The Justice Department has closed its investigation into the 1955 killing of Emmett Till for the second time, CNN reports.

His relatives were informed on Monday about the department's decision. Till’s cousin, Rev. Wheeler Parker, expressed his disappointment in the mishandling of Till's case.

“Today is a day we will never forget,” the reverend said during a press conference, according to Atlanta Black Star. “For 66 years we have suffered pain for his loss, and I suffered tremendously because of the way that they painted him."

The Justice Department initially conducted an investigation into Till's death from 2004 to 2006, according to the Detroit Free Press. The DOJ closed the case in 2007 when a jury failed to indict Till's accuser, Carolyn Bryant Donham, and the statute of limitations had run out.

The department reopened the investigation for a second time after uncovering an excerpt from author Timothy Tyson’s book The Blood of Emmett Till, which exposed an alleged confession from the woman who had originally testified that Till grabbed her hand and waist. According to Tyson, Donham had recanted the allegations.

The professor and author said that during a 2008 interview, Donham told him, “That part’s not true,” in reference to the allegations she made against Till. However, Donham's family said she has never recanted her allegations, according to NPR.

Despite the book’s details, Donham denied retracting her confession to investigators during the FBI’s questioning.

As a result, the department ended the investigation for a second time, citing that there was “insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she lied to the FBI,” the Justice Department said in a news release, according to U.S. News.

Tyson gave a statement to ABC in his fight against the department’s ongoing dismissal of the case.

"As I write in the book on page 6, Carolyn Bryant Donham’s 'confession' to me was corroborated by her own account, given to her attorney only days after Emmett Till’s body was found — her attorney, who could not testify against her, in private, and right after," he said in the statement.

"She told her attorney her story, but did not mention any physical contact, which she described in court as more or less a rape attempt; when she told me 'that part’s not true' I was well aware of that. There is a lot of evidence," Tyson added.

He has remained steadfast in his belief that Donham renounced her confession.

"We cannot stop even though we don't feel that we got justice," said Ollie Gordon, one of Till's cousins, according to CNN. "We still must move forward so that these particular hate crimes will not continue to be done and no justice is found."

Till’s killing jolted a civil rights movement after his mother insisted on an open casket for those to witness the horrific effects of racism. Jet magazine would later publish photos of Till's brutalized body.

Now, The Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act requires the Justice Department to make an annual report to Congress, according to NPR. Nothing has been filed for this year, however, details were provided in June 2021 indicating that the department is still investigating Till's abduction and death.