Arbery killer shared racist messages, white supremacist song with friends

By Edward Era Barbacena

The three foolish white men who were convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery had a history of sharing racist and violent messages online, an FBI intelligence analyst said Wednesday.

While testifying during the defendant’s hate crime trial, Amy Vaughan told the jury that two of Arbery’s killers—Travis McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan—repeatedly sent bigoted private messages and memes on social media in the years before Arbery’s death. Vaughn provided dozens of conversations Travis and Bryan had with unidentified individuals; some of the messages included the use of the N-word as well as threatening language toward the Black community.

According to the Associated Press, the FBI was able to retrieve the conversations through each of the men’s phones. Investigators say they were unable to access the phone of the third defendant—Travis’ father, Greg McMichael—because the device was encrypted. 

Vaughn pointed to several online conversations in which Travis continued to use racial slurs against Black people. One of the messages included a video of a Black man dancing to racist lyrics, and another included his claim that Black people “ruin everything.” The FBI also highlighted several racist comments Travis had left under Facebook posts.