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This file concerns the June 7, 1998 murder of James Byrd Jr. in rural Jasper County, Texas, investigated as a possible racially motivated federal civil-rights violent crime. FBI Houston and its Beaumont Resident Agency coordinated with the Jasper County Sheriff's Office, the U.S. Attorney's Office, and an FBI evidence-response team after local officers detained three suspects. The records include June 8 and June 10 FBI electronic communications, a surveillance request, case-opening material, and requests for checks and interviews concerning Lawrence Russell Brewer and William King. They describe the victim being beaten, chained to a truck, and dragged, and record investigators' belief that at least two suspects had associations with Aryan Nations or a similar white-supremacist group.

Documents span: 1998 | Released in 1 part
Names in this file: James Byrd Jr., Lawrence Russell Brewer, William King
Subjects: civil rights investigation, hate crime, murder, white supremacism, Jasper County, Texas