FBI Searching For Relatives In Civil Rights Cold Cases

The FBI needs help finding relatives who may have critical information about their loved ones civil rights cold cases.
The agency is re-examining more than 100 unsolved killings from that era. But they are unable to find family members for 33 of these victims.
Authorities say the 11 unsolved killings of black men in Mississippi dates from 1956 through 1965.
The FBI hopes publicizing their names and circumstances of their deaths will lead them to next of kin who may have important information.
“It’s for history I think that history needs to bear out the truth in what happened in these cases,” says Cynthia Deitle, the FBI’s Civil Rights Unit Chief.

Below is the list of the 11 Mississippi civil rights cold cases from 1956 through 1965:

Eli Brumfield: Eli Brumfield was stopped for speeding in McComb, Mississippi, on October 13, 1961. When Brumfield allegedly jumped from his car with knife, he was shot and killed by the police officer.

Silas Ernest Caston: Silas Ernest Caston was shot and killed by a law enforcement officer in Hinds County, Mississippi, on March 1, 1964.

Jimmie Lee Griffin: Jimmie Lee Griffin's body was discovered on a local highway near Sturgis, Mississippi, on September 24, 1965.

Ernest Jells: Ernest Jells was shot to death on October 20, 1963, in Clarksdale, Mississippi, by a police officer after Jells allegedly pointed a rifle at officers who were attempting to arrest him for stealing a banana from a local grocery store.

William Henry Lee, aka, John Patrick Lee: Lee's body was discovered near railroad tracks in Rankin County, Mississippi, on February 25, 1965. Lee may have walked away from his disabled vehicle to seek assistance.

George Love: George Love was shot and killed near Ruleville, Mississippi, on January 8, 1958, by police officers after Love allegedly shot and seriously wounded a Ruleville night marshal who sought to question Love about a robbery.

Neimiah Montgomery: Neimiah Montgomery stopped at a gas station on August 10, 1964, in Cleveland, Mississippi, and asked the attendant to put gas in his car. Montgomery allegedly refused to pay for the gas and attacked the attendant. A police officer shot and killed Montgomery when he arrived on the scene.

Jessie James Shelby: Jessie Shelby was shot and killed by a police officer in Yazoo City, Mississippi, on January 21, 1956.

Ollie Shelby: Ollie Shelby was shot and killed on January 22, 1965, while he was incarcerated in the Hinds County Jail in Mississippi.

Ed Smith: Ed Smith was allegedly shot and killed on April 27, 1958, in State Line, Mississippi.

Isaiah Taylor: Isaiah Taylor was shot and killed on June 26, 1964 in Ruleville, Mississippi, by a police officer following a traffic stop.

Source: FBI