Watts said that when they found the warrant, she and her daughter, 'cried and hugged each other.'

They discovered the document inside a file folder that had been stored in a box in the basement of LeFlore County Circuit Court in Greenwood, Mississippi. It was found by a five-person search team led by Till's cousin Deborah Watts and her daughter Terri along with members from the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation. Their actions were spurred on by the discovery of an unserved warrant for Donham's arrest. Just three weeks ago, crowds of angry protesters descended on three addresses in Raleigh, North Carolina in which they mistakenly believed her to be living.Ĭhanting black power slogans, they gathered outside two residential addresses and even stormed a nursing facility, unaware that she left the town and the state some months earlier. She stood by silently as he shook his head when asked if he or his mother would speak about Till When approached by, Donham's son answered the door as she stood only a couple of feet behind him. She was last seen in 2004 when she was known to be living in Raleigh, North Carolina.īut to many, this woman is on a par with a Nazi war criminal and the decades have done nothing to dim the horror of what passed or the anger and grief that it spawned. Here she is just an anonymous old lady, living out her final days with her son in the apparent tranquility of a southern backwater town. Donham stood only a couple of feet behind him.Īsked if either would speak about Till and the events that destroyed and re-shaped the worlds of so many, Bryant shook his head while Donham stood by silently. When approached by this week, her son answered the door. Dressed in blue top and khaki slacks, she waited for a visit from her hospice nurse, greeting her at the door and waving her off with her little dog at her feet and the promise of seeing her 'next week.' At times Donham appeared like a ghost, pale and peering out her front door with cloudy eyes, still dressed in her nightgown and robe in the late afternoon.Īt others, she was visibly more engaged. Tubes delivering oxygen loop over her ears and into her nose. She suffers from cancer, is legally blind, and is receiving end of life hospice care in the small, shared apartment - the exact location of which has chosen not to disclose. Her allegations prompted her then-husband and brother-in-law to abduct and kill Till in one of the most barbaric lynchings in US history Published: 20:23 BST, 1 August 2022 | Updated: 22:11 BST, 1 August 2022ĭonham (left) was 21 and then known as Carolyn Bryant, when she accused 14-year-old Emmett Till (right) of whistling at her and making verbal and physical advances during an encounter at her family store in Money, Mississippi on August 24, 1955.

An unserved warrant for Donham's arrest was discovered by a team led by relatives of Till last month, bringing the case back into focusīy Laura Collins, Chief Investigative Reporter, In Kentucky and Daniel Bates and Greg Woodfield For.

Donham's then husband Roy Bryant and his brother John Milam were later tried and acquitted of Till's murder, while she went on to evade charges or any consequences in a case that shocked the world for its brutality.

Till's beaten and mutilated body was thrown in the Tallahatchie River in Mississippi, weighted down with a large fan from a cotton gin, before being pulled out three days later on August 28.

When approached by, Donham stood by silently behind her son, who shook his head when asked if either would speak about Till.

Donham, who was wearing a nasal cannula looped over her ears and into her nose, suffers from cancer, is legally blind, and is receiving end of life hospice care in her home.

Today, she is living in a small apartment community in Kentucky with her son, Thomas Bryant, 71, and their pet shih tzu, as seen in these exclusive photos.

At the time Donham was a 21-year-old married mother-of-two who accused the young black boy of whistling at her - a violation of the South's racist societal codes - at a Mississippi store, setting off his brutal murder.

Carolyn Bryant Donham, now 88, has managed to go unseen since 2004, going on to live a long life - and now spending her final days in apparent tranquility - despite her role in 14-year-old Emmett Till's lynching in 1955.

EXCLUSIVE: White woman, 88, who triggered the lynching of Emmett Till, is seen for the first time in 20 YEARS as she lives out final days cancer-stricken and in hospice care at her Kentucky home

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