Grand jury declines to indict Carolyn Bryant Donham, the woman whose accusations led to the death of Emmett Till - CNN

A Leflore County grand jury last week heard seven hours of testimony from investigators and witnesses but said there was insufficient evidence to indict Carolyn Bryant Donham on charges of kidnapping and manslaughter, according to a statement from District Attorney Dewayne Richardson.

The grand jury heard the testimony from witnesses detailing the investigation of the case from 2004 to the present day and considered both charges, according to the statement.

"After hearing every aspect of the investigation and evidence collected regarding Donham's involvement, the Grand Jury returned a 'No Bill' to the charges of both Kidnapping and Manslaughter," the statement said.

But they were both acquitted of murder by an all-White jury following a trial in which Carolyn Bryant testified that Emmett grabbed and verbally threatened her.

Bryant Donham is in her late 80s.

In 2007, a Mississippi grand jury declined to indict Bryant Donham on charges.

And according to archived FBI documents, Milam and Roy Bryant were arrested on a kidnapping charge in 1955, but a grand jury failed to indict them.

"The original court, District Attorney, and investigative records related to the 1955 investigation have been apparently lost," the FBI said in a 2006 report.

Bryant Donham testified in 1955 that Emmett grabbed her hand, her waist and propositioned her, saying he had been with "White women before." But years later, when professor Timothy Tyson raised that trial testimony in a 2008 interview with Bryant Donham, he claimed she told him, "That part's not true."

The prospect that the woman at the center of Emmett's case had recanted her testimony -- which the US Justice Department said in a memo would contradict statements she made during the state trial in 1955 and later to the FBI -- sparked calls for authorities to investigate the case anew.