A Louisiana man accused of shooting to death five people, including his parents, at two locations last week has confessed to the killings, but the motive is still unknown, authorities said. Police say it happened on Johnson Street around 5 p.m. Louisiana shooting suspect Dakota Theriot captured. [2] All four men were questioned and denied any involvement in the arson and murder. Once their mission was complete, members quietly returned to their modest lives. No one was hurt during the arrest, Ard said. The suspects then drove the body to an old food plant, where they hid it under plywood and garbage. The group is also suspected in the disappearance and murder of an African American employee of the Shamrock Motel, Joseph Edwards. Morris was interviewed three times; however, he was heavily medicated. The group is believed to have had only some twenty members. The Natchez-Adams School District released the following statement: Mr. Every murder is a senseless murder and this one certainly fits those criteria. Violent Klansmen had long been embedded with corrupt cops, some of whom wore robes themselves. Until now, the case has gone unsolved. If youre thinking of altering your workout routine, youre probably looking for new exercises and equipment to help you reach your fitness goals. Two white CORE members, who practiced the non-violent approach championed by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., were beaten. Juvenile triple-murderer back in court 10 years later The FBI later concluded that the local Klan was likely to be involved, but conflicting accounts, no viable subjects, and lack of a motive led to the investigation being closed in May1965. [2] According to these informants, Morace was the primary conspirator in the murder of Morris; however, the FBI could not find any physical evidence corroborating their witnesses. Concordia Parish authorities investigating suspected murder-suicide - KNOE No one was ever arrested for the killing. Battered and ostracized while he attended Ferriday High, Whatley would go on to serve in Vietnam. Who would you like to see as our next U.S. president? James Poissot of Baton Rouge never knew his father, but knew he was a violent man who beat James' mother so severely . The shop was very successful and was known by the tag line, "Open every day and half the night", in its ads in the Concordia Sentinel. Born in Jonesboro before spreading most notably to Bogalusa, Homer and Ferriday, the Deacons main purpose was to fight fire with fire and to protect their communities. FERRIDAY, La. According to the Concordia Parish Sheriffs Office, on April 25, 2021, at around 9:30 p.m., they were called to a residence on Lake St. John about a shooting. Frank Morris (in the apron and visor) is seen standing in front of his shoe shop in Ferriday, La., in the 1950s. He was also named 2018-2019 Teacher of the Year. [2], Stanley Nelson, an award-winning journalist and Pulitzer Prize finalist, published Devils Walking: Klan Murders along the Mississippi in the 1960s, after a series of articles in the Concordia Sentinel. In three interviews conducted by FBI investigators, Morris stated that "he saw a man pouring gasoline around the place [] another man had a shotgun and told him 'to get back in there, nigger'". Harp's new information regarding Morris shed doubt on the story concerning DeLaughter. When Theriot arrived at the home, deputies were already there. Despite the damage the bomb caused to his home and the threat it posed to his family, Lewis was handcuffed by Ferriday police and charged with aggravated assault, according to FBI and CORE documents. This business serviced both black and white customers. Copyright 2019 WLBT. In addition to each member owning his own weapon, the agent wrote, the unit allegedly possessed three semi-automatic carbines and two walkie-talkies used when patrolling. Police said the weapon used the shooting was a .45 caliber pistol. McCray drove the suspects to a location around Bayou Drive in Ferriday, where the suspects pulled out a gun and shot him. Cynthia Deitle, the chief of the FBI's civil rights unit, sent the Concordia Sentinel newspaper an e-mail with this response: "I am convinced that there are individuals alive today who know who killed Mr. Morris. To date, every civil rights murder case that has been reopened and successfully prosecuted was the direct result of an investigation initiated by a journalist. The sheriffs office says the incident is being investigated as a murder-suicide and that there are no suspects at large. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. At approximately 1:00a.m., Morris was awakened in a back room of the shop by the sound of glass breaking. Morris, a black man who had operated a business with a devoted interracial clientele for 30 years, had become a role model for young black men, many of whom got their first jobs as children helping Morris around his shop. The Frank Morris case is just one of many civil rights era cold cases that journalists like Stanley Nelson and David Ridgen are investigating as part of The Civil Rights Cold Case Project, which is an unprecedented collaboration of journalists from across the media spectrum, created in the aftermath of the trial of former Klansman James Ford Seale. Morris, in particular, is featured in this text. According to Ferriday Police Investigator Sean Sublett, Wilbert Henderson, 42, arrived at his home on Fifth Street and Tennessee at 12:44 a.m. Saturday