KENDRICK JOHNSON: Death of teen at Lowndes High School in Valdosta, GA - 2013 - murder or accidental?

Johnson’s family has long-suspected the teen was killed by classmates and theorized that their parents conspired with school and law enforcement officials to cover up his death. If authentic, the audio may be one of the first significant clues to emerge since the case’s reopening earlier this month by the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office.

Investigators declined to comment on what's said in the audio but confirmed they’re now tracking down the individual who allegedly sold the tape to Johnson’s mother.

'A Burden Like Hell': New Audio May Contain Confession In Kendrick Johnson’s Mysterious Death | Oxygen Official Site

A recording that reportedly contains an emotional confession of an individual who may have been involved in the suspicious 2013 death of teenager Kendrick Johnson in Georgia is now being vetted by authorities, police said this week.

www.oxygen.com

 

[Guess Who]

This is somewhat local to me & I have followed since it happened. Area newspapers & tv covered the story extensively all along. I believe Kendrick was alone in the gym & died in a tragic accident.

Attorney Ben Crump has been on the case since early on & supported the accusations against the Bell brothers, the multiple lawsuits & the Johnsons' year-long protest on the courthouse sidewalk. If you are not familiar with Crump, the internet should be helpful as he is now a national figure.

For many reasons, some very gruesome, I think the parents just cannot leave this alone. They need someone to blame for their devastating loss.

I do feel that was the case, but their "investigation" was seriously flawed and their report only made more questions instead of answering them with the way they worded things.

It sure makes me thankful that our gyms here store their mats flat, stacked up on top of each other. I've never seen them rolled up like that.

 

[noZme]

The GBI autopsy & investigation were thorough. Each step in the events made sense to me. I think the family authorized autopsy findings were exactly what was intended to be.

Kendrick suffered stuck in that mat. His body was horribly disfigured from hanging upside down. When it was disinterred, the family learned of further abuse from the funeral home. It is too much for them to take & they need someone to blame.

The accusations against the Bells have had huge consequences. The older boy lost his baseball scholarship at FSU. They had death threats & have lived under suspicions for all these years. Very early in the investigation, it was determined neither brother was near the school gymnasium when Kendrick died. Yet accusations continue. I will not go as far as to say the Johnsons have become addicted to the spotlight, but they have been used & pushed all along.

 

[Regina]

The probably cause for the warrant does not mean there was incriminating evidence found during the search. I think the warrant was issued on the basis of false claims that BB and Kendrick had a problem with each other.

Btw, the sheriff 's synopsis includes info I hadn't read or heard anywhere else regarding the incident on the bus! Info I'd read previously seemed to me to imply that Brian initiated an incident, but according to that info, it was the other way around.

 

[GrandmaBear]

The GBI autopsy & investigation were thorough. Each step in the events made sense to me. I think the family authorized autopsy findings were exactly what was intended to be.

Kendrick suffered stuck in that mat. His body was horribly disfigured from hanging upside down. When it was disinterred, the family learned of further abuse from the funeral home. It is too much for them to take & they need someone to blame.

The accusations against the Bells have had huge consequences. The older boy lost his baseball scholarship at FSU. They had death threats & have lived under suspicions for all these years. Very early in the investigation, it was determined neither brother was near the school gymnasium when Kendrick died. Yet accusations continue. I will not go as far as to say the Johnsons have become addicted to the spotlight, but they have been used & pushed all along.

It is good to know these things that don't necessarily end up in all news articles. I don't agree with any of this, I mean what happened to the Bells without justification for instance. I feel for the family but can easily believe they have been led and pushed.

The article some ways back, remarked on the organs missing. I didn't really address it or mention that part, but I instantly figured it was more than likely the funeral home. Sadly I have heard of and know of a doctor who was doing something on that order as well. There is a market for organs and they don't have to be viable.

It of course makes me feel for the family. As if their loss wasn't horrendous enough, they then have this organ ordeal. My family has went through a loss where we can't even to this day let ourselves think about what she went through and what likely went on so of course that kicks in for me with families of a lost child and if they suspect murder oh boy, it is even harder.

I don't know if the Bells were there or not but I agree you can't or shouldn't be accusing someone of murder if there isn't enough basis.

