U.S. Department of Justice

Federal Bureau of Investigation

100 W. Capitol Street
Suite 1553
Jackson, Mississippi 39269

Contact: Deborah Madden
(601) 948-5000

For Immediate Release
March 16, 2006

John G. Raucci, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Mississippi, announced as follows:

The FBI has completed its investigation into the murder of Emmett Till, a 14 year-old African-American, who was kidnaped and killed in rural Mississippi in 1955. The FBI has reported the results of that investigation to Joyce Chiles, the District Attorney for the Fourth Judicial District of Mississippi.

The information developed by the FBI in its exhaustive investigation confirmed the Department of Justice's earlier conclusion that the five-year statute of limitations on any potential federal criminal civil rights violation has expired, thereby precluding federal prosecution of this case.

This is an ongoing local criminal investigation in Mississippi. Therefore, the FBI can make no further comment at this time regarding the status of the local investigation or the results of its investigation. The FBI is committed to investigating any unresolved civil rights era crime to the extent permitted by the limits of federal law.