Three days before he was to stand trial, Parker was kidnapped from his jail cell in the Pearl River County Courthouse by a mob, beaten and shot.
"[5] Parker was arrested for the February 23, 1959, rape and kidnapping of June Walters, a pregnant white woman, in Pearl River County, Mississippi.
[7] According to reports published in the New Orleans Times-Picayune and the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, Parker and four friends, Norman Malachy, David Alfred, Curt Underwood and Tommy Grant were returning to Lumberton from Poplarville.
After an intensive manhunt, Lumberton police were informed by David Alfred's father, a local Baptist minister, that Parker was the perpetrator.
A check of the tire tracks left by the perpetrator's car indicated they were similar to those of Parker's Chevrolet, but a positive identification could not be made.
Soon after his arrest, and for his own protection, Lumberton Police had the Mississippi Highway Patrol transfer Parker to the Hinds County Jail in Jackson.
Being represented by attorney and civil rights activist, R. Jess Brown of Vicksburg, Parker pleaded not guilty to each charge.
Judge Dale set the trial date for April 27, and Parker was returned to his cell at the Pearl River County Courthouse.
The involvement of Brown in the case led to fear he might be freed thanks to civil rights claims such as the absence of any Black in the jury.
[9] According to the FBI report on the case, sometime around 12.15 a.m. on April 25, a vigilante mob of eight to ten hooded and masked men, wearing gloves, entered the courthouse.
Once the chains were secured around Parker's body, it was tossed over the concrete railings of the bridge into the rain-swollen waters of the Pearl River below.
Upon learning of the events in the early morning hours of April 25, Pearl River County Sheriff, Osborn Moody, informed the Mississippi Highway Patrol, who then urged him to contact the FBI.
Several local Poplarville men, Jewel Alford, Christopher Columbus "Crip" Reyer, L. C. Davis, "Preacher" James Floren Lee, his son James Floren "Jeff" Lee, Herman Schultz, Arthur Smith and J.P. Walker, a former Pearl River County Sheriff's deputy, who would be elected sheriff of Pearl River County in November 1963, quickly became the focus of the FBI's intensive probe into the abduction and death of Parker.
On May 13, under intense pressure from FBI agents, Arthur Smith confirmed the role of each of the participants and supplied the names of Walker, Preacher Lee, L.C.
Smith told agents that Lee, Reyer, Davis, and Walker were in the lead car that carried Parker from the jail.
[10][5] Judge Dale, who praised Theodore Bilbo's racial beliefs, and was a member of the White Citizens' Council;[11] refused to indict the suspects.
Dale encouraged the grand jury to "have the backbone to stand against any tyranny," stating "you are now engaged in battle for our laws and courts for the preservation of our freedom and our way of life.
[3][14] A May 11 article in the Chicago Defender, a popular Black newspaper circulated throughout the South, recounted an interview with an anonymous white male from Poplarville, claiming to have personal knowledge that the charges against Parker were fabricated.
[17] Some locals complained about supposed FBI encroachment and other aired typically racist statements, such as one resident stating to reporters that "Parker's a good nigger now.
and specially trained goon squads from the Justice Department.During a speaking tour for the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission in the North on 1963, Dale said, to persons asking him about the Parker case, that he didn't think the perpetrators would be caught, adding three of them already died.