Born and raised in Louisiana, he investigated unresolved civil-rights-era killings in the Deep South. His reporting on one of those cases made him a Pulitzer Prize finalist.

He used biblical exegesis to argue that faith demands justice, calling on churches to challenge oppression and uplift society’s marginalized.

Her story, fashioned into an Off Broadway play and television movies, was later questioned by an investigator in a 2021 book.

© Christian Michael Delfino for The New York Times