Time to re-investigate Kendrick Johnson’s death

Friday, October 11, 2013

Good afternoon:

Lady2soothe posted three comments yesterday regarding the suspicious death of 17-year-old Kendrick Johnson at Lowndes High School in Valdosta, Georgia. His body was discovered in a rolled-up wrestling mat on January 11, 2013. The mat was in an upright position behind some bleachers. Kendrick’s body was in an upside down position.

Kendrick’s father, Kenneth Johnson, reported him missing the night before when Kendrick failed to return home from school.

After a four-month investigation, the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Department and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation concluded that Kendrick’s death was an accident. They said he got stuck inside the rolled-up mat while attempting to retrieve his gym shoe and died as the result of positional asphyxiation.

I find that very difficult to believe. How did the shoe get there and why would he have attempted to retrieve it by crawling headfirst down the tube?

If he attempted to retrieve it while the mat was rolled up on the floor, why not just unroll the mat?

Was he alone in the gym and if so, why?

If he was not alone, why didn’t someone help him?

There are other disturbing questions involving blood. For example, the medical examiner said Kendrick’s head filled with blood, due to gravity, and some of it spilled onto the floor beneath him. However, that would indicate a bleeding wound that suggests the possibility of an assault.

Here is a grisly photograph of Kendrick’s swollen face. Impossible for me to tell from the black and white photograph whether the swelling was caused by being struck multiple times in the face with a fist or blunt object or caused by gravity. Sure looks like he was struck in the face multiple times and that would account for the blood. I would need close-up color photographs of the face and cross-sections of the tissue beneath the skin to determine the presence or absence of bruising.

The shoe he was supposedly attempting to recover did not have any blood on it and it was below his head.

Red stains that look like dried blood on one of his gym shoes that was recovered under the bleachers supposedly did not test positive for the presence of blood, but the shoe was discarded into the trash making it impossible to retest.

An apparent blood stain on a nearby wall tested positive for the presence of blood, but supposedly did not match Kendrick.

Finally, Kendrick’s internal organs from his body cavity and his brain were disposed of in the trash and replaced with newspaper prior to his internment.

Harold Copus, a private investigator and former FBI agent has been working on the case. He believes Kendrick “met with foul play” and the police conducted “a shoddy investigation.”

Based on what I have read, I agree with him.

Michael J. Moore, the United States Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, is looking into the case to determine whether to commence a criminal investigation.

Contact Mr. Moore to urge him to take a look at Kendrick’s case:

Mr. Michael J. Moore
United States Attorney
Middle District of Georgia
Post Office Box 366
Albany, Georgia 31702-0366
(229) 430-7754

Benjamin Crump announced yesterday that he is joining the fight to reopen the investigation.