the fact that klansmen lived across the street from where this happened came to light very early on in the investigation. it was something that the police officers found more to be a coincidence than any indication of who did the actual crime. we were over at the body, making some notes about the condition and whatever, and i look and i see benny jack hayes, who was the person that owned the property and was the local. and i don t know what the rank is, what his position was or some cyclops or grand titan or some klan-related rank that he held. he was very volatile, very angry, very strange behavior. benny hayes was a paradox,
his top officials were behind and promoted the killing. some of the conspirators were high-ranking officers in the united klan. in fact, benny hayes was the second or third highest-ranking klansman in that organization in the state at the time of the murder. benny, he gave the orders. he manipulated these young people. tiger knowles was 17 years old at the time. benny hayes was just as culpable and should have been held just as accountable. and all of that together went to show the pattern of violence that this group had encouraged around the time that the michael donald lynching took place .