GA - Kendrick Johnson, 17, Suspicious Death, Jan. 10/11, 2013, #1

[LinasK]

I don't care what these people say...if there's nothing to hide, then why not release the tapes?? This case has been a mess from the start...the somebody needs to step forward and commit to investigate the handling of this case and the school officials that are withholding the tapes and find the connections because something just does not sit right with me about the way Kendrick was positioned...my personal belief is that someone's *advertiser censored**hole kids are involved and knew the right people to keep the details of this tragedy quiet. why would this case be any different from the thousands of others in which a body was wrapped in something and dumped? Because it was on school properly? Gimme a break...someone did something horrible and left this child covered in blood and apparently vomit, this was no accident...whether it was a single person or a group (I'm inclined to believe 2-3 people) someone knows something and is keeping very quiet.

I would imagine now that Crump is involved there will be even more of a scramble to keep these tapes under wraps.

I know many people die in unusual often stupid and unimaginable ways but I don't believe for a second a 17 year old boy "fell" or got stuck in this mat... And even if he did that he would fall so far in that he asphyxiated and died. I think this kid was much smarter than that. And the boy his father mentioned was on the other side of the gym when Kendrick went missing? How convenient.

I agree, I just don't see how this is possible, plus all the coverup smells like murder to me. Especially to find a dead body (sorry Kendrick) rolled up in a mat, just like so many are in carpets.

 

[LinasK]

I don't think anyone pointed this kid out specifically until recently, long after the investigation was done. Could be wrong - just not sure how they would target the kid on the tape if, as they've been telling anyone who will listen, they haven't seen the tape.

Besides, the phenomenal amount of cover up that would take.
Everyone in his class
Everyone in his class' relatives and friends
The instructor
The instructor's friends and family
The GBI
Sheriff's Department
Crime Scene personnel
Surveillance company
on and on - thousands of people would have to be complicit at the end of the day. This is why quickly concocted conspiracies never work. Well, I guess if they did work we wouldn't know about them.

It does happen. Prime example: The Steubenville rapes. Jerry Sandusky and Penn State is another prime example. Look how many years it took for it to be uncovered.

 

[LinasK]

I was really gung ho about calling this a murder and a cover-up was in place. But then I saw the time line and my opinion changed.

Why? Because it happened during the day, during school hours. If this had happened after hours when most people had gone for the day, and there might not be supervising adults in the area, I can see a fight and murder possibly taking place and body concealed. But there was a gym class that entered soon after. Unless that class and their teacher murder Kendrick, I don't see it possible that someone could have murdered him and stuffed his body in the back without being seen in such a short time.

What else makes me think this wasn't a murder? Well, if he was beaten to a pulp and placed in the mat, there should have been blood on the other mats too. His body was also in a mat that was buried in the back of other mats. The murderers would not have been able to kill him, move the mats out, stick in him in a mat, and then put them all back so quickly (or at least without the video showing). Plus there would be smear marks and more blood from them relocating the body.

Sadly, it appears he died by accident. I am puzzled about his shoes, but perhaps those came off as he was kicking to get free? The timeline article below also says one shoe and his books were on top, so it's possible he grabbed one shoe out, but then when he was going for the other he got jammed in. The neck trauma in the new autopsy could have been from the position of his body and the weight of his body on his head?

Also, the shoes he was retrieving were his gym shoes. He enters the gym, goes to the mats where he left his gym shoes because he was supposed to head to his next class. The white shoes are his street shoes.

Here's the article with the timeline again that was posted earlier.
http://valdostadailytimes.com/local/x6223544/Timeline-of-a-tragedy

Who said he was beaten to a pulp? Many deaths aren't that bloody. He did suffer blunt force trauma- maybe that was enough alone to kill him, maybe someone also strangled/suffocated him. It does not appear to me that he died by accident, rather murder.

 

[vlpate]

Wow, when the case first started Attorney King sent the Johnsons into the school with a letter telling them to release the videos to CNN. The man has :moo::moo:

Leigh Touchton interview - she bought the entire case file so has a ton of information. She also sort of clears up the EMT question.

She said she would never give an interview to CNN because of the way they are parsing the information.

She speaks to the difference between the Medical Examiner for the State and a private Pathologist.

