Edgar Ray Killen Interview; 'Mississippi Burning' Inspiration Refuses to Confess to Triple Homicide
The man behind the real-life story of "Mississippi Burning" has opened up for the first time since 2005 but refused to confess to the triple murder that sparked national outrage.
Edgar Ray Killen, 89, was found guilty of the 1964 murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, young men working for civil rights. In 2005, Killen was put on trial and found guilty, then sentenced to 60 years behind bars, which he has been serving in Mississippi. The three young men were working together for civil rights, investigating the latest burning of a black church just outside Philadelphia when they were stopped by police and accused of speeding.
The police took the three into the Neshoba County jail, and what took place next is something Killen refuses to admit to. Witnesses testified that Killen rounded up members of the Klan in order to intercept the young men after they left the jail. Their bodies were found 44 days later, buried in a dam made of red clay.
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Killen was once known as "Preacher" for his work preaching at a Baptist church in east Mississippi. He had friends throughout the state but now he is completely alone in prison.
"They don't come; they don't ask about him," his wife Betty Jo told the Associated Press.
The octogenarian was once a powerful leader within the Ku Klux Klan but today renounces those accusations but does admit to knowing people within the clan. He also told the AP that he had received threats from black prisoners but had never been harmed. He still believes that the races should be kept apart, though.
The case helped spur change throughout the nation, as calls for justice arose and support for the young men grew. Killen managed to elude police, though, until he was tried for federal conspiracy in 1967. He was not convicted with any wrongdoing and stayed off the radar until 2005, when a new attorney general, intense media coverage, and groups urged authorities to take another look at the case. While Killen was never accused of directly murdering the young men, the allegation that he orchestrated the event led to his conviction.
"Mississippi Burning," released in 1988 and starring Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe, won an Oscar for best cinematography. It helped bring the case to the forefront and presented a strong story of the struggle to obtain civil rights.
