Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr. ( born 1938 ) is an American terrorist and convicted felon , currently serving a life sentence for his role as conspirator in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham , Alabama in 1963 , which killed four young African-American girls ( Carole Robertson , Cynthia Wesley , Addie Mae Collins , and Denise McNair ) . Blanton , along with Bobby Frank Cherry , was convicted in 2001 in a highly publicized trial of the cold case . Blanton is the son of Thomas Edwin " Pops " Blanton Sr. , who was a notorious racist in the Birmingham , Alabama area , and his wife
16th Street Baptist Church bombing
16th Street Baptist Church bombing
Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr.