Frank Andrews

Frank Andrews, 27, was shot in the back and killed on November 28, 1964 outside Smith's Café in Lisman, Alabama, by Quinnie Donald, a white Choctaw County sheriff's chief deputy. Donald and another deputy said they were at the café, which served the local Black community, investigating illegal whiskey; Donald claimed Andrews advanced on a fellow deputy with a knife, a claim disputed by witness accounts. A local grand jury declined to indict, and no one was ever prosecuted for his death.

Lisman, AL · Choctaw County County

• 1964: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• Victim identity, age, and the November 28, 1964 shooting outside Smith's Café in Lisman, per the Department of Justice's Cold Case closing memorandum.
• The shooter, sheriff's chief deputy Quinnie Donald, was publicly identified in the DOJ memo and in FBI records reviewed by PBS Frontline's Unresolved project.
• A local grand jury declined to indict Donald in 1964, and no state or federal charges were ever brought.

• Whether Andrews in fact drew a knife, as Donald claimed, is disputed — the three eyewitnesses identified in 1964 gave factually inconsistent accounts, per the DOJ memo.
• In a 2008 re-interview under the Till Act, Donald reportedly gave an account of the shooting that conflicted with what he told investigators in 1964; the full substance of that shift is not detailed in the public record.

• U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division — Frank Andrews closing memorandum
• PBS Frontline — “Unresolved”, Frank Andrews case profile
• Alabama Reflector — “No justice in 1964 slaying by sheriff's deputy”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs