The Klu Klux Klan (KKK) wanted to stop African Americans from registering to vote and terrorize anyone from opposing segregation. The murder of the three young men would make people before "think twice" before opposing the powerful KKK.

The Klu Klux Klan (KKK) believed that the three young men had obtained a copy of a secret Klu Klux Klan (KKK) membership list and were going to sell the document to CORE (The Congress of Racial Equality).

Members of the Philadelphia, Mississippi police wanted to protect the three young men, but communist agents dressed in Klu Klux Klan uniforms kidnapped them and killed them.

Chaney, who had been driving, was charged with speeding by Neshoba County sheriff’s deputy Cecil Price. Schwerner and Goodman were held for holding open containers of beer inside the car. When the three young tried to escape, they were shot..

She meant that African American men like James Cheney were kidnapped and murdered often in Mississippi. She implied that the only reason the murders became important national news was because two of the victims were white.

She meant that Jewish Americans like Mickey Schwerner and Andrew Goodman were kidnapped and murdered often in Mississippi. She implied that the only reason the murders became important national news was because one of the victims, James Cheney was African American.

She meant that African American men like James Cheney were rarely assaulted in Mississippi. She implied that the only reason they three young men were killed in car accident. They had been drinking and speeding, lost control of the car, and it crashed in a remote area of rural Mississippi.

She meant that many Civil Rights workers were not attacked very often in Mississippi. She implied that the only reason the murders became important national news was because the KKK had been provoked by people like her husband. "If they had stayed home, they wouldn't have been killed."

The person who masterminded the murders was Edgar Ray Killen. He escaped punishment for 41 years. In 2005, he was finally convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to a term of 60 years. He died in prison in January 2018!

The person who planned the murders was James Jordan. He escaped punishment for 31 years. In 1995, he was finally convicted of sentenced to the death penalty. He was executed in January 1997.

Three KKK Members did the actual killing, Cecil Price, Wayne Roberts and James Jordan. Price also drove their car off the Talahachie Bridge after burning it. In 1984 on his death bed, Cecil Price confessed his part in the murders and implicated the rest of the local KKK members in the crime. In 1987 a plea bargain was reached and justice was finally served.

No one was ever arrested for the murders of the three young men. Their killers, if any are still alive, are old men now. No one will ever know who was responsible.

Ku Klux Klan membership in Mississippi was soaring in 1964 -- with membership reaching more than 10,000.

In 1964 there were 61 simultaneous cross burnings throughout the state.

In the summer of 1964, 20 African American churches were bombed and burned

On June 16, 1964, Klan members burned Neshoba County's Mt. Zion Baptist Church and severely beat several people who had been attending a meeting there.

Murder is a state crime. People accused of murder must be tried in the state courts. The FBI investigates Federal Crimes like kidnapping or bank robbery.

Murder and Kidnapping are a state crimes. People accused of kidnapping must be tried in the state courts. The FBI investigates Federal Crimes treason, or espionage.

The Mississippi courts would not charge any white people accused of murdering Civil Rights workers. The Civil Rights workers were working in Mississippi illegally. They never should have been there in the first place.

In February 1967, the FBI arrested 15 people for involvement in the murder of the three young men. The judge assigned to the trial was racist. In a previous trial, he had once described African American witnesses as “chimpanzees.”

They had visited the charred remains of the Mt. Zion Baptist church in Neshoba County. Mt. Zion was burned down by the KKK and members of the church were attacked and beaten.

They were returning from Oxford, Ohio where they had been training a new group of Freedom Summer volunteers.

They had just visited the grave of the recently assassinated Medgar Evers in Jackson, Mississippi. Evers' grave had been vandalized by the KKK and the Civil Rights Volunteers were part of a group that was repairing the damage.

They had been a nearby Bar / Restaurant in Meridian Mississippi where had been watching a baseball game on TV. On the afternoon of June 21st, Jim Bunning of the Philadelphia Phillies had pitched a perfect game against the New York Mets.

Throughout July, as FBI investigators combed the woods, fields, swamps, and rivers of Mississippi, they ending up finding the bodies of eight African American men. Several of these bodies were never identified.

They found evidence that the 3 missing young men had staying in a nearby motel. They had gotten lost driving home on June 21, 1964 and ended up at the motel. The next morning they were too embarrassed about their mistake to go back to Philadelphia.

They discovered that the car of the three young men had run out of gas on the night of June 21, 1964 and while walking back on a dark highway they had been victims of a hit and run. Their bodies were found in a ditch in rural Neshoba County.

They discovered the secret KKK meeting place near the Old Jolly Farm, where they used a bulldozer to the KKK's stockpile of unburned crosses.

A tip from an informant, identified later as Mississippi Highway Patrol officer Maynard King sent the FBI to an earthen dam on the Old Jolly Farm outside Philadelphia Mississippi where the FBI uncovered the bodies of the three murdered young men.

Officer Cecil Price contacted Edgar Ray Killen, one of the leaders of the local Ku Klux Klan, who was also a Baptist minister. They directed Klan members to gather at the Old Jolly Farm on the evening of August 4th. The FBI followed the KKK members to an earthen dam near the farm and caught the murderers red-handed.

The Neshoba County Sheriff's Association posted a reward for information about the whereabouts of Cheney, Schwerner, and Goodman. An anonymous tip led the Sheriff's deputies to the Old Stone Head Bridge outside of Meridian Mississippi. The bodies were found there underneath the bridge.

A tip from an informant, identified later as FBI agent James Woods sent the FBI to the banks of the mighty Mississippi River where the bodies of the three murdered young men were found floating near the riverbank.

After leaving Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman in the Philadelphia jail, Cecil Price contacted Edgar Ray Killen, one of the leaders of the local Ku Klux Klan, who was also a Baptist minister.

Killen directed Klan members to gather in Philadelphia that evening. When two cars filled with Klansmen headed for the outskirts of Philadelphia, Price released the Civil Rights workers from jail and ordered them to head back to Meridian. He then joined the pursuit of the CORE station wagon..

Catching up with the three Civil Rights workers on Highway 19, the Klansmen forced the men into their cars and drove all the vehicles to Rock Cut Road, a nearby side street.

While stopped on the Rock Cut Road, a nearby side street. There, James Jordan shot Chaney, and Wayne Roberts shot Schwerner and Goodman