Cold cases review board releases four new sets of records—each concerning the death of a WWII soldier

The federal Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board today announced the release of 537 pages of federal records from four more decades-old unsolved or unresolved cold cases. Each of the four incidents involved the violent death of a World War II-era soldier.

“Although these men served their country during World War II, the freedom and security they fought to defend were denied them at home,” said Hank Klibanoff, co-chair of the Review Board. “These records provide a glimpse into the circumstances of their tragic deaths, and into the deliberations of officials as they contemplated – but never pursued – charges against the assailants.”

One case involves Thomas Broadus, an Army private stationed at Fort Meade, Maryland, in 1942. A confrontation with a police officer in Baltimore in the early morning hours of February 1 led to Broadus’s death. His fatal shooting prompted an investigation by the War Department and led to mass protests in Baltimore. Several months later, the governor of Maryland appointed a commission to “study problems affecting the Negro population.” A commission subcommittee recommended a grand jury re-open the case, but no prosecution was ever pursued. (View the records here.)

Another case involves John Lester Mitchell, an Army veteran who was active in efforts to expand voting rights to the Black citizens of Opelousas, Louisiana. Married with a young daughter, Mitchell was shot and killed by a special deputy sheriff working security at a bar in Opelousas on Nov. 18, 1951. After an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Justice concluded that even if the officer was indicted for excessive force, no federal jury would convict him. (View the records here.)

The four new cases bring to 15 the total number the Board has authorized for public release since last October, as part of its congressional mandate to expedite the release of hundreds of investigations into civil rights violations that occurred between 1940 through 1979. Each case, in its entirety, is viewable online at the Civil Rights Cold Case Records portal, maintained by the National Archives and Records Administration. Dozens more cases, spanning thousands of pages, will be released over the coming months.

ABOUT THE CIVIL RIGHTS COLD CASE RECORDS REVIEW BOARD

The Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board was created as part of the Cold Case Records Collection Act of 2018, which was introduced by then-U.S. Senator Doug Jones of Alabama, a former federal prosecutor. The bill was engineered and championed by a group of Hightstown High School students in New Jersey. The bill won overwhelming bipartisan support in Congress and was signed into law by President Donald Trump in 2019. Board members are Margaret Burnham (co-chair), Hank Klibanoff (co-chair), Gabrielle M. Dudley, and Dr. Brenda Stevenson. To learn more about the Review Board, as well as frequently asked questions about the Board’s work and summaries of each case it has authorized for release, visit the Board’s website at www.coldcaserecords.gov. The Board’s work is currently mandated to sunset no later than January 2027.

For media inquiries, please email Steve Fennessy, communications manager for the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board, at steve.fennessy@coldcaserecords.gov