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Raleigh woman at the center of unserved warrant linked to Emmett Till's death

She's nearing 90 years old, but allegations of her ties to the kidnapping and murder from nearly 7 decades ago have recently bubbled up.

Posted Updated

By
Chelsea Donovan
, WRAL reporter
RALEIGH, N.C. — A team searching a Mississippi courthouse basement for evidence about the 1955 lynching of Black teenager Emmett Till found an unserved warrant.

It charges the white woman he's accused of whistling at, with his kidnapping.

That woman, Carolyn Bryant Donham, is still alive and lives in Raleigh.

She's nearing 90 years old, but allegations of her ties to the kidnapping and murder from nearly 7 decades ago have recently bubbled up.

The arrest warrant against Donham was issued some 67 years ago but authorities in Mississippi told reporters they did not want to “bother” the woman since she had two young children to care for.

WRAL News unsuccessfully attempted to contact Donham on Friday, who reportedly lives in a nursing home facility.

National civil rights activist Johnathan Barnett stood before the Wake County courthouse Friday pleading for justice in Till's lynching death.

"Does whistling justify death?" Barnett asked. "The blood is on your hands if you don’t do anything about this."

Donham's first husband and another relative were tried and acquitted of the teen's kidnapping, torture and death by an all-white jury

Barnett is urging authorities to arrest the 87-year-old Donham now because of the unserved warrant.

Tim Tyson, a Duke scholar, is the only historian or journalist to ever talk to Donham back in 2008. His interview spawned a book which in turn reopened the cold case of Till's death.

"I don’t think a 60-year-old arrest warrant never served amounts to much legally," Tyson said. "She told me that nothing that boy did could justify what happened to him."

Tyson said she did admit to lying on the stand.

"Statute of limitations for perjury is two years," Tyson said. "She's been cleared since 1957."

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Tyson said he's pleased that there is a continued yearning for justice in this case, which he calls the most notorious racial incident of our time. However, he believes Donham will stay elusive and quiet.

"She wasn’t in any emotional or cognitive shape to do any more interviews," Tyson said.

As for the 1955 arrest warrant being served in Wake County where Donham still lives?

The district attorney said the prosecuting authorities in Mississippi must request a fugitive warrant be issued and be extradited before she or law enforcement officers in Wake County can take action.

There is no statute for limitations on murder in the state of Mississippi.

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