Oneal Moore
Age 34
A father and one of the first Black deputy sheriffs in his parish
Varnado, Louisiana
June 2, 1965
Oneal Moore was a 34-year-old military veteran and father of four daughters. Moore and his law-enforcement partner, David Creed Rogers, were the first Black deputy sheriffs in Washington Parish, Louisiana. According to the Department of Justice memo on the case, their presence on the force, “enraged the local chapters of the Ku Klux Klan, who, according to several sources, had vowed to eliminate them.” The two deputies had been on the job about a year when, on the night of June 2, 1965, they were shot.
Moore and Rogers were driving to Moore’s home for a late dinner when they received a call about a brush fire. After responding to that call, they noticed they were being followed by a dark-colored pickup truck with a Confederate flag decal on the bumper. As the pickup truck passed their vehicle, the occupants in the truck fired several gunshots at Moore and Rogers. Moore was shot in the head and killed instantly. Rogers was severely wounded, taking bullets to his shoulder and blinded in his right eye. Despite his injuries, Rogers was able to call for help and describe the truck to the responding law enforcement.
Initial Investigation
According to the DOJ memo about the case, approximately an hour after the incident, authorities stopped a truck that fit the description of the pickup in Tylertown, Mississippi. They arrested the driver, Ernest Rayford “Ray” McElveen, a paper mill worker and known Klan member who drove a dark-colored pickup truck with a Confederate flag decal on the side.
The memo notes that McElveen told law enforcement he was at a secret meeting the night of Moore’s murder but did not provide any other details. In searching the truck, officials found several firearms, ammunition and a rope noose. McElveen was charged with Moore’s murder and booked on $25,000 bond. He was released nine days later, after known Klan members raised the funds to post bail.
An autopsy confirmed that Moore’s death was caused by a high-powered rifle, according to a DOJ memo, but found that the murder weapon hadn’t been among those discovered in McElveen’s car. Charges against McElveen were eventually dropped, the memo said, due to insufficient evidence.
The FBI then conducted a two-year investigation into the case, interviewing more than 1,400 people and generated more than 2,000 reports, according to a DOJ memo. Multiple suspects were investigated, including many of the men who posted bail for McElveen, as well as other known Klan members in the area. According to the DOJ memo, one of the major roadblocks in investigating the case at the time was fear of retaliation from the Klan. Despite a $25,000 reward offered by the Louisiana governor, the case was closed without prosecution in 1967.
The case would be opened and closed several more times over the years, in response to new leads. In 1989, the case was reopened by the FBI and designated a “major case” and a “priority investigation.” In that period, the FBI coordinated with the television program Unsolved Mysteries on an episode that reenacted the crime. The bureau also surveilled suspects and, in 1990, subpoenaed multiple witnesses to testify before a grand jury. Despite these efforts, the case was closed again in 1991.
It was opened again in 1992 and closed again in 1996.
Till Act Status
The case was reopened a final time in 2001. Over many years and multiple investigations, the FBI has identified a “laundry list of alleged perpetrators,” according to a DOJ memo. Multiple people have even confessed to the crime, but the FBI was unable to procure enough corroborating evidence to prosecute any single person. The bureau continued to pursue Moore’s case, even after McElveen, died in 2003.
In 2016, citing the “virtual impossibility of prosecuting this case,” a lack of viable leads and a statute of limitations, the FBI closed the case once more.
In DOJ documentation, the victim’s name is listed as “O’Neal.” It has been corrected here based on official memorials to the victim.
Case Status closed
Closed 03/31/2016
Themes
- Closed Cases
- Men
About the Project
This multiplatform investigation draws upon more than two years of reporting, thousands of documents and dozens of first-hand interviews. FRONTLINE spoke to family and friends of the victims, and witnesses, some of whom had never been interviewed; current and former Justice Department officials and FBI agents, state and local law enforcement; lawmakers, civil-rights leaders and investigative journalists, to explore the Department of Justice’s reopening of civil rights-era cold cases under the 2008 Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act.
In addition to an examination of the federal effort, the project features the first comprehensive, interactive list of all those whose cases were reopened by the Department of Justice. Today, the list stands at 151 names. Among the victims: voting rights advocates, veterans, Louisville’s first female prosecutor, business owners, mothers, fathers, and children.
The project consists of a web-based interactive experience, serialized podcast, a touring augmented-reality exhibit, documentary and companion education curriculum for high schools and universities.
A project like Un(re)solved would not be possible without the historic and contemporary contributions of universities, civil rights groups, and the press, particularly the Black press, who have ensured the ongoing public record of racist violence in the United States. To pay homage to these groups, the web interactive begins with a quote from journalist, activist and researcher Ida B. Wells, one of the first to document with precision the horrors of racial terror in America. “The way to right wrongs,” she wrote, “is to turn the light of truth upon them.”
At the outset of the project, FRONTLINE forged a relationship with Northeastern University’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project (CRRJ), bringing them on as an academic partner. Launched in 2007 by Distinguished Law Professor Margaret Burnham, CRRJ is a mission-driven program of interdisciplinary teaching, research and policy analysis on race, history, and criminal justice. Their work has expanded beyond the names on the Justice Department’s list, archiving documents in over 1,000 cases of racially motivated homicides.
With support from the CRRJ, FRONTLINE reporters gathered what could be known about the individuals on the list, conducting interviews with family, friends and witnesses, delving into newspaper archives and gathering documentation including headstone applications, draft cards and archival photographs.
At the heart of the project has been a drive to center the voices of the families of those on the list. FRONTLINE partnered with StoryCorps to record nearly two dozen oral histories with victims’ next of kin, which are featured both in the web-based interactive and traveling AR exhibit. These oral histories will also be archived in the National Library of Congress.
To lead the creative vision for the web experience and installation, FRONTLINE partnered with Ado Ato Pictures, a premier mixed reality studio founded by artist, filmmaker, and technologist Tamara Shogaolu.
Shogaolu rooted the visuals in the powerful symbolism of trees. In the United States, trees evoke the ideal of liberty, but also speak to an oppressive history of racially motivated violence. In Persian myth, trees are humanity’s ancestors, while in Toraja, Indonesia, they serve as sacred burial sites.
“I was really inspired by looking at the role of the tree as a symbol in American history” Shogaolu said. “It’s been looked at as a symbol of freedom, we look at it as a connector between generations, and also there’s the association of trees with racial terror.” When designing the creative vision for Un(re)solved Shogaolu wondered whether she might be able to reclaim the symbol of the tree. “As a person of color, we’re often terrified of being in isolated places in the woods. And I thought it was kind of crazy that there are natural environments that instinctually give great fear because of this connection with racial terror and I wanted to reclaim that — to turn these into beautiful spaces.”
Un(re)solved weaves imagery of trees, which also recall family ties, into patterns and textures from the American tradition of quilting. Among enslaved African Americans forbidden to read or write, quilts provided an important space to document family stories. Today, quilting remains a creative outlet rich with story and tradition for many American communities.
We invite you to enter this forest of quilted memories — a testimony to the lives of these individuals, and the multi-generational impact of their untimely, unjust loss.
(Credits to come)