Cold cases
Below are capsule summaries of cases that have been authorized for release by the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board. Clicking on a case will bring you to a more extensive synopsis of that incident, as well as to a link that will take you to the National Archives’ Civil Rights Cold Case Records Portal, where the case file may be viewed.
The Board takes into account many factors in determining which cases it wants to examine for potential release. Given its statutory time constraints, the Board is focused on prioritizing cases that are representative of the diverse nature of civil rights cold cases. Currently, the Board is required to terminate its work no later than January, 2027.
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Aletha Bell Carter was a 17-year-old high school student from Pine Island, Horry County, South Carolina. The daughter of James Nolon and Archie Bell Carter, she had eight siblings.
Alfonzo Merritt was a 39-year-old coach cleaner in Tuscumbia, Alabama. He was married to Annie Merritt and they had a son, Carl.
Willie Lee Davis was a 24-year-old Army technician from Georgia working in the Detachment Medical Department at New Orleans Army Air Base in New Orleans, Louisiana.
William Fowler was a 23-year-old cook who lived in Spartanburg, South Carolina with his wife.
Eleanor Montgomery Rush was a 17-year-old domestic worker and cleaner from Albemarle, North Carolina.
An individual contacted the FBI in 1954 with information about a man named Willie Gunn. No other biographical data for Gunn was found.