Johnnie Mae Chappell

Johnnie Mae Chappell, 35, a domestic worker and mother of ten, was shot and killed on the night of March 23, 1964 while retracing her steps along New Kings Road in Jacksonville's Pickettville neighborhood, searching with two neighbors for a wallet she had dropped, during a night of racial unrest in the city. A car carrying four white men drove past; one of them, J.W. Rich, fired a .22-caliber pistol, fatally wounding her. The case went unsolved for five months until one of the men, Wayne Chessman, approached detectives and confessed, naming Rich as the shooter along with Elmer Kato and James Alex Davis. All four were indicted for first-degree murder, but only Rich stood trial; an all-white jury convicted him of the lesser charge of manslaughter, and he served about three years. The murder weapon went missing before trial. The three other men were never tried; Florida later granted them immunity. The DOJ's Civil Rights Division formally closed its file on August 18, 2014, citing insufficient federal evidence and the state's grant of immunity to the surviving subjects.

Jacksonville, FL · Duval 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 March 23, 1964 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file and its 2014 Notice to Close File.
• J.W. Rich's manslaughter conviction, and the identities of the three other men indicted but never tried, per the same records and public reporting.

• What became of the murder weapon, which went missing before trial.
• The full circumstances under which Florida granted immunity to the three uncharged men.

• U.S. Department of Justice — Notice to Close File
• PBS FRONTLINE Un(re)solved — case summary
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs