Wayne Chessman News Today

Congress has empowered the Justice Department to investigate unsolved killings of the civil rights era, but 120 DOJ investigations have closed without new federal charges, Bloomberg Law found. The cold case inquiries were hindered by lost evidence, dead witnesses, and weak civil rights era laws.

BILOXI, Miss. — It was Lee Cody’s dream to become a police officer and a detective. After his stint with the Coast Guard, he did just that, joining the Duval County Sheriff’s Office. On March 23, 1964, he was assigned to investigate the murder of 34-year-old Johnnie Mae Chappell of Jacksonville. But what he really learned was, they didn’t want the case solved at all. “It’s been a terrible, terrible, terrible pain in my heart for many years that the truth was never told and they got ...