My problem with this case is it doesn't add up is the simplest way to put it. Forget the POIs, the family, the organs/funeral home, it just doesn't add up and isn't explained satisfactorily or even close imo.

The last few things I did have a chance to read have me thinking something... I think a few things were said as to how things were, etc. maybe early on that they then have had to stick to throughout. Correcting them when there were already doubts and questions I think maybe worried it would just make it seem more like a cover up. I think this may be why now things just don't fit together as they should.

Anyhow, I would like to just feel as most others do but I'm just going to leave it at I'm not convinced and it happens in a rare case here and there and this is one. I'm fine with feeling differently about it than others and I'm fine with changing my opinion if I get a chance and see things that add up better in the future.

My summary as of now. I'm not convinced it was an accident and I'm not convinced it wasn't. I don't think there is enough that either can be arrived at as a conclusion or finding. And I think that is what they would be better off saying for all concerned. Jmo though.

 

[Regina]

Btw, the sheriff 's synopsis includes info I hadn't read or heard anywhere else regarding the incident on the bus! Info I'd read previously seemed to me to imply that Brian initiated an incident, but according to that info, it was the other way around.

I have another thought about this I'd like to share...
If Kendrick initiated the incident the way the sheriff described, then I think it shows that Brian and Kendrick must have been good friends because based on my impression of Kendrick, I wouldn't expect that he would have behaved that way with Brian if they hadn't been.

 

[Regina]

I'm not sure whether I've previously watched an episode of Ash's investigation all the way through, but I have watched the last two and I'm really looking forward to the next one!

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

I'm pretty sure Episode 9 was the last one posted in this thread, way back on page 2.
(I have not watched these.)

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

‘We’re going to let them know that Kendrick Johnson’s life matters’: Almost 10 years later, family still fighting for answers after son found dead in gym mat

To mark what would have been another birthday, The Johnson family, friends and supporters of Justice for Kendrick gathered at Sunset Hill Cemetery in Valdosta on Monday.

www.walb.com

‘We’re going to let them know that Kendrick Johnson’s life matters’: Almost 10 years later, family still fighting for answers after son found dead in gym mat​

It’s been almost 10 years since the body of Lowndes High School student Kendrick Johnson was discovered in a rolled-up gym mat in his school gymnasium. Monday would’ve been his 27th birthday.

To mark what would have been another birthday, The Johnson family, friends and supporters of Justice for Kendrick gathered at Sunset Hill Cemetery in Valdosta on Monday.

His parents Jacquelyn and Kenneth Johnson said they are always working to find the truth about what happened to their son.

“We do have some stuff going on, that we can’t talk about it right now and it is his 10th ‘angel-versary’ coming up in January. We’re going to continue doing what we’ve been doing. We’re going to continue to fight, stand tall. We’re going to let them know that Kendrick Johnson’s life matters,” Jacquelyn said.

“Kendrick Johnson deserves accountability cause there’s no such thing as justice. Cause justice means my child being here and I wouldn’t be here in this graveyard visiting him. So please come forward so we can get accountability held for the ones that took his life,” Jacquelyn said.

Said Kenneth: “And for the ones who helped covered Kendrick Johnson’s death.”

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Kendrick Johnson’s family hosts grief support group nearing the 10-year ‘angelversary’ of his death

The family of Kendrick Johnson is remembering him to start January 2023 in a series of public events, leading up to the 10-year commemoration of his death.

www.walb.com

Kendrick Johnson’s family hosts grief support group nearing the 10-year ‘angelversary’ of his death​

The family of Kendrick Johnson is remembering him to start January 2023 in a series of public events, leading up to the 10-year commemoration of his death.

On Jan. 11, 2013, Johnson’s body was discovered in a rolled-up gym mat at Lowndes High School.

Kendrick Johnson’s death made national news, not on the day his body was discovered, but in weeks, even years that followed. Investigators ruled his death an accident, but his family and many across the country believe he was murdered.

Over the past 10 years, the Johnson family has filed several lawsuits and led many public protests. His body has been exhumed twice, and there have been three autopsies. The last two concluded Kendrick’s death was caused by blunt-force trauma.

In 2021, Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk reopened the case. He says he reviewed all the evidence personally, and in 2022, his office closed the case ruling there was no sign of foul play.

