NEW PICS: White woman, 88, who triggered the lynching of Emmett Till, is seen for the first time in 20 YEARS as she lives out final days cancer-stricken and in hospice care at her Kentucky home

• Carolyn Bryant Donham, now 88, has managed to go unseen since 2004, going on to live a long life - and now spending her final days in apparent tranquility - despite her role in 14-year-old Emmett Till's lynching in 1955
• At the time Donham was a 21-year-old married mother-of-two who accused the young black boy of whistling at her - a violation of the South's racist societal codes -  at a Mississippi store, setting off his brutal murder
• Today, she is living in a small apartment community in Kentucky with her son, Thomas Bryant, 71, and their pet shih tzu, as seen in these exclusive photos  
• Donham, who was wearing a nasal cannula looped over her ears and into her nose, suffers from cancer, is legally blind, and is receiving end of life hospice care in her home
• When approached by DailyMail.com, Donham stood by silently behind her son, who shook his head when asked if either would speak about Till 
• Till's beaten and mutilated body was thrown in the Tallahatchie River in Mississippi, weighted down with a large fan from a cotton gin, before being pulled out three days later on August 28 
• Donham's then husband Roy Bryant and his brother John Milam were later tried and acquitted of Till's murder, while she went on to evade charges or any consequences in a case that shocked the world for its brutality
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    • An unserved warrant for Donham's arrest was discovered by a team led by relatives of Till last month, bringing the case back into focus
      

      Nearly 70 years after Till's brutal murder, Donham now lives life as an anonymous old lady, living out her final days in the apparent tranquility of a southern backwater town

    

    Dressed in blue top and khaki slacks, she waited for a visit from her hospice nurse, greeting her at the door and waving her off with her little dog at her feet and the promise of seeing her 'next week' 

  She has managed to go unnoticed over the past two decades, going on to live a long life - and now spending her final days in seclusion

  Till, a 14-year-old black boy from Chicago, was visiting relatives near Money, Mississippi during the summer of 1955, when he entered a rural grocery store where Donham was working on August 24. 

  Donham, who is white, accused Till of whistling at her and grabbing her - a violation of the South's racist societal codes at the time - prompting her then-husband Roy Bryant to brutally murder the boy in return. 

  Bryant, who died in 1994, was ultimately acquitted of murder. Donham, however, managed to evade charges or any consequences in a case that shocked the world for its brutality. 

  

  When approached by The Mail, Donham's son answered the door as she stood only a couple of feet behind him. She stood by silently as he shook his head when asked if he or his mother would speak about Till

  Just three weeks ago, crowds of angry protesters descended on three addresses in Raleigh, North Carolina in which they mistakenly believed her to be living.

  Chanting black power slogans, they gathered outside two residential addresses and even stormed a nursing facility, unaware that she left the town and the state some months earlier.

  Their actions were spurred on by the discovery of an unserved warrant for Donham's arrest. 

  It was found by a five-person search team led by Till's cousin Deborah Watts and her daughter Terri along with members from the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation.

  They discovered the document inside a file folder that had been stored in a box in the basement of LeFlore County Circuit Court in Greenwood, Mississippi. Donham was identified only as 'Mrs. Roy Bryant.'

  Watts said that when they found the warrant, she and her daughter, 'cried and hugged each other.' 

  'Justice,' she said, 'Has to be done.'

  Issued on August 29, 1955, the warrant was based on the Sheriff's belief that Donham played a part in the kidnapping of Till, that she drove around the town of Money, Mississippi seeking him out and ultimately identified the terrified teen when he was brought to her on the night of Sunday August 28 that year, dragged from his bed, to be tortured and murdered by Donham's husband Roy and half-brother, John Milam.

  A police note on the back of the warrant says that she wasn't arrested because she was not in the county. 

  Yet a local sheriff told reporters at the time that he didn't want to 'bother' her since she had two little boys to care for.

  Law enforcement have not said if they plan to 'bother' the woman who is now living out her final days in relative seclusion many miles away, but the smart money says it is unlikely despite the Till family's calls for her arrest.

  Instead, she lives out her days visited by caregivers, hospice nurses, and a chaplain whom DailyMail.com observed carrying a bible as he entered Donham's home.

