Notorious Georgia lynching case closes after years of anguish, no justice

The state’s hunt for the mob of killers in one of Georgia’s most notorious lynchings is officially over after more than seven decades of failed efforts to solve the case.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation on Monday closed its investigation of the 1946 lynching of two young black couples at the Moore’s Ford bridge near Monroe in Walton County, 50 miles east of Atlanta. None of the roughly two dozen white men who participated in the killings was ever charged. The GBI’s plan to close the case, first reported by the AJC in December, comes after it recently learned that the FBI had closed its inquiry into the lynching. Both agencies determined none of the known suspects in the case are still alive.

The investigation was reopened nearly two decades ago when an eyewitness came forward to say he witnessed the killings as a young boy, rekindling the public’s interest and giving hope to those who’d never abandoned a search for justice. Investigators spent thousands of hours on the case, but no solid leads have materialized in nearly a decade. The closing of the case means the state’s investigative file will be open to the public.

“I’m disappointed we are not able to bring justice to the victims, but there were major obstacles in pursuing the re-opened case,” said GBI Director Vernon Keenan. “We couldn’t overcome them. Time was against (us).”

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The four victims — Roger and Dorothy Malcom and George and Mae Murray Dorsey — were field hands near Monroe at the time of the killings. Investigators determined the primary motive for the lynching was a mix of retaliation for Roger Malcom’s assault on a white farmer a week and a half before he was lynched. But a secondary factor was an effort to suppress the black vote in state primary elections occurring the same month as the killings. African Americans had recently won a federal court case that broke up the all-white Democratic primary in the state.

Read more: https://politics.myajc.com/news/notorious-lynching-case-closes-after-years-anguish-justice/Y8sRiwExcU7BjunYneO7PL/