Current:Home > InvestLatest search for 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre victims ends with 3 more found with gunshot wounds-InfoLens
Latest search for 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre victims ends with 3 more found with gunshot wounds
View Date:2024-12-23 11:01:35
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The latest search for the remains of 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre victims has ended with three more sets containing gunshot wounds, investigators said.
The three are among 11 sets of remains exhumed during the latest excavation in Oaklawn Cemetery, state archaeologist Kary Stackelbeck said Friday.
“Two of those gunshot victims display evidence of munitions from two different weapons,” Stackelbeck said. “The third individual who is a gunshot victim also displays evidence of burning.”
Forensic anthropologist Phoebe Stubblefield, who will remain on site to examine the remains, said one victim suffered bullet and shotgun wounds while the second was shot with two different caliber bullets.
Searchers are seeking simple wooden caskets because they were described at the time in newspaper articles, death certificates and funeral home records as the type used for burying massacre victims, Stackelbeck has said.
The exhumed remains will then be sent to Intermountain Forensics in Salt Lake City for DNA and genealogical testing in an effort to identify them.
The search ends just over a month after the first identification of remains previously exhumed during the search for massacre victims were identified as World War I veteran C.L. Daniel from Georgia.
There was no sign of gunshot wounds to Daniel, Stubblefield said at the time, noting that if a bullet doesn’t strike bone and passes through the body, such a wound likely could not be determined after the passage of so many years.
The search is the fourth since Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum launched the project in 2018 and 47 remains have now been exhumed.
Bynum, who is not seeking reelection, said he hopes to see the search for victims continue.
“My hope is, regardless of who the next mayor is, that they see how important it is to see this investigation through,” Bynum said. “It’s all part of that sequence that is necessary for us to ultimately find people who were murdered and hidden over a century ago.”
Stackelbeck said investigators are mapping the graves in an effort to determine whether more searches should be conducted.
“Every year we have built on the previous phase of this investigation. Our cumulative data have confirmed that we are finding individuals who fit the profile of massacre victims,” Stackelbeck said.
“We will be taking all of that information into consideration as we make our recommendations about whether there is cause for additional excavations,” said Stackelbeck.
Brenda Nails-Alford, a descendant of massacre survivors and a member of the committee overseeing the search for victims, said she is grateful for Bynum’s efforts to find victim’s remains.
“It is my prayer that these efforts continue, to bring more justice and healing to those who were lost and to those families in our community,” Nails-Alford said.
Earlier this month, Bynum and City Councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper announced a new committee to study a variety of possible reparations for survivors and descendants of the massacre and for the area of north Tulsa where it occurred.
The massacre took place over two days in 1921, a long-suppressed episode of racial violence that destroyed a community known as Black Wall Street and ended with as many as 300 Black people killed, thousands of Black residents forced into internment camps overseen by the National Guard and more than 1,200 homes, businesses, schools and churches destroyed.
veryGood! (2198)
Related
- Diamond Sports Group can emerge out of bankruptcy after having reorganization plan approved
- American man admits to attacking 2 US tourists and killing one of them near a famous German castle
- Environmental Groups Eye a Potential Win with New York Packaging Bill
- Russell Crowe fractured both legs on set of 'Robin Hood' but 'never took a day off'
- Love Is Blind’s Chelsea Blackwell Reacts to Megan Fox’s Baby News
- UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma moves into second all-time in wins
- Mike Trout wants to stay with Angels, 'win a championship here' ... for now
- Capital One’s bid for Discover carries expectation that Americans won’t slow credit card use
- Maine dams face an uncertain future
- Lionel Messi on false reports: Injury, not political reasons kept him out Hong Kong match
Ranking
- Jimmy Kimmel, more late-night hosts 'shocked' by Trump Cabinet picks: 'Goblins and weirdos'
- Nikki Haley hasn’t yet won a GOP contest. But she’s vowing to keep fighting Donald Trump
- A flight attendant accused of trying to record a teen girl in a plane’s bathroom is held until trial
- Alabama Supreme Court rules frozen embryos are ‘children’ under state law
- Chris Evans Shares Thoughts on Starting a Family With Wife Alba Baptista
- Tom Sandoval Compares Vanderpump Rules Cheating Scandal to O.J. Simpson and George Floyd
- Jeep, Ford, Genesis among 300,000 vehicles recalled: Check car recalls here
- Southern Baptists oust one church for having woman pastor, two others over sexual-abuse policy
Recommendation
-
UConn, Kansas State among five women's college basketball games to watch this weekend
-
U.S. military reports 1st Houthi unmanned underwater vessel in Red Sea
-
12 alleged cartel members killed by Mexican soldiers near U.S. border
-
We try to untangle 'Madame Web'
-
It's about to be Red Cup Day at Starbucks. When is it and how to get the free coffee swag?
-
Man running Breaking Bad-style drug lab inadvertently turns himself in, New York authorities say
-
You can win 2 hours of free lobster in Red Lobster's 'endless' giveaway: Here's what to know
-
Patriots' special teams ace Matthew Slater announces retirement after 16 NFL seasons