Despite racial wounds, Alcolu residents unite to preserve memories of a bygone heyday

An Undying Mystery

Chapter Five: Divided past, shared future

New details emerge about an alternate suspect in Alcolu girls' murders

Chapter Four: Whodunit?

For 70 years, history blamed George Stinney Jr. for the murders of two white girls. But attorneys who dusted off the case discovered disturbing flaws in the evidence used to execute the child.

Chapter Three: Righting injustice

George Stinney Jr. was a depraved child-killer to his executioners and an unrepentant predator in the press. Until new evidence revealed he probably wasn’t.

Chapter Two: Re-examining history

A chance encounter in 1944 brings 14-year-old George Stinney Jr. into brief contact with two white girls. It seems so innocuous. Yet, an enduring mystery is born in the moments the girls walk away.

Chapter One: Crime & punishment

In 1944, George Stinney Jr. became the youngest person ever executed in South Carolina at age 14. He was accused of bludgeoning two white girls to death and convicted by an all-white jury in a matter of minutes. Now, more than 70 years later, new evidence suggests someone else may have committed the murders. The Post and Courier explores this haunting tale that still plagues the small town of Alcolu.