  

  Early last month, an unserved arrest warrant for Donham - pictured on the lawn of her husband's defense attorney's office in 1955 - was found in the basement of a Mississippi courthouse, prompting Till's family and activists to mobilize and call for justice

  

  Donham, pictured with her two sons, Roy Jr and Thomas, and then-husband Roy Bryant in September 1955, had claimed Till, a whistled at her. In return, Bryant and his brother abducted him from his great-uncle's home four days later and killed him 

  

  Roy Bryant (far right) and half-brother, J.W. Milam (far left) were charged with murder but were ultimately acquitted by an all-white jury. A triumphant Bryant is seen smoking a cigar as Carolyn embraces him after being cleared. Milam died of bone cancer at 61 in 1981 and Bryant died in 1994 also from cancer

  

  

  Up until now, Donham (pictured left with her daughter Carol Ann) had not been seen in public since 2004 (right) when she was approached by CBS's 60 Minutes in North Carolina. DailyMail.com's exclusive photos show she has aged considerably since then

If forgiveness is on her mind, it is never something Donham has publicly sought when it comes to her part in the Till's horrific death.

In fact, in her most recent version of the events leading up to Till's death – and there have been many – Donham attempted to absolve herself of any guilt.

Instead, in a memoir dictated to her former daughter-in-law and recently leaked, Donham claims that she lied in a bid to save Till and casts herself as a victim not perpetrator of the scene.

In the leaked 99-page document, 'I Am More Than A Wolf Whistle,' obtained by the Associated Press she wrote: 'I did not wish Emmett any harm and could not stop harm from coming to him, since I didn't know what was planned for him.'

She claimed: 'I have always prayed that God would bless Emmett's family. I am truly sorry for the pain his family was caused.

'I tried to protect him by telling Roy that, 'He's not the one. That's not him. Please take him home.'

But bizarrely, she claimed that Till himself told the violent racists who had abducted him that he had indeed catcalled her, stepping up to take blame in a way that defied all common sense.

Emmett Till with his mother, Mamie Bradley in 1950. Till, who was from Chicago, was visiting relatives in Mississippi during the summer of 1955 when he was brutally murdered 

Friends restrain grief-stricken Mrs. Mamie Bradley (left) as her son's body is lowered into the grave after a four-day, open casket funeral on September 5, 1955

Bradley insisted on having an open coffin funeral to show her son's tortured and mutilated body and expose the horror of his lynching and the persecution of African Americans in the US during the Jim Crow era 

A plaque marks the gravesite of Emmett Till at Burr Oak Cemetery in Aslip, Illinois. His murder in Money, Mississippi, helped spark the US civil rights movement

As it was, according to Donham's early accounts, Emmett's only 'offense' was to wolf whistle at a white woman when he entered the grocery store that she ran with her husband who was out of town that day.

Last week MGM studios debuted the first trailer for their biopic 'Till' which will center on the character of Mamie who will be played by Danielle Deadwyler of 'The Harder They Fall,' fame. Whoopi Goldberg will also star.

In 2004, just one year after Mrs. Till's death, the Justice Department opened a cold case investigation into the killing to see if any more charges could be brought.

After three years of investigation, in 2007, then District Attorney Joyce Chiles of Greenwood empaneled a grand jury to hear the case against Donham and what amounted to extensive evidence, including thousands of pages of documents, some uncovered by filmmaker Keith Beauchamp. 

The grand jury declined to bring any indictments.

Keith Beauchamp claimed to have found other suspects who were still alive and eyewitnesses who stated that Donham was in the truck when Till was abducted.

Speaking recently on the discovery of the Donham's unserved arrest warrant, Beauchamp said that as far as he was concerned Donham is a woman, 'who has been evading justice for over 66 years now.'

Just three weeks ago, crowds of angry protesters descended on three addresses in Raleigh, North Carolina in which they mistakenly believed Donham to be living, following the discovery of an unserved warrant for Donham's arrest 

Activists taped 'eviction notices' to the addresses listed under Donham's public records 

Video footage streamed live showed protesters knocking on doors calling out Carolyn Donham's name as they continued their search. But unable to locate her, they left the building

Lead Counsel for the Black Lawyers for Justice, Malik Shabazz, and other activists stormed a senior living center in search of her on July 6