Clarence Triggs
Clarence Triggs | |
---|---|
Born | 1942 |
Died | July 30, 1966 (aged 24) |
Nationality | American |
Occupation | bricklayer |
Known for | Veteran murdered after participating in civil rights march for voting, among cold cases reopened after 2007, but no indictments resulted |
Clarence Triggs (1942 – July 30, 1966) was a married African-American bricklayer and
Background
Triggs, a 24-year-old construction worker, had recently moved with his wife Emma to Bogalusa from Jackson, Mississippi. He worked as a bricklayer.[2]
He had taken part in some marches organized by the
Death
Triggs was found, shot in the head, near a wrecked car registered to the wife of Homer R. "Kingfish" Seale; the body and car were near the highway. Seale was one of the suspects arrested for the murder. According to police chief Claxton Knight, there were "no racial implications in the death."[3] "Police insist the Triggs killing was not racially inspired."[4]
But Royan Burris, president of the local chapter of the
Homer R. "Kingfish" Seale and John W. Copling, Jr., both 36, were arrested August 1 on the charge of murdering Triggs;[4] they were freed on bail.[5][6] They were represented by Baton Rouge attorney Osier Brown. He also represented Ernest Ray McElveen, charged with the murder of Oneal Moore in June 1965 near Bogalusa.[4] Seale was never tried although both he and Copling were indicted. Copling was tried first; the jury deliberated for less than an hour and acquitted him.[2]
The details of the killing, and the link, if any, between Triggs and Seale, have never been made public. Triggs' name is listed on the Civil Rights Memorial. His case was reopened by the FBI under the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act, but has since been closed without resolution.[7]
See also
- List of unsolved murders
References
- ^ a b "Negro in Bogalusa is Shot to Death". The New York Times. July 31, 1966. Archived from the original on January 22, 2019. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
- ^ ISBN 978-0313333002. Archivedfrom the original on 2019-01-23. Retrieved 2019-01-22.
- Anderson Daily Bulletin (Anderson, Indiana). August 3, 1966. p. 10. Archivedfrom the original on January 23, 2019. Retrieved January 22, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c "Bogalusa Murder Suspects Bonded". Daily World (Opelousas, Louisiana). August 17, 1966. p. 9. Archived from the original on January 23, 2019. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
- ^ "2 Murder Suspects Are Freed on Bail". The Town Talk (Alexandria, Louisiana). August 17, 1966. p. 27. Archived from the original on January 23, 2019. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
- ^ AP (August 6, 1966). "White Men Charged In Killing of Negro". The Gazette and Daily (York, Pennsylvania). p. 31. Archived from the original on January 23, 2019. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
- ^ Brown, DeNeen L. (June 26, 2017). "Unsolved and overlooked murders: Investigating cold cases of the civil rights era". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on January 22, 2019. Retrieved January 22, 2019.