WASHINGTON (AP) — JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department is ending its investigation into the 1955 lynching of the Black teenager Emmett Till. The announcement came Monday after officials spoke to his relatives. Till was killed after witnesses said he whistled at a white woman in Mississippi. The killing galvanized the civil rights movement after Till’s mother insisted on an open casket. Two men were acquitted by an all-white jury. They died years ago. Officials reopened an investigation after a 2017 book quoted Carolyn Bryant Donham as saying she lied when she claimed Till grabbed her. The Justice Department says there's insufficient evidence to prove Donham ever told the author that any part of her trial testimony was untrue.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
(AP Photo/File)
This undated portrait shows Emmett Till. The government announced the conclusion of an investigation into the brutal slaying of the black teenager that helped spur the civil rights movement more than 60 years ago. Till, who was from Chicago, was abducted and beaten to death hours after he was said to have whistled at a white woman while visiting Mississippi. His body was found in a river days later.

Posted
and last updated
Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.