Emmett Till: Disgusting Murder of a 14-Year-Old Boy

Last week’s case of Mary Winkler, the woman who shotgunned her minister husband to death was bad enough. But this week our case is especially heartbreaking. It is the racially motivated murder of a 14-year-old boy, Emmett Till. And the killers got away with it.

Who Was Emmett Till?

Emmett Till’s mother, Mamie, moved from Webb, Mississippi to Argo, Illinois with her family when she was ten years old. They were part of the Great Migration of African Americans from the rural South to the urban Northeast, Midwest, and West. By the time Emmett was born in 1941, his parents were living on Chicago’s South Side.

Mamie Till Bradley took this iconic photo of Emmett Till at Chrsitmas 1954 when Emmett was 13
Mamie Till Bradley took this iconic photo of Emmett Till at Chrsitmas 1954 when Emmett was 13

Emmet grew up in Chicago, except for a brief stay in Detroit when his mother remarried. A bout with polio at age six left him with a persistent stutter. By the time he turned 14 in the summer of 1955, his family described him as a fun-loving teenager.

Emmett Visits Money, Mississippi

Mamie Till Bradley had an uncle, Mose Wright, a sharecropper who was also a part-time minister. Wright lived in the tiny community of Money, Mississippi. When the uncle visited Mamie in Chicago in 1955, his stories of the Delta region of Mississippi intrigued young Emmett. He decided he wanted to see the area for himself and persuaded Mamie to let him visit his great-uncle there.

Emmett Till at age 13
Emmett Till at age 13

Before he left for Money, Mamie cautioned Emmett that Chicago and Mississippi were two entirely different worlds. She told him he needed to know how to behave in front of whites in the South. Emmett assured her he understood.

Emmett arrived in Money on August 21, 1955, a Sunday. On Wednesday, August 24, Emmett and his cousin, Curtis Jones, skipped the church service where Mose Wright was preaching. Instead, they joined some local boys and went to Bryant’s Grocery and Meat Market to buy candy. It was a fateful decision.

Encounter at Bryant’s Grocery

Bryant’s Grocery mostly served the local sharecroppers. Its owners were a white couple, Roy and Carolyn Bryant. When Emmett and his friends arrived at the store, 21-year-old Carolyn Bryant was alone in the front of the store. In the back of the store, her sister-in-law watched children.

Bryant's Grocery and Meat Market ca. 1955
Bryant’s Grocery and Meat Market ca. 1955

Accounts of what happened at the store differ depending on who’s telling the story. In some versions, Emmett wolf-whistled at Carolyn Bryant. This would have been a bold and dangerous step for a black man (or boy) in Mississippi in 1955. However, if he did whistle, it may have been to overcome his stutter. His mother had taught him that technique to help him with his articulation.

What's left of Bryant's Grocery and Meat Market in 2009 (L) and 2018 (R, photo by Eames Heard)
What’s left of Bryant’s Grocery and Meat Market in 2009 (L) and 2018 (R, photo by Eames Heard)

In court, Carolyn Bryant testified that Emmett asked her for a date. Then he allegedly grabbed her hand then her waist before muttering obscenities and bragging he’d “been with white women before.” She then testified that one of the boys with Emmett grabbed his arm and ordered him out of the store. However, Emmett’s cousin, Simeon Wright said that he entered the store less than a minute after Till and saw no inappropriate behavior. Emmett paid for his purchases, then he and Simeon left the store together.

Carolyn Bryant was 21 in 1955
Carolyn Bryant was 21 in 1955

Emmett Till Kidnapped and Murdered

In the early morning hours of Sunday, August 28, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam drove to Mose Wright’s house. Bryant was, of course, Carolyn Bryant’s husband and Milam was his half-brother. They forced Emmett to dress, then took him from the house.

Like the encounter at the grocery, there are differing versions of what happened next. Bryant and Milam later claimed they had only intended to beat up Emmett and throw him into a river to frighten him. However, according to their story, Emmett called them bastards and made other offensive remarks. But regardless of what did happen, no one saw Emmett Till alive again.

