Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr.

Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr. (June 20, 1938 – June 26, 2020) was an American terrorist and convicted felon, formerly serving four life sentences for his role as conspirator in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, on September 15, 1963, which killed four African American girls (Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley, Addie Mae Collins, and Denise McNair).

Blanton was born in Washington, D.C., on June 20, 1938, and was the son of Thomas Edwin "Pops" Blanton Sr., who was described in 2001 as a notorious racist in the Birmingham, Alabama, area.

Blanton had a tenth-grade education and served as an aircraft mechanic in the Navy from 1956 to 1959.

Blanton was a member of the Ku Klux Klan in the early 1960s, along with the other suspects in the bombing.

At the time of his arrest, Blanton was working at a Walmart store and he was living in a trailer with no running water.

Blanton was a suspect from early in the investigation, but J. Edgar Hoover prevented attempts by the Birmingham office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to bring charges against Blanton and three other men.

This was reportedly because Hoover thought a successful prosecution was unlikely.

Blanton, along with Bobby Frank Cherry, was convicted in 2001 in a highly publicized trial of the cold case.

Future United States Senator Doug Jones successfully prosecuted Blanton and Cherry.

In a jury trial in 2001, Blanton was prosecuted by the state, and convicted of murder.

He was sentenced to four life sentences in state prison.

He was housed at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama.

Blanton went before the parole board on August 3, 2016.

Parole was denied and deferred until 2021.

On June 26, 2020, Blanton died at William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility from unspecified causes while serving his life sentence, six days after his 82nd birthday.