he request for a new investigation comes after a recent confession revealed that testimony to acquit his murderers was false.
Decades after the murder of Emmett Till spurred outrage that fueled the beginnings of the civil rights movement, a confession from the woman who defended his murderers has led Till's cousins to call for a new investigation.
In the summer of 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till was bludgeoned to death by two white men who would later go on to brag about the gruesome murder. Till’s crime? Allegedly making a pass at one of the attacker’s wife.
More than 60 years later, the woman at the center of the killing — whose testimony resulted in the acquittal of the two men — has come out to admit that she lied about the extent of Till’s actions.
Carolyn Bryant’s recently said that Till had not, in fact, grabbed her and told her something “unprintable” in regards to what he’d allegedly done “with white women before.” This new information was uncovered in Timothy Tyson’s new book, "The Blood of Emmett Till." Since it was published, two of Till’s relatives have called for a new investigation into his murder.
Till’s cousins, Wheeler Parker and Deborah Watts, are calling for law enforcement to reopen a probe into how exactly Bryant’s husband and brother-in-law murdered Till.
“We know that she has admitted that she lied, and we know that is part of the reason Emmett is no longer with us,” Watts told the AP. “If there is any chance to reopen the case, I hope they will take this opportunity to do it now.”
“I don’t know what else they could investigate,” Parker told the outlet. “(But) if they could bring more truth, I’d say investigate.”
In a statement to AP, Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood did not say whether they will begin a new investigation, but did say that he “will do all the law allows to make sure justice is done.”
