*Members of the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation have discovered an unserved arrest warrant for the woman responsible for the death of 14-year-old Emmitt Till in 1955.
Till was visiting family in Mississippi when he was accused by a white woman named Carolyn Bryant Donham of whistling at her inside a grocery store. Till was kidnapped and viciously beaten for the alleged act, and his body was dumped in the Tallahatchie River.
Bryant’s then-husband, Roy Bryant, and his half-brother J.W. Milam were charged with Till’s murder and an all-white jury acquitted them of the crime. The two men later confessed to the killing in a paid magazine interview.
Till’s mother, Mamie Till, allowed Jet Magazine to publish pictures of his mangled body in an effort to show the world what the racist white men had done to her only child.
READ MORE: Family of Emmett Till Wants White Female Accuser Charged with Kidnapping
Donham, who is alive despite popular belief that she died years ago, was named in the original arrest warrant 67 years ago but was never arrested or brought to trial following the lynching of Till. As reported by NPR, there is no evidence that the kidnapping warrant was ever dismissed.
As reported by Complex, the newly unearthed arrest warrant—dated Aug. 29, 1955—charges Donham with Till’s kidnapping. Per the report, “The foundation found the document in a Mississippi courthouse basement and had it certified by a local county clerk,” the outlet writes.
After President Joe Biden signed the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act, Till’s family called for authorities to launch a kidnapping prosecution against Donham.
“This warrant is a stepping stone toward that,” Jaribu Hill, a lawyer representing the family previously told ABC News. “Because warrants do not expire, we want to see that warrant served on her.”
After the warrant was discovered, Till’s second cousin Teri Watts said “Serve it and charge her. This is what the state of Mississippi needs to go ahead.”
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