Real Crime/Paranormal/Conspiracy Theories Book III

Freeman Summer Murders Part II

Investigation and public attention

Unconvinced by the assurances of theMemphis-based agents, Sullivan elected to wait in Memphis ... for thestart of the "invasion" of northern students ... Sullivan'sinstinctive decision to stick around Memphis proved correct. EarlyMonday morning, June 22, he was informed of the disappearance ... hewas ordered to Meridian. The town would be his home for the next ninemonths.

— Cagin & Dray, WeAre Not Afraid, 1988

After reluctance from FBI Director J.Edgar Hoover to get directly involved, President Lyndon Johnsonconvinced him by threatening to send ex-CIA director Allen Dulles inhis stead. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover initially ordered the FBIOffice in Meridian, run by John Proctor, to begin a preliminarysearch after the three men were reported missing. That evening, U.S.Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy escalated the search and ordered150 federal agents to be sent from New Orleans. Two local NativeAmericans found the smoldering car that evening; by the next morning,that information had been communicated to Proctor. Joseph Sullivan ofthe FBI immediately went to the scene. By the next day, the federalgovernment had arranged for hundreds of sailors from the nearby NavalAir Station Meridian to search the swamps of Bogue Chitto.

During the investigation, searchersincluding Navy divers and FBI agents discovered the bodies of HenryHezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore in the area (the first was foundby a fisherman). They were college students who had disappeared inMay 1964. Federal searchers also discovered 14-year-old HerbertOarsby, and the bodies of five other deceased African Americans whowere never identified.

The disappearance of Chaney, Goodmanand Schwerner captured national attention. By the end of the firstweek, all major news networks were covering their disappearances.President Lyndon Johnson met with the parents of Goodman andSchwerner in the Oval Office. Walter Cronkite's broadcast of the CBSEvening News on June 25, 1964, called the disappearances "thefocus of the whole country's concern". The FBI eventuallyoffered a $25,000 reward (equivalent to $209,000 in 2020), which ledto the breakthrough in the case. Meanwhile, Mississippi officialsresented the outside attention. Sheriff Rainey said, "They'rejust hiding and trying to cause a lot of bad publicity for this partof the state." Mississippi Governor Paul B. Johnson Jr.dismissed concerns, saying the young men "could be in Cuba".

The bodies of the CORE activists werefound only after an informant (discussed in FBI reports only as "Mr.X") passed along a tip to federal authorities. They werediscovered on August 4, 1964, 44 days after their murder, underneathan earthen dam on Burrage's farm. Schwerner and Goodman had each beenshot once in the heart; Chaney, a black man, had been severelybeaten, castrated and shot three times. The identity of "Mr.X" was revealed publicly forty years after the originalevents, and revealed to be Maynard King, a Mississippi Highway Patrolofficer close to the head of the FBI investigation. King died in1966.

In the summer of 1964, according toLinda Schiro and other sources, FBI field agents in Mississippirecruited the mafia captain Gregory Scarpa to help them find themissing civil rights workers. The FBI was convinced the three menhad been murdered, but could not find their bodies. The agentsthought that Scarpa, using illegal interrogation techniques notavailable to agents, might succeed at gaining this information fromsuspects. Once Scarpa arrived in Mississippi, local agents allegedlyprovided him with a gun and money to pay for information. Scarpa andan agent allegedly pistol-whipped and kidnapped Lawrence Byrd, a TVsalesman and secret Klansman, from his store in Laurel and took himto Camp Shelby, a local Army base. At Shelby, Scarpa severely beatByrd and stuck a gun barrel down his throat. Byrd finally revealed toScarpa the location of the three men's bodies. The FBI has neverofficially confirmed the Scarpa story. Though not necessarilycontradicting the claim of Scarpa's involvement in the matter,investigative journalist Jerry Mitchell and Illinois high schoolteacher Barry Bradford claimed that Mississippi highway patrolmanMaynard King provided the grave locations to FBI agent JosephSullivan after obtaining the information from an anonymous thirdparty. In January 1966, Scarpa allegedly helped the FBI a second timein Mississippi on the murder case of Vernon Dahmer, killed in a fireset by the Klan. After this second trip, Scarpa and the FBI had asharp disagreement about his reward for these services. The FBI thendropped Scarpa as a confidential informant.