Carolyn Bryant Donham was given preferential treatment by Mississippi authorities after her encounter with Till resulted in his lynching.
Donham said in a 2008 memoir made public last month that an officer passed along word that relatives would take her and her two young sons away from home after she was accused of abducting Till. The sheriff claimed Donham couldn't be found for an arrest.
She said in the manuscript that she and her sister-in-law were taken to the lockup by two men with the sheriff's office. The men were allowed to attend a family dinner without security.
I was surprised. They were released from jail and came to eat supper with us. Donham said she didn't know who dropped them off or who picked them up, but they had a great evening together.
Now that a Mississippi grand jury has decided not to indict Donham for the murder of Till, relatives of the boy and activists pushing for her prosecution are frustrated.
They wonder if Donham is still being protected despite the new evidence against her.
That's right.
Carolyn Donham has not commented publicly on the recent decision against new charges. Her memoir was made public by a historian who said he obtained it during an interview years ago. It's not clear if the grand jurors considered the contents of the autobiography when they decided not to indict her.
In the 99-page memoir, Donham said Till walked into the family-owned store where she was minding the counter on the day she was killed. Roy Bryant and his half brother, J.W. Milam, were not around that day.
Donham testified at the murder trial that she was grabbed and made lewd comments. She told The Associated Press that he whistled in the only part of her story that was supported by her cousin and witness.
There was evidence that a woman identified a youth for the two armed white men who kidnapped him. Donham was named in a kidnapping warrant along with Bryant and Milam, despite denying in the memoir that she tried to help Till. Police knew where Donham was at some point during the time, but she wasn't arrested.
She was spirited away with the knowledge of officers and shuffled between homes by the Bryant family. The two men were found not guilty of Till's murder. There have been no charges or trials since the kidnapping charges were dropped.
Bryant and Milam admitted to their crimes in an interview with Look magazine.
Donham said in the memoir that she didn't know there was a warrant for her arrest until an FBI agent told her.
The warrant was hidden in the basement of a Mississippi courthouse until June, when members of the Till family discovered it. They didn't tell Donham there was a warrant when he was killed.
She said she wasn't arrested or charged with anything.
Why not is a nagging question for some people.
That's right.
The decision not to indict Donham was not made by the grand jurors who voted against the new charges, but by a system that has been around for a long time, according to a film maker who helped find the warrant.
Mississippi law enforcement, which was all-white at the time of the killing, allowed Donham to avoid justice in a misguided quest to protect "white womanhood."
An impulse allowed this woman to go untouched for 67 years, according to the writer and producer of the upcoming movie "Till."
District Attorney Dewayne Richardson did not mention race or womanhood in his announcement of the grand jury's decision. He said in a statement that members of the panel were presented with testimony from people who were involved in the Till investigation.
There was not enough evidence to indict Donham, according to Richardson, who is black.
They weren't happy with the decision.
The state of Mississippi promised my family and I that they would do everything in their power to get justice for my cousin. He said that they kept their promise by bringing the new evidence to the grand jury.
Hundreds of years of anti-Black systems can't be undone by one person, but they can be undone by the prosecutor's work.
That's right.
The fate of Carolyn Donham may never be determined by a grand jury.
In less than two decades, at least three investigations have ended without charges. Several people believed to have been involved in the case are dead. Donham is the only one who is still at risk of being arrested.
Dale Killinger, a retired FBI agent who investigated the Till case, said that the Till family and others have promised to keep pushing for a prosecution of Donham.
Killinger said in an interview that there is a chance that there is more evidence out there.
It's not clear if anyone with a Badge is looking for it. The Justice Department decided not to prosecute the case before Richardson announced the grand jury had decided against charges.
Donham apologized to Till's family for the pain they had suffered. She portrayed herself as a victim of the crime because she stopped trusting strangers and has been hounded by the media for decades.
Enough is sufficient for some.
Donham has suffered for what happened to Till, even though she didn't pay the price that some wanted her to pay. Anyone who says otherwise is not telling the truth. After the grand jury decision was announced, the newspaper in Leflore County said it was time to let her be.
Even without anyone being convicted in the killing, some justice may have been served.
Ms. Donham has not been arrested. I don't think she's had a good life. She has to face the atrocities that have come because of her actions every day.
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