Edgar Ray Killen is being held for the murders of three civil rights workers in 1964. the three workers, James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, were on the way to investigate a church fire when they were stoped on an isolated road by the kkk and brutaly murdered.

the fillm Mississippi Burning tells the story of the murders and the investigation.
full story:

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4154039.stm