Isaiah Henry

Isaiah Henry, 38, a school bus driver and farmer who helped his Black neighbors prepare for voter registration tests, was found severely beaten on the side of a road in St. Helena Parish on July 28, 1954, one day after he voted in the Democratic primary. Unidentified men had called on him that morning and he left with them; he was later taken to a hospital in New Orleans. In early August 1954, sheriff's office deputies arrested a local police juror, Lester Hornsby, and a sheriff's deputy, Carl Womak, on charges of simple kidnapping and attempted murder; Womak had been the deputy assigned to the polling place where Henry voted. A contemporaneous news article quoted the assistant district attorney saying the two men were held because he believed they knew something about the beating, but no record indicates either man was ever indicted. Local jail logbooks, arrest warrants, and prosecutorial files from the case no longer exist. One of Henry's sons later said his father was likely beaten because of his political involvement.

Greensburg, LA · St. Helena Parish County

• 1954: 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, background, and the July 27–28, 1954 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file, drawing on a 2007 article in The Advocate.
• Lester Hornsby and Carl Womak were arrested on kidnapping and attempted murder charges in connection with the case, but no record indicates either was ever indicted, per the same file.

• No one was ever convicted in connection with Henry's beating.
• The full circumstances of his abduction that morning, and what happened to him before he was found on the roadside, were never documented.

• U.S. Department of Justice — Notice to Close File
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs