Hattie DeBardelaben
Hattie DeBardelaben was a 46-year-old Black mother of seven who lived on a farm in Alabama. In March 1945, officers arrested her at home, and her 15-year-old son later told the FBI that officers beat her and that she was dying in the back of the car by the time they reached the county jail. The officers and a local doctor said she died of a heart attack, and the FBI closed the case that June. Her grandchildren grew up never being told how she died; documents released in 2024 finally gave them some of the answers they had been denied.
Cause of death, as reported: Killed by staff (disputed). Her son told the FBI that officers beat her, while the officers and a local doctor said she died of a heart attack, and the FBI closed the case in 1945 on that finding.
Reported by: Her son Edward Underwood (family or their lawyers); The officers who arrested her (the agency that held her); A local doctor (medical examiner or coroner); The 1945 FBI investigation (outside investigators).