when a man approached him from the side of . Donnie Sanders III, 24, is charged with second-degree murder. Frank Morris (19141964) was an American businessman who died as a result of arson to his shoe shop in Ferriday, Louisiana, a city with a history of racial violence. Ferriday Police investigating suspected murder-suicide, West Monroe man arrested after allegedly raping adopted daughter, Monroe duo arrested for alleged sex trafficking of minor, 10-year-old shot during argument, Marion man arrested, 2 Winnfield residents arrested following death of 3 year old, One lucky winner in Arkansas is about to become $2.338M richer, La. Natchez Democrat. McGorty reported that the Deacons membership in Ferriday totaled 23. [2], The FBI reopened the Frank Morris investigation in 2007, as part of the Civil Rights Era Cold Case Initiative. As a Junior Deacon, he and other members were vigilant and on call when the older Deacons needed them. His daily tasks included repairing shoes and saddles, selling jewellery, hats, and clothing, and dyeing purses. If they can summon the moral fortitude and courage to contact the FBI and tell us what they know, they will be heroes who will change history. [2] Scarborough, while under investigation for both Jackson's and Morris's murders, denied any involvement, stating that "every time something happens to a Negro it is immediately blamed on white people. Ferridays population of more than 4,500 residents was roughly half black and half white in the mid-1960s, a time when black citizens quietly celebrated civil rights wins and white supremacists desperately tried to halt legislative and social change. The 2020 crime rate in Ferriday, LA is 192 (City-Data.com crime index), which is 1.3 times smaller than the U.S. average. Our sincere condolences are offered to his family, friends, and coworkers.. "We are actively, as we speak involved in this investigation. The Silver Dollar Group was an offshoot of the Ku Klux Klan white nationalist terrorist group, composed of cells that took up violent actions to support Klan goals. ", "We know what happened here. A handful of members throughout the state also served as deacons within their churches, while others made their livings as teachers, construction workers, farm hands and general laborers. He would return home wounded physically and confounded mentally over how he could have been considered good enough to risk his life for his country in Vietnam but not good enough to attend the local high school. [2] The informant, fearing for his life, did not share this information with the FBI until two years after the arson. Two suspects were identified in FBI documents as members of the Silver Dollar Group, a Klan offshoot believed responsible for Morris murder and seven others in Louisiana and Mississippi over a three-year period. (KTVE/KARD) On Wednesday September 15, officers with the Ferriday Police Department arrested 19-year-old Denzel Washington for 2nd Degree Murder. Another has been arrested on a second-degree murder charge Tuesday in relation to a fatal shooting that took place Sunday afternoon in broad daylight in Ferriday. Carl Ray Thompson, then 26, spotted his cousin's two-toned. When he saw one of the perpetrators fleeing the scene, he instinctively raised his gun and pulled the trigger, only to hear an empty click. According to FBI documents, Ferriday Deacons included David Whatley, Leo Graham, Victor Graham, Herman Brown, Levado Brown, Richard Thompson, Samuel White, Frank Fleming, James Fleming, Fred Brown, Shine Calhoun, Stafford Redvine, FNU Jones, Anthony Lucky McCraney, Simon Smith, Antonne Duncan, Lionel Hooper, Vernon Smith, Anthony White, Joe Davis, Jeffrey Scott, Mack Moore and Johnny Lloyd. We do feel this is isolated to those individuals and we dont feel the community is in any danger at this point.. With five children at home, Lewis kept the weapon unloaded. Man shoots woman, kills himself | Crime | hannapub.com A month after Seale was indicted in January 2007, the FBI announced a new cold case initiative and published a shortlist of about 100 civil rights era cases that it planned to reprobe. You open the doors of your church, you tell your members whats going on and let them know that this is good for everybody involved, Whatley said. Theriot then allegedly went to Ascension Parish were he killed his parents, and then fled. . According to the L.A. County . On May 20, 2005, the decomposed body of 28-year-old Loretta Lynn Chaisson Lewis was fished out of a canal on the outskirts of Jennings, in the Jefferson Davis Parish of southwest Louisiana. Our effort here, as it is everywhere, is to try and uncover the truth. According to authorities, McCray was a teacher in Natchez with two degrees. 21-year-old Louisiana man confesses to killing his parents and three in Dakota Theriot, 21, fled to his grandmothers house in Virginia after the killings in Ascension and Livingston parishes Saturday morning, and he was arrested Sunday outside his grandmother's home by deputies who were already there, authorities have said. We spent all those years hating each other for reasons we dont know, Whatley said. They quickly gave chase, pursuing the yellow Pontiac for several miles before Duncan watched their headlights start fading away. The men broke multiple shop windows and proceeded to "spread a flammable liquid around the outside of the shop, and evidence indicates that the subjects may have spread the flammable liquid inside of the shop".