Three days after the abduction, two boys fishing in the Tallahatchie River found Emmet’s body. He’d been severely beaten and shot behind the right ear. His body had a 70-pound cotton gin fan tied around his neck with barbed wire.

Mamie Till Bradley demanded that authorities return Emmet’s body to Chicago instead of burying him in Mississippi. Despite advice to the contrary, she also insisted on a public, open-casket funeral so the world could see what had happened to her boy.

Mamie Till Bradley mourns at the funeral of her son, Emmett Till
Mamie Till Bradley mourns at the funeral of her son, Emmett Till

Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam went on trial for murder in September 1955 in the Tallahatchie County seat of Sumner. Two hundred eighty spectators crowded the tiny courtroom, including many members of the press. The trial lasted for five days but it only took the jury 67 minutes to acquit both Bryant and Milam of the murder charges. One juror said, “If we hadn’t stopped to drink pop, it wouldn’t have taken that long.” No one else ever stood trial for Emmett Till’s murder.

J.W. Milam (L) and Roy Bryant (R) sit with their wives in the courtroom in Sumner, Mississippi on September 23, 1955.
J.W. Milam (L) and Roy Bryant (R) sit with their wives in the courtroom in Sumner, Mississippi on September 23, 1955.

Epilogue

The murder of Emmett Till played a significant role in igniting the civil rights movement. Rosa Parks attended a rally for Emmett Till in Montgomery, Alabama. Soon after, she refused to move to a seat in the back of a Montgomery city bus. That action was the beginning of the Montgomery bus boycott.

In 1956, Look magazine published an interview William Bradford Huie conducted with Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam. In the interview, the pair confessed to murdering Emmett Till. However, because of the constitutional protection against double jeopardy, authorities were powerless to try them again. Civil rights laws used in similar situations a decade later didn’t exist in 1955.

In 2017, author Timothy Tyson claimed that, in a 2008 interview, Carolyn Bryant (now Donham) said that her trial testimony was untrue. But her recantation is not on Tyson’s tape of the interview. Also, Donham’s daughter-in-law, who was present for the two interviews, said Carolyn never recanted. Whether she did or didn’t recant remains a mystery.

Timothy Tyson included his interviews with Donham in his book The Blood of Emmett Till, which helped spark renewed interest in the case. It is one of the more recent books on the case, as is Elliot Gorn’s Let the People See: The Story of Emmett Till.

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Mary Winkler: Wrist Slap in an Amazing Murder Case

Last week’s case was the mysterious disappearance (and presumed murder) of candy heiress Helen Brach. This week’s case takes us to Tennessee where, in 2006, Mary Winkler killed her minister husband with a shotgun blast. The crime may have been straightforward, but the resulting court case was anything but.

Mary and Matthew Winkler

Mary Carol Freeman met Matthew Winkler in 1993 when both were students at Freed-Hardeman University. Freed-Hardeman, in Henderson, Tennessee is a school affiliated with the Church of Christ. Matthew was popular and had charisma; Mary was quiet but displayed a winning smile. The couple married in 1996.

The Winklers shortly before Matthew's murder (AP/Tennessee Bureau of Investigations)
The Winklers shortly before Matthew’s murder (AP/Tennessee Bureau of Investigations)

Ten years later, Matthew was the pulpit pastor of the Fourth Street Church of Christ in Selmer, Tennessee. Selmer is a small town in the southwestern corner of the state and close to the border with Mississippi. Even though small, Selmer is the seat of McNairy County.

Rev. Matthew Winkler
Rev. Matthew Winkler

Murder of Matthew Winkler

On March 22, 2006, Rev. Winkler failed to show up for a Wednesday evening church service. Church members who went to his home to investigate found him dead on the floor of his bedroom. He’d been killed by a shotgun blast to the back that lodged 77 pellets in his body.

