March 1981 News Today

>> lynching is a tool to control and oppress black people. >> racialized violence is as old as the constitution. >> klans are not running around with white sheets over their head, but its still happening. >> today, people are horrified of the police. its the modern day lynching. >> what are we going to do about it? we move forward with people deciding im bold enough, and im going to make it change. >> beulah mae donald took on one of the most violent criminal organizations in the unite...

who did she see? just want to know what happened to my sister. >> a young mother is missing and a case gone cold. >> it was so important to me to know the truth behind that evening. >> then, detectives had and aha moment to solve the case, they return to something you probably use every day. facebook. >> why dont you establish a facebook account? i thought that could accomplish a great deal. >> and thats when everything started to change. >> something happened to her. >> in court, youl...

>> a young mother is missing and a case gone cold. >> it was so important to me to know the truth behind that evening. >> then, detectives had an aha moment to solve the case, they return to something you probably use every day. facebook. >> why dont you establish a facebook account? i thought that could accomplish a great deal. >> and thats when everything started to change. >> something happened to her. >> in court, youll see it all come pouring out. a hidden crime and a sons heart p...

Me a -- few minutes or few days o ill cooperate when i come back. >> but when he came back, he did not give them anything and they were right back where they started. suspicion, sure, but no evidence of a crime. no way to even prove carroll was dead. jim wallace was a detective who finally hit on the idea, to use a tool that did not exist when carroll left her husband on march 1981. >> coming up, a dramatic turning case and fresh heartbreak for carrolls family. >> another night mount up of the f...

>> living in mobile was a quiet town. its nothing but old trees. but after march 1981, it was kind of, like, creepy to me to just look at the trees. the hurt is still there. the hurt my mom went through, i just visualize her face and i go, like, i cant talk about it today. my mama, beulah mae donald, was a quiet woman. she was a good-hearted person. all the neighborhoods that we have lived in, everybody loved her. >> mrs. donald was a very well-liked person because of her

Chair if convicted of killing a young black man, michael donald. >> the two or three times that i paid any attention to henry, he appeared to be scared to death, justifiably so, cause the ship was sinking. every witness i put on was another nail in his coffin. >> when tiger knowles told the story, i think everybody was just so amazed, cause if it hadnt been for him, we never would have known. >> testifying for the prosecution, james "tiger" nowles, pointed at his fellow ku klux klansman, henry h...

Would have known. >> testifying for the prosecution, james "tiger knowles, pointed at his fellow ku klux klansman, henry hays, and said that together, they killed 19-year-old michael donald in march, 1981, because he was black. >> the klan wanted the message to get back to the black people of not just of alabama, of the whole united states, that we would not stand for a black person killing a white police officer and getting away with it, especially in alabama. we had gotten the rope, and we got...

Head, but its still happening. >> today people are horrified to have had police. its the modern day lynching. >> what are we going to do about it? we move forward with people deciding im bold enough and im going make it change. >> beulah mae donald took on one of the most violent criminal organizations in the united states. >> this is an incredible story of courage. >> the body of a black man has been found hanging from a tree in mobile, alabama. >> living in mobile was a quiet town. it is nothi...

Out on her family never came back, he decided it was a surprise time for a surprise visit to michael lubahn. >> he invited us in, we did catch him unexpectedly, but that was the plan. >> but was mike upset or thrown off? not at all. >> very nice like i anticipated he would be because ive now heard from everyone in the family how mics a good guy. >> so, together, they went over again over the details of that last night back in march 1981. and right away, mike remembered a little more about the ni...

>> what were the secrets in the mist? >> reporter: january, point vicente, california. the wet, gray cold has settled in to stay. at noon a police boat sets off into the pea soup fog. a hail mary pass, apparently a slim chance to find the truth at last. but why out there? why after all these lost 30 years? maybe some cases are destined to stay cold, easier that way, before they came along with their wild ideas about murder and facebook, of all things. and now this. their doomed errand into the f...