Emmett Till’s Accuser Dies—Along With Any Last Chance of Justice

Carolyn Bryant Donham, the white woman who accused Emmett Till—a 14-year-old Black boy—of “wolf-whistling” at her in 1955, ending with his abduction, torture and fatal shooting, has died without facing punishment for her role in the lynching.

Donham died on Tuesday at 88, CNN reported, citing a coroner. She’d reportedly been battling cancer and died in hospice care in Louisiana.

Her death closes one of the darkest chapters in U.S. history. Donham was the last surviving person involved in Till’s slaughter, and represented the last chance for Till’s extended family to finally receive justice for his murder.