But the 10-year commemoration isn’t about lawsuits or legal issues. Johnson’s sister, Kenyetta, is hosting a sibling grief support group and they’ll be watching a documentary about her brother’s death.

“First, we’re going to watch the movie then basically going to be asking the siblings and whoever else is in the crowd like questions and see like how life has been since their siblings has passed and how it’s going for them and things like that. Just basically trying to be a support for other siblings like me,” Kenyetta Johnson said.

 

[Regina]

I've been following the episodes, but am disappointed that at the end of one episode, it was implied that in the next episode would be her interview of Kenderick's cousin, yet several episodes later, there's been no mention of him at all.

 

[Regina]

 

[Mel70]

10 yrs this has been debated. People are passionate on one side or the other. I have not kept up with the case. But know a little. Enough to say that his death is very mysteriously suspicious. It's a very creepy case to me. Something isn't right.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Kendrick Johnson’s parents expected to file documents alleging false information against Lowndes Co. sheriff

The Johnsons say they will take this fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.

www.walb.com

Kendrick Johnson’s parents expected to file documents alleging false information against Lowndes Co. sheriff​

The parents of Kendrick Johnson, the 17-year-old teen whose dead body was found rolled up inside a mat at Lowndes High School in 2013, will soon be filing documentation in federal court in Atlanta.

On Sept. 19, 2023, the Johnsons are expected to submit documentation regarding current Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk’s investigation synopsis from January 2022. Johnson’s parents plan to address what they say is false information about the death of their son.

Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk closed the case at the beginning of 2022, nearly 10 years after Kendrick’s death. Paulk ruled the death an accident saying Kendrick died of positional asphyxiation when he fell into a vertical gym mat while reaching for something.


“For 10 years, the Johnsons have endured having their constitutional rights violated and interfered with by government employees in the state of Georgia poisoning the well with the farce, the scientifically and physically impossible narrative that Kendrick Johnson died from a freak accident,” Jonathan R. Burrs, a family spokesperson, said.

The Johnsons say they will take this fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Kendrick Johnson: Parents of teen found dead in gym mat file lawsuit against GBI, sheriff's office

Investigators say the 17-year-old Kendrick Johnson died in a freak accident at his high school, but his family believes that someone killed him and officials are covering up the crime.

www.fox5atlanta.com

Kendrick Johnson: Parents of teen found dead in gym mat file lawsuit against GBI, sheriff's office​

The parents of Kendrick Johnson, a Lowndes County High School student whose body was found in an upright wrestling mat, have filed a lawsuit against the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Lowndes County Sheriff's Office about what they claim is "false information" connected to the investigation into his death.

"It's a shame that we have been having to fight for 10 long years and nobody seems to care about Kendrick. He's just another child that they want to sweep under the rug," said Kendrick's mother, Jackie Johnson.

It's been 10 years since Johnson's body was found by classmates and alerted a coach, who contacted emergency personnel.


Kendrick's parents Kenneth and Jackie Johnson dispute the sheriff's conclusions and call the situation a "cover up." As part of the new $1 billion lawsuit, the family and the lawyers say they are hoping to "address the materially false information" in Paulk's synopsis.

"We are going to continue to keep fighting for Kendrick because his life mattered," said Jackie Johnson.

Speaking Tuesday after filing the suit, Kenneth Johnson said one example of what the family says is false information is law enforcement's statement that there was no trauma or major bruising on his son's body.

"All the evidence they collected contradicts the cause of death on the death certificate as well as the synopsis," said the Johnsons' lawyer, Jonathan Burrs.

Johnson says that photos of the body taken after it was found showed damage from something like a Taser or stun gun.

"What the Johnsons found was that there was materially false information in that synopsis that could've only come from the medical examiner that invented this narrative, and we say invented because there is no evidence to support it," Burrs said.

As part of their concerns, the Johnsons claim that their son's body was "butchered" and "mutilated" by a medical examiner with the Georgia Bureau of Investigators during his autopsy.

"One retired surgeon declared they had not seen anything remotely resembling the body of Kendrick in more than 43 years from their experience with autopsies," the family wrote.

The Johnsons say they will take their fight over the investigation to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.

