Justice for all

On May 2, 1964, Charles Moore & Henry Dee, 19, were hitchhiking along a rural Mississippi road. Charles Moore (pictured at left) was a college student and Henry Dee worked at a local lumber yard. As they were walking, they were picked up by several members of the Ku Klux Klan. They were bound, beat and thrown alive into the Mississippi River.

While looking for missing three civil rights workers in July of 1964, searchers stumbled upon the lower half of a young black man's body. Partial remains of another man are found the next day. The men are later identified as Moore & Dee. Oh, and the bodies of the missing civil rights workers were also found in August. They had also been murdered.

Arrested in the Moore & Dee case were two men, James Seale then 29; and Charles Edwards, 31. The FBI reports that both Edwards & Seale admit to picking up the two boys and beat them but left them alive. The FBI turns over their findings to local authorities who promptly drop all charges.

The case was reopened in 2000 because FBI documents state that part of the crime took place in a National Forest; making this a federal crime.

Prosecutors have trouble finding Seale because his son, as intelligent as his father, tells authorities that he is dead. Come to find out, he's alive and well and living a few miles from where the crime was committed.

James Seale was finally arrested on January 24, 2007 and is now standing trial for the kidnap, beating and murder of young Charles Moore & Henry Dee. The case should be concluded in the next few days. I will update the blog when I hear the verdict.

I am thankful for justice, no matter how long in coming.