Emmett Till’s Cousin Speaks In St. Paul, Marking What Would Be His 80th Birthday CBS Minnesota 3 hrs ago Syndicated Local – WCCO | CBS Minnesota MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — The family of a young boy whose brutal murder shocked the nation is remembering him on his birthday. Emmett Till was murdered in 1955 in the Mississippi Delta after being accused of making sexual advances on a white woman. He was just 14 at the time. Sunday, the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation hosted remembrance ceremonies around the country because it would have been Till’s 80th birthday. Deborah Watts, Till’s cousin, spoke at Minnesota’s ceremony, held outside the governor’s residence in St. Paul.