The 1955 murder of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African American from Chicago visiting relatives in Mississippi, sent shock waves across the U.S.
The acquittal of his two killers at trial and their later admission of guilt in a paid magazine story was a further shock.
The brutality of the murder and the blatant disregard for justice were sparks that helped foster the Civil Rights Movement.
Most know the story. On Aug. 24, 1955, Till and some relatives stopped by a store in Money, Miss., for some gum. A white woman, 21-year-old Carolyn Bryant, who owned the store with her husband, was working behind the counter.
Something happened. A few nights later Roy Brant and his half-brother J.W. Milam took Till from his great-uncle's house.
The teen's body was found in the Tallahatchie River tied to a large fan as an anchor. He had been horribly beaten and shot.
The two were arrested. It took an all-white, all-male jury just an hour to find them not guilty. The two later admitted their guilt in an interview with Look magazine, saying they never intended to kill Till, just to beat and scare him. But he defied them, bragged of sexual relations with white women and that angered them.
Now it seems it was all a lie -- as many had suspected over the years.
Carolyn Bryant testified that Till grabbed her and made indecent suggestions.
But an author said the woman at the center of the case gave him an interview several years ago and admitted her testimony was false.
Timothy Tyson, who wrote "The Blood of Emmett Till," says that the woman later known as Carolyn Donham, kept a very low profile over the years, refusing all interviews except for the one she gave him in 2007.
So why was Till targeted and murdered? Exactly what happened in the store that day?
Tyson said she couldn't remember exactly what happened, but there was nothing physical, threatening or sexual in any way.
We will probably never know for sure. Both killers are long dead. And Carolyn Bryant Donham herself died Tuesday in Louisiana at the age of 88.
She was investigated several times by federal and state authorities since the new revelations came out in 2007, but never stood trial on any charge related to the murder of Emmett Till. Most recently, in 2022, a Mississippi grand jury declined to indict her on kidnapping and manslaughter charges.
Speaking Thursday, The Rev. Wheeler Parker Jr., Till's cousin and the last person left alive who was in the house the night he was abducted, offered condolences to Caroline Bryant Donham's family.
"As a person of faith for more than 60 years, I recognize that any loss of life is tragic and don't have any ill will or animosity toward her," he said.
Caroline Bryant Donham did not have to account for her actions in this life. Whether or not she will have to do so in the next is up to a higher power.