On Wednesday, after Stanley Nelson published information implicating Rayville, La. truck driver Leonard Spencer in the 1964 murder of Black shoe shop owner Frank Morris in Ferriday, La., local reporter Samantha Boatman from KNOE News confronted Spencer at a Rayville machine shop where he works. With her was a Civil Rights Cold Case Project film crew, led by David Paperny, who is the male voice you hear asking questions off camera in the video, below. Spencer, who is an admitted former member of the Ku Klux Klan, denies any knowledge of the crime.
Though Spencer says on camera that he has been interviewed by the FBI as recently as last month, he insists to Boatman and Paperny that this interview is the first time he has ever heard the name of Frank Morris. Spencer also insists that he never knew deceased former Klansman Cooney Poissot, who allegedly implicated Spencer in the crime and who is remembered as a close family friend by Spencer's son and former wife.
The FBI would not comment on its ongoing investigation of the Frank Morris to KNOE News, but Concordia Parish District Attorney Brad Burget told KNOE that his office has been asked to assist the FBI: once through investigating, the FBI will share its findings with Burget who must then decide whether to prosecute.
Interview video segment 1 of 3
Visit KNOE News for Samantha Boatman's full report and the rest of the footage from this remarkable interview.
Related reading
- Stanley Nelson, Feds vow to solve Frank Morris murder (Concordia Sentinel)
- Benjamin Greenberg, Investigations Force Feds to Revisit Murders of Civil Rights Era (ColorLines)
(Cross-posted at the Civil Rights Cold Case Project.)
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Let’s hope Spencer stays away from the witnesses and that local law enforcement protect them from his anger. We at the Cold Case Justice Initiative have been working for four long years with the family of Frank Morris (and with the Concordia Sentinel) to make sure that justice is served here; that means indictments and prosecution of those responsible for the killing of Mr. Morris, not violence. For information on our work see http://www.coldcaselaw.syr.edu or follow us on Twitter coldcasejustice Janis McDonald Cold Case Justice Initiative at Syracuse University College of Law