In
2001, David T. Beito, associate professor at the
University of Alabama and
Linda Royster Beito, chair of the department of social sciences at
Stillman College, were the first investigators in many decades to track down and interview on tape two key principals in the case:
Henry Lee Loggins and
Willie Reed. They were doing research for their biography of
T.R.M. Howard. In his interview with the Beitos, Loggins denied that he had any knowledge of the crime or that he was one of the black men on the truck outside of the equipment shed near Drew. Reed repeated his testimony at the trial that he had seen three black men and four white men (including
J.W. Milam) on the truck. When asked to identify the black men, however, he did not name Loggins as one of them. The Beitos also confirmed that
Levi 'Too-Tight' Collins, another black man allegedly on this car, had died in
1993.
In
1996, Keith Beauchamp started background research for a
feature film he planned to make about Till's murder, and asserted that as many as 14 individuals may have been involved. While conducting interviews he also encountered eyewitnesses who had never spoken out publicly before. As a result he decided to produce a
documentary instead, and spent the next nine years creating
The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till. The film led to calls by the
NAACP and others for the case to be reopened. The documentary included lengthy interviews with Loggins and Reed, both of whom the Beitos had first tracked down and interviewed in
2001. Loggins repeated his denial of any knowledge of the crime. Beauchamp has consistently refused to name the fourteen individuals who he asserts took part in the crime, including the five who he claims are still alive.
On
May 10, 2004, the
United States Department of Justice announced that it was reopening the case to determine whether anyone other than Milam and Bryant was involved. Although the
statute of limitations prevented charges being pursued under federal law, they could be pursued before the state court, and the
Federal Bureau of Investigation and officials in Mississippi worked jointly on the investigation. As no
autopsy had been performed on Till's body, it was
exhumed on
May 31, 2005 from the suburban Chicago cemetery where it was buried, and the
Cook County coroner then conducted the autopsy. The body was reburied by relatives on
June 4. It has been positively identified as that of Emmett Till.
In February 2007, the Jackson
Clarion-Ledger reported that both the FBI and a Leflore County Grand Jury, which was empaneled by Joyce Chiles, a black prosecutor, had found no credible basis for
Keith Beauchamp's claim that 14 individuals took part in Till's abduction and murder or that any are still alive. The Grand Jury also decided not to pursue charges against Carolyn Bryant Donham, Roy Bryant's ex wife. Neither the FBI nor the Grand Jury found any credible evidence that Henry Lee Loggins, now living in an Ohio nursing home, and identified by Beauchamp as a suspect who could be charged, had any role in the crime. Other than Loggins, Beauchamp still refuses to name the 14 people who he says were involved although the FBI and District Attorney have completed their investigations of his charges and he is free to go on the record. A story by Jerry Mitchell in the
Clarion-Ledger on February 18 describes Beauchamp's allegation that 14 or more were involved as a "legend."
The same article also labels as "legend" a rumor that Till had endured castration at the hands of his victimizers. The castration theory was first put forward uncritically in Beauchamp's "Untold Story" although Mamie Till-Mobley (Emmett's mother) had said in an earlier documentary directed by
Stanley Nelson, "The Murder of Emmett Till," (2003) that her son's genitals were intact when she examined the corpse. The recent autopsy, as reported by Mitchell, confirmed Mobley-Till's original account and showed no evidence of castration.
In March 2007, Till's family was briefed by the FBI on the contents of its investigation. The FBI report released on March 29, 2007 found that Till died of a gunshot wound to the head and that he had broken wrist bones and skull and leg fractures.