The Winklers lived in this house when Matthew was killed (By DoxTxob at the English Wikipedia)
The Winklers lived in this house when Matthew was killed (By DoxTxob at the English Wikipedia)

Mary Winkler and the couple’s three daughters were missing, so authorities issued an Amber Alert. Two days later, police arrested Mary in the parking lot of a Winn-Dixie grocery store in Orange Beach, Alabama. The arresting officers described Mary as “stoic” and having a “blank look on her face.”

Questioned by investigators, Mary said she and her husband had been arguing over money. She claimed not to remember retrieving the shotgun she admitted knowing her husband kept in the house. The next thing she heard, she claimed, was a loud boom.

Mary Winkler on Trial

The State of Tennessee extradited Mary Winkler from Alabama and set her bond at $750,000. At least part of the reason the bond was so high was that she had shot Matthew in the back. Also, he was still alive when she left the house, plus she had disconnected the bedroom phone. With prompt medical attention, he may have survived his wounds.

At the bond hearing, the prosecution claimed that Mary had lost $17,000 in a so-called “Nigerian scam” swindle. During an argument with Matthew over the money, Mary got the shotgun and killed him. Mary contended that, although she wrote the checks and kept the records, she only did what her husband told her to do.

Mary Winkler goes to court flanked by attorney Leslie Ballin (L), investigator Terry Cox, and attorney Steve Farese (R)
Mary Winkler goes to court flanked by attorney Leslie Ballin (L), investigator Terry Cox, and attorney Steve Farese (R)

Mary claimed that she suffered physical, mental, and sexual abuse at Matthew’s hands for years. According to her testimony, Matthew had lately criticized her for the way she walked, ate, and “everything.” She said, “I guess I got to a point and snapped.”

Mary’s trial for first-degree murder began in April 2007. She claimed her husband forced her to wear “slutty” costumes for sex and produced a pair of platform heels and a wig as supposed proof. Apparently, the small-town jury put great stock by this so-called proof because there was an audible gasp in the courtroom. She additionally said she shot her husband accidentally and only retrieved the gun to force Matthew to discuss their problems. However, this was at variance from what she told police immediately after her arrest.

Mary Winkler on the witness stand with the wig and platform heel the jury considered so scandalous.
Mary Winkler on the witness stand with the wig and platform heel the jury considered so scandalous

Epilogue

Incredibly, after eight hours of deliberations, the jury convicted Mary Winkler of voluntary manslaughter instead of murder. On June 8, 2007, a judge sentenced her to a mere 210 days in prison, with credit for the five months she spent in jail before bonding out. The judge allowed her to spend up to 60 days in a mental health facility in Tennessee and was to be on probation for the remainder of the sentence.

Mary Winkler goes on Ophra in 2007 (oprah.com)
Mary Winkler goes on Ophra in 2007 (oprah.com)

This was an incredibly lenient sentence for an incredibly lenient verdict. Regardless of whether her testimony about abuse was true, she shot her husband in the back. Then she left him on the floor to bleed out.

Diane Fanning’s book, The Pastor’s Wife, covers the case (disclaimer: I have not read it).

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Helen Brach: Lost Candy Heiress Leaves a Fortune

Last week we examined the mysterious disappearance of Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa. Hoffa’s is one of the more famous disappearing acts but there are many others. This week, we travel to the Chicago suburb of Glenview, Illinois for the case of Helen Brach. A genuine heiress, Helen vanished into thin air in 1977 following a trip to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

Helen Brach

Helen was born Helen Marie Voorhees in 1911 in the tiny town of Hopedale, Ohio, not far from Steubenville. She married her high school sweetheart in 1928 when she was 16 or 17. The marriage didn’t last, though; the couple divorced by the time she was 21.

Helen Voorhees Brach
Helen Voorhees Brach

Leaving Ohio, Helen found work in a country club in Palm Beach, Florida. There she met Frank Brach, son of Brach Candy Company founder Emil J. Brach and heir to the candy fortune. They married soon after. It was Helen’s second marriage and Frank’s third.

