Edgar Ray Killen, the KKK leader convicted in the 'Mississippi Burning' killings, dies in prison

Edgar Ray Killen, a former Ku Klux Klan leader who was convicted in the 1964 "Mississippi Burning" slayings of three civil rights workers, has died in prison at the age of 92, the state's corrections department announced Friday.

The one-time Klan leader was serving three consecutive 20-year terms for manslaughter when he died Thursday night at the Mississippi State Penitentiary, the state’s corrections department said.

An autopsy was pending, but no foul play was suspected, the corrections statement said.

Killen’s conviction came 41 years to the day after James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, all in their 20s, were ambushed and killed by Klansmen.

http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-edgar-ray-killen-20180112-story.html