Louis Allen

Louis Allen, 44, a WWII veteran, logger, and landowner, was shot to death with a shotgun at his own gate in Liberty on January 31, 1964, the night before he was set to leave Mississippi for good. Allen had witnessed the 1961 murder of NAACP voter-registration activist Herbert Lee by state legislator E.H. Hurst, and after initially being coerced into corroborating a self-defense account, later told the FBI that Hurst had shot Lee in cold blood. Word spread that Allen had cooperated with federal investigators, and he was harassed and repeatedly jailed on false charges over the following two years by Amite County Sheriff Daniel Jones, who once broke Allen's jaw with a flashlight. The DOJ's Civil Rights Division formally closed its file on the case in 2015, naming Jones — by then deceased — as its subject.

Liberty, MS · Amite 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, background, and the January 31, 1964 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file.
• The DOJ's 2015 Notice to Close File names Sheriff Daniel Jones, reported deceased, as its subject.

• No one was ever charged in Allen's killing.
• The exact circumstances of the ambush, including how many people were involved, were never conclusively established.

• U.S. Department of Justice — Civil Rights Division case page
• U.S. Department of Justice — Notice to Close File
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs