Suspect in 1964 civil rights worker killings dies

[babylonsister]

Suspect in 1964 civil rights worker killings dies
August 15, 2009


JACKSON, Miss.—Federal authorities will continue to investigate the 1964 Mississippi killings of three civil rights workers -- a case that helped pass landmark legislation -- despite the death of a key suspect, the Justice Department says.

Billy Wayne Posey, 73, died Thursday. Federal investigators were looking into his possible involvement in the June 21, 1964, killings of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, who had been working to register black voters.

Posey's funeral was Saturday in Philadelphia, Miss., the town at the heart of the case.

On Friday afternoon, Alejandro Miyar, a spokesman for the Justice Department, said the death does not "alter our cold-case investigation." He said federal authorities are assisting state investigators who could bring state charges.

Goodman's brother, David Goodman, of New York City, said, "This is still the country of law and order, and the laws are clear. There is no statute of limitations on murder."

The slayings shocked the nation, helped spur passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 and were dramatized in the 1988 movie "Mississippi Burning."

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