Emmett Till's Accuser Carolyn Bryant Donham Dead at 88

Carolyn Bryant Donham -- the woman who accused 14-year-old Emmett Till of whistling at her, leading to his horrifying death at the hands of her husband -- has died.

Donham's death was confirmed Thursday by the Calcasieu Parish, LA coroner's office ... which told Mississippi Today the 88-year-old had been under hospice care while suffering from cancer.

Donham's 1955 allegation against Emmett, which was never proven, prompted her husband and brother-in-law to kidnap the child, beat him and shoot him in the head.

When Emmett's body was found he'd been brutalized so badly his face was unrecognizable. More than 50,000 people attended his funeral, where his mother decided to leave his casket open, saying ... "Let the world see what they did to my boy."

A jury acquitted Donham's husband and brother-in-law, although many years later they confessed to the crimes.

As for Donham, she was never charged in Till's murder. Although, an unserved warrant for her arrest, back in 1955, was found last year in the basement of an old courthouse ... a grand jury declined to indict her for the slaying.