The coroner does not agree at all that they were doing him a favor:
"I just think the whole thing was handled wrong," Bill Watson, Lowndes County Coroner, said.
17-year old Kendrick Johnson's body was found inside a rolled up wrestling mat in the Lowndes High School Gym on January eleventh. Since then, the Sheriff's Office has said no foul play is suspected in his death. But the Lowndes County Coroner Bill Watson doesn't agree.
"We should have never been told that there was no foul play," Watson said.
...
Although
Kendrick's body was first discovered around 9 a.m., Watson says he wasn't notified by the Sheriff's Office until around 3 p.m.
"Well it compromises my investigation one hundred percent," Watson said. "I don't know what the county did when they got there on the scene. The body had been moved. The scene, in my opinion, had been compromised."
http://www.wctv.tv/news/georgianews/headlines/Coroner-Claims--203428171.html#storyTitleSummary
And:
.. Watson, who also stated he wasnt contacted when Kendricks body was first discovered.
This was not fair to the decedent, his family, and the citizens of Valdosta and Lowndes County, Ga. And its wrong as rain, Watson said in January when he spoke to The Times.
You may not want me on your crime scene, but its a law. Its not something you can change your mind about.
http://valdostadailytimes.com/local/x237742914/Family-wants-answers-in-LHS-students-death/print
From the same article, Sheriff Prine speaking:
"we always work deaths similar to this one as a homicide investigation until its been proven accidental and thats how weve treated this investigation."
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OK. So they proved it an accident before the coroner even arrived. Right.
Even if one doesn't believe foul play was involved, it is clear that the investigation was seriously bungled.