to law enforcement officers in the state where Donham resides. But Teri Watts said the Till family believes the warrant accusing Donham of kidnapping amounts to new evidence. Evidence indicates a woman, possibly Donham, identified Till to the men who later killed him.

FILE - An undated portrait of Emmett Louis Till, a black 14 year old Chicago boy, whose weighted down body was found in the Tallahatchie River near the ...

Bryant and Milam were acquitted of murder but later admitted the killing in a magazine interview. Donham testified in court that Till also grabbed her and made a lewd comment. Two nights later, Donham’s then-husband, Roy Bryant, and his half-brother, J.W. Milam, showed up armed at the rural Leflore County home of Till’s great-uncle, Mose Wright, looking for the youth. But Teri Watts said the Till family believes the warrant accusing Donham of kidnapping amounts to new evidence. If the warrant can still be served, Banks said, he would have to talk to law enforcement officers in the state where Donham resides. Evidence indicates a woman, possibly Donham, identified Till to the men who later killed him.

Relatives of the slain teen are calling on officials to arrest Carolyn Bryant Donham as an accessory.

Teri Watts believes the warrant amounts to new evidence. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Days later, Emmett was kidnapped from a relative's home, beaten severely, and mutilated before being shot.