Frank Victor Brach
Frank Victor Brach

Soon after their marriage, the couple built a home near Miami in Fisher Island, Florida. They also bought a second home in Glenview, Illinois to be near the Brach candy factory in Chicago. However, the couple spent most of their time in South Florida. Frank died in 1970, leaving Helen a wealthy widow.

Helen Disappears

In February 1977, Helen checked into the Mayo Clinic for a routine medical checkup. On Friday, February 17, she left the clinic, ostensibly to catch a flight to Chicago. An employ of a gift shop near the clinic was the last independent witness to see Helen Brach. The crew on the commercial flight from Rochester to O’Hare did not recall seeing her on the plane.

The Brach Company building at LaSalle and Illinois in Chicago
The Brach Company building at LaSalle and Illinois in Chicago

In Chicago, however, Brach’s houseman and chauffer, Jack Matlick claimed he picked her up at O’Hare airport and drover her home. Matlick said he spent the next four days doing repairs and odd jobs around the mansion. He then took her back to O’Hare for a flight to Florida.

Jack Matlick
Jack Matlick

The problem with Matlick’s story is that nobody else saw or talked to Helen Brach. Although a focus of police investigation, authorities never charged Matlick with a crime.

Helen Brach’ and the Horse Connection

At the same time Helen Brach disappeared, the FBI was investigating a fraud ring involving thoroughbred horses. Two of the people purportedly involved were Richard Bailey and Silas Jayne. The fraud involved insuring (or over-insuring) horses and then causing their deaths. In all, 36 people were arrested and 35 of them convicted.

Richard Bailey
Richard Bailey

What did this have to do with Helen Brach? Another part of the fraud was bilking wealthy widows by encouraging them to invest in horses. Invariably, they purchasers paid too much, and the horses failed to perform as expected. If the widows suspected they’d overpaid, the fraud ring would kill the horse and assuage the widow with part of the insurance proceeds.

Silas Jayne
Silas Jayne

Helen Brach was a target of the ring. But she eventually figured out what was going on and threatened to report the fraud to the authorities. The conspirators had her killed instead.

Epilogue

Richard Bailey was charged with conspiring to kill Helen. He was acquitted of that charge but convicted of defrauding her and received a 30-year sentence. He was released from prison on July 25, 2019.

Helen Brach
Helen Brach

The horse fraud ring almost certainly caused Helen Brach’s death. Jack Matlick, her houseman/chauffeur probably had some involvement as well. However, authorities never developed sufficient evidence to charge anyone other than Bailey.

The Helen Brach case has been the subject of several books. One of these is Ken Englade’s Hot Blood. Another take on the case, Who Killed the Candy Lady? is by James Ylisela.

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Jimmy Hoffa: Famous Union Boss’s Strange Vanishing Act

Last week, we met the “Son of Sam,” serial killer David Berkowitz. This week, we look at a different kind of case, the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa. The case was probably a murder, but nobody could ever prove that.

Jimmy Hoffa

Jimmy Hoffa was born James Riddle Hoffa in Brazil, Indiana in 1913. His father died when Hoffa was only seven and his mother moved the family to Detroit in 1924. He lived in Detroit for the rest of his life. Young Jimmy quit school at 14, working manual labor jobs to help support his family.

James riddle Hoffa (NY Daily News)
James riddle Hoffa (NY Daily News)

As a teenager, Hoffa worked for a grocery store chain. The job paid poorly, working conditions were terrible, and there was virtually no job security. This inspired him to begin working as a union organizer. In 1932, he left the grocery chain, partly because of his union activities. He then became an organizer for Local 299 in Detroit of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

Mandatory Credit: Photo by AP/REX/Shutterstock (7347466a) HOFFA James R. Hoffa and his wife Josephine pose in this Jan. 29, 1961 photo, location unknown. Nearly 28 years after ex-Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa disappeared, law enforcement officials dug into the ground outside a home in Hampton Township, Mich., to search for evidence, a prosecutor said. Hoffa, father of current Teamsters President James P. Hoffa, disappeared from the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Oakland County's Bloomfield Township in July 1975 HOFFA INVESTIGATION
James R. Hoffa and his wife Josephine pose in January 29, 1961 (AP)

Hoffa and the Teamsters

Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Hoffa was instrumental in the growth of the Teamsters in membership and power. But another factor in the Teamsters’ growth was organized crime. Organized crime often influenced or controlled the trucking unions brought into the Teamsters to grow the union. Hoffa had to accommodate and plan with many gangsters, beginning in the Detroit area.

