The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has announced the next phase of their Civil Rights Cold Case Initiative. They are seeking next-of-kin in thirty-three cases to let families know what happened to their loved ones and to possibly obtain additional investigative information.
The cases were announced this past Wednesday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana by FBI Civil Rights Unit Chief Cynthia Deitle, along with cold case documentary filmmaker Keith Beauchamp.
The cold case initiative has been in progress since 2007, and the FBI has located victims’ families in seventy-five cases, enabling them to investigate and assess each one. To date, three of the 108 cases have been referred for state prosecution. In other cases, no charges may be filed for several reasons, among them:
- deceased suspects (47 percent of cases);
- individuals who were already tried in state court and can’t be prosecuted again in federal court because of double jeopardy;
- deceased witnesses and old evidence that’s been destroyed; or
- deaths that weren’t racially-motivated homicides (19 percent).
One cold case that was prosecuted at the federal level includes the 1964 murders of Henry Dee and Charles Moore. Another case that the FBI is pursuing is the 1964 murder of Frank Morris. The latter case is providing a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and indictment of those responsible for Morris’s death.
To learn more about the Civil Rights Cold Case Initiative and the FBI list of cases, visit http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/seekinfo/civilrightsnextofkin.htm
