One of the most notorious slayings in this notorious killing field was the murder of 24 year of Willie Edwards, Jr. In January of 1957 the KKK heard a rumor that Willie had the gall to date a white woman, a capital offense in the white hooded eyes of the Klan. Edwards left for work on afternoon and his body wasn't seen again for three months, when his terribly decomposed body washed up on the shore of the Alabama River. The KKK's Raymond Britt, Jr. told authorities that he had abducted Edwards, beat him, and then forced him to jump from the Tyler-Goodwin Bridge. Despite this testimony, Judge Frank Embry dismissed the charges claiming "merely forcing a person to jump from a bridge does not naturally and probably lead to the death of such person."