"They killed the wrong child, but they got the right parents because we are going to continue to fight for Kendrick," Jackie Johnson said.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Kendrick Johnson’s mother files complaint against GBI Medical Examiner

The complaint is against Dr. Maryanne Kraft with the GBI for “butchering and mutilating” her son’s body in the 2013 autopsy performed.

www.walb.com

Kendrick Johnson’s mother files complaint against GBI Medical Examiner​

The mother of Kendrick Johnson has filed another legal complaint against the case involving her son.

The complaint is against Dr. Maryanne Kraft with the GBI for “butchering and mutilating” her son’s body in the 2013 autopsy that she performed. This complaint includes images of Kendrick’s body, which are too graphic to show.

The complaint alleges, “Dr. Kraft butchered and mutilated my son’s body in an unprecedented manner by carving out irregular large chunks of his back... unexplained by any medical technique or procedure.”

It also says, “This mutilation was to conceal injuries Kendrick sustained that were contrary to Dr. Kraft’s erroneous cause of death and amounted to felony violations of the Georgia Code.”

The complaint then goes on to say, “Dr. Kraft’s actions and reports at the minimum are egregious and violate a multitude of federal and state criminal statutes.”

The GBI responded to the complaint with this comment, “The GBI Medical Examiner’s Office conducted a thorough autopsy on this case. The case is closed, and we stand by our original findings.”

The complaint lists other cases that involve complaints against Dr. Kraft for alleged unethical behavior, as well.

 

[GrandmaBear]

Kendrick Johnson’s mother files complaint against GBI Medical Examiner

The complaint is against Dr. Maryanne Kraft with the GBI for “butchering and mutilating” her son’s body in the 2013 autopsy performed.

www.walb.com

Kendrick Johnson’s mother files complaint against GBI Medical Examiner​

The mother of Kendrick Johnson has filed another legal complaint against the case involving her son.

The complaint is against Dr. Maryanne Kraft with the GBI for “butchering and mutilating” her son’s body in the 2013 autopsy that she performed. This complaint includes images of Kendrick’s body, which are too graphic to show.

The complaint alleges, “Dr. Kraft butchered and mutilated my son’s body in an unprecedented manner by carving out irregular large chunks of his back... unexplained by any medical technique or procedure.”

It also says, “This mutilation was to conceal injuries Kendrick sustained that were contrary to Dr. Kraft’s erroneous cause of death and amounted to felony violations of the Georgia Code.”

The complaint then goes on to say, “Dr. Kraft’s actions and reports at the minimum are egregious and violate a multitude of federal and state criminal statutes.”

The GBI responded to the complaint with this comment, “The GBI Medical Examiner’s Office conducted a thorough autopsy on this case. The case is closed, and we stand by our original findings.”

The complaint lists other cases that involve complaints against Dr. Kraft for alleged unethical behavior, as well.

OTHER cases claiming unethical behavior. Now that's interesting...

 

[Guess Who]

Kendrick Johnson’s mother files complaint against GBI Medical Examiner

The complaint is against Dr. Maryanne Kraft with the GBI for “butchering and mutilating” her son’s body in the 2013 autopsy performed.

www.walb.com

Kendrick Johnson’s mother files complaint against GBI Medical Examiner​

The mother of Kendrick Johnson has filed another legal complaint against the case involving her son.

The complaint is against Dr. Maryanne Kraft with the GBI for “butchering and mutilating” her son’s body in the 2013 autopsy that she performed. This complaint includes images of Kendrick’s body, which are too graphic to show.

The complaint alleges, “Dr. Kraft butchered and mutilated my son’s body in an unprecedented manner by carving out irregular large chunks of his back... unexplained by any medical technique or procedure.”

It also says, “This mutilation was to conceal injuries Kendrick sustained that were contrary to Dr. Kraft’s erroneous cause of death and amounted to felony violations of the Georgia Code.”

The complaint then goes on to say, “Dr. Kraft’s actions and reports at the minimum are egregious and violate a multitude of federal and state criminal statutes.”

The GBI responded to the complaint with this comment, “The GBI Medical Examiner’s Office conducted a thorough autopsy on this case. The case is closed, and we stand by our original findings.”

The complaint lists other cases that involve complaints against Dr. Kraft for alleged unethical behavior, as well.

I hope she gets some answers on this.