Carolyn and her husband Roy ran a grocery store called Bryant's Grocery & Meat Market, which is where Emmett had his alleged exchange with Carolyn. It was a hot summer day in August 1955, when Emmett, who was known as a bit of a prankster, entered the store. Details of that day are fuzzy. Carolyn claimed Emmett came behind the counter where she was working, grabbed her, made a few crude remarks, then whistled at her when she left.

A few days later, Carolyn's husband returned home. When he found out what happened, he contacted his half-brother J.W., and the two abducted and murdered Emmett. The all-white jury declared them not guilty.

Eventually, Carolyn divorced Roy and took their children with her. She remarried twice and never publicly spoke about Emmett Till again — that is, until 2007, when she spoke with Duke University senior research scholar, Timothy Tyson, who was writing a book about Emmett Till.

In the book, The Blood of Emmett Till (2017), Carolyn confessed to lying about what Emmett said and did to her that fateful day. He didn't say anything to her, nor did he touch her in any way. Carolyn actually reached out to Timothy because she was writing her own memoirs. According to Timothy, Carolyn was glad the times have changed, though she didn't expressly ask for forgiveness. Carolyn did mention feeling "tender sorrow" towards Emmett's mother, Mamie Till-Mobley.

After this came to light, the Department of Justice (DOJ) reopened the case, but it was closed again in December 2021 as they were unable to prove that Carolyn had lied. Per the DOJ, when asked about the recantation, Carolyn "denied to the FBI that she ever recanted her testimony." Timothy recorded their conversation but couldn't produce the tape with the recantation on it. His assistant also transcribed the interview, which was also missing said recantation.