In 1952, Jimmy Hoffa became a Teamsters vice president after helping Dave Beck win the union’s presidency. By 1957, Beck was under indictment for fraud. Hoffa won the presidency at the Teamsters’ convention in Miami Beach, Florida.

Hoffa in front of Teamsters Headquarters
Hoffa in front of Teamsters Headquarters

Jimmy Hoffa on Trial and In Prison

Hoffa’s first major brush with the law occurred in 1957. He allegedly tried to bribe an aide to the McClellan Committee, which was investigating organized crime. Hoffa denied the charge (and eventually won an acquittal) but the incident sparked a closer look at him. More arrests and indictments followed over the next few weeks.

On March 4, 1964, a Tennessee jury convicted Jimmy Hoffa of jury tampering related to a 1962 conspiracy charge. He received an eight-year sentence and a $10,000 fine. While on bail appealing that conviction, a Chicago court convicted him of conspiracy and three counts of mail fraud. This conviction resulted in an additional sentence of five years.

Hoffa spent the next three years appealing his convictions but was unsuccessful. On March 7, 1967, he entered the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary in Pennsylvania. While in prison, Frank Fitzsimmons became acting president of the Teamsters. Hoffa submitted his resignation as president on June 19, 1971; Fitzsimmons formally won the presidency a month later.

Frank Fitzsimmons testifies before Senate Investigations Subcommittee in 1977
Frank Fitzsimmons testifies before Senate Investigations Subcommittee in 1977

Jimmy Hoffa Vanishes

Less than five years into his 13-year sentence, President Richard Nixon commuted Hoffa’s sentence to time served. He walked out of Lewisburg on December 23, 1971. But the commutation came with a joker. Hoffa couldn’t engage in any union activity until 1980. Nevertheless, he made plans to regain control of the union.

Not everyone wanted Hoffa back. Fitzsimmons, for one, liked being in control of the union. Some of Hoffa’s former Mafia supporters now opposed his return to power. With tensions rising, a “peace meeting” was set up.

The peace meeting was to be at 2:00 p.m. on July 30, 1975. The venue was the Machus Red Fox restaurant in the Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Township. Hoffa was to meet Anthony “Tony Pro” Provenzano and brothers Anthony “Tony Jack” and Vito “Billy Jack” Giacalone. Hoffa left for the Red Fox at 1:15 p.m. Between 2:15 and 2:30, he called his wife, Josephine, to complain that he’d been “stood up.” She never saw or heard from him again.

The Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Township, Michigan. Today another restaurant occupies the building.
The Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Township, Michigan. Today another restaurant occupies the building.

When Hoffa didn’t come home that night, his family raised the alarm the next morning. Hoffa associate Louis Linteau found his unlocked car in the Red Fox parking lot. There was no sign of the car’s owner. Jimmy Hoffa had disappeared.

Epilogue

Intensive investigations by law enforcement, including the FBI, failed to turn up any trace of Jimmy Hoffa. The presumption is he was murdered shortly after the supposed “peace meeting.” But who killed him and where are open to speculation. Several claims and theories have emerged and been debunked.

Perhaps the most bizarre claim was that Hoffa’s body rested in Giants Stadium in New Jersey’s Meadowlands. But the Discovery Channel’s Mythbusters used ground-penetrating radar to examine the stadium. They found no anomalies in scans of section 107 of the stands, the end zone or on the 10-yard line. No human remains turned up when the stadium was demolished in 2010.

The Machus Red Fox is no more, but the building is still an operating restaurant.

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