Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, the white men who killed Emmett Till, were arrested on August 29, 1955. They stood trial for Till’s murder in September of that year. The all-white, all-male jury deliberated for about an hour before acquitting Bryant and Milam of all charges.
In 2004 the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI reopened the investigation to identify potential co-conspirators. While no criminal charges were filed then, the case was again reopened after Carolyn Bryant Donham, ex-wife of Roy Bryant and the catalyst for Till’s murder, was quoted in a 2017 book as recanting her testimony that the boy had made advances on her. She subsequently told the FBI that she had not recanted, and in 2021 the case was again closed without any new charges.