Killinger was the case agent who led the 2004 FBI investigation into Emmett Till's kidnap and murder. On Tuesday, February 13, Killinger will discuss the FBI's investigation and its key findings as part of the third annual Emmett Till Archives Lecture Series. These findings include the identification of previously unknown key witnesses, admissions by the killers themselves, the autopsy of Till's remains and his obtaining key admissions from Till's accuser Carolyn Bryant.

An FBI Academy alumnus, Killinger has investigated all manner of crime, including civil rights violations, crimes against children, bank robberies, white collar crimes and other violations of federal law for ten years. He is a certified FBI hostage negotiator and police instructor. Killinger holds certifications as an FBI Police Instructor, FBI Crisis Negotiator, Insider Threat Program Manager and Insider Threat Vulnerability Assessor from Carnegie Melon University.

His most notable investigation was the 2004 investigation into the 1955 murder of Emmett Till. During the investigation he identified and interviewed previously unknown witnesses, located a trial transcript which had been missing for over 40 years, located the murder scene which had been lost to history, participated in the exhumation and autopsy of Till's body, and presented the investigation findings to a Grand Jury.


This year’s talk is the third annual in the Emmett Till Archives Lecture Series. It is funded by the Emmett Till Lecture and Archives Fund, established by Davis Houck, Fannie Lou Hamer, Professor of Rhetorical Studies in the School of Communication at FSU. Houck collaborated with FSU Libraries’ Special Collections and Archives to develop the Emmett Till Archives, which includes newspapers, magazine, oral histories, the records of civil rights organizations, photographs, government records, scholarly literature, creative works, and other materials documenting the Till case and its commemoration, memorialization and discussion in scholarship and popular culture.

For more information on the Emmett Till Lecture Series, contact Katie McCormick, Associate Dean of Libraries for Special Collections & Archives, at kmccormick@fsu.edu or (850) 644-6167.

For event logistics questions, contact Danielle Humphrey, Events & Marketing Manager, at dmhumphrey@fsu.edu or (850) 645-6670.