If you really are interested in the facts of Kendrick Johnson case, this interview is a must. Thanks to momrids6

 

[BeginnersLuck]

I was really gung ho about calling this a murder and a cover-up was in place. But then I saw the time line and my opinion changed.

Why? Because it happened during the day, during school hours. If this had happened after hours when most people had gone for the day, and there might not be supervising adults in the area, I can see a fight and murder possibly taking place and body concealed. But there was a gym class that entered soon after. Unless that class and their teacher murder Kendrick, I don't see it possible that someone could have murdered him and stuffed his body in the back without being seen in such a short time.

What else makes me think this wasn't a murder? Well, if he was beaten to a pulp and placed in the mat, there should have been blood on the other mats too. His body was also in a mat that was buried in the back of other mats. The murderers would not have been able to kill him, move the mats out, stick in him in a mat, and then put them all back so quickly (or at least without the video showing). Plus there would be smear marks and more blood from them relocating the body.

Sadly, it appears he died by accident. I am puzzled about his shoes, but perhaps those came off as he was kicking to get free? The timeline article below also says one shoe and his books were on top, so it's possible he grabbed one shoe out, but then when he was going for the other he got jammed in. The neck trauma in the new autopsy could have been from the position of his body and the weight of his body on his head?

Also, the shoes he was retrieving were his gym shoes. He enters the gym, goes to the mats where he left his gym shoes because he was supposed to head to his next class. The white shoes are his street shoes.

Here's the article with the timeline again that was posted earlier.
http://valdostadailytimes.com/local/x6223544/Timeline-of-a-tragedy

BBM: I was thinking something on the same lines with the neck trauma. If he was on his head and his neck was bent with all his body weight on it, would it present as trauma in the autopsy?

Also after reading up on the person that did the second autopsy, it appears he doesn't have a great rep. He was also hired by the family to do this and in these cases, a lot of times they will tell the family what they want to hear if they are being independently paid.

I think people are seeing dollar signs and not necessarily doing what's in the best interest of KJ. The insinuations that I am reading that this is somehow race related, make me want to vomit.

 

[vlpate]

It does happen. Prime example: The Steubenville rapes. Jerry Sandusky and Penn State is another prime example. Look how many years it took for it to be uncovered.

Did all the students know what was going on, or the police department, the Sheriff's department, the Medical Examiners, coroners, teachers, crime scene personnel, EMT's, transport personnel - do you realize how many people would have had to get together and hatch a conspiracy.

Steubenville - how's that working for them?

Sandusky is a good example, but the difference is, those keeping the secrets had sick loyalties or something to lose. I can't imagine everyone within hearing distance of the gym that day had loyalties or something to lose.

 

[LinasK]

Did all the students know what was going on, or the police department, the Sheriff's department, the Medical Examiners, coroners, teachers, crime scene personnel, EMT's, transport personnel - do you realize how many people would have had to get together and hatch a conspiracy.

Steubenville - how's that working for them?

Sandusky is a good example, but the difference is, those keeping the secrets had sick loyalties or something to lose. I can't imagine everyone within hearing distance of the gym that day had loyalties or something to lose.

Hey, I'm the first one normally to yell, "paranoia"!:seeya: I worked with a paranoid schizophrenic who thought there were mass conspiracies of people getting together to put out billboards to taunt him. But I really think there is something to it in this case...

 

[vlpate]

BBM: I was thinking something on the same lines with the neck trauma. If he was on his head and his neck was bent with all his body weight on it, would it present as trauma in the autopsy?

Also after reading up on the person that did the second autopsy, it appears he doesn't have a great rep. He was also hired by the family to do this and in these cases, a lot of times they will tell the family what they want to hear if they are being independently paid.

I think people are seeing dollar signs and not necessarily doing what's in the best interest of KJ. The insinuations that I am reading that this is somehow race related, make me want to vomit.

I think the parents might have a better chance suing the school for safety violations than covering up a murder.

 

[Karmady]

I think the parents might have a better chance suing the school for safety violations than covering up a murder.

hate crimes gin up a whole lot more public outrage and, bonus, usually (if not always-haven't researched it) call for treble damages - as do claims for intentional v. negligent acts.

jmo

 

[vlpate]

hate crimes gin up a whole lot more public outrage and, bonus, usually (if not always-haven't researched it) call for treble damages - as do claims for intentional v. negligent acts.

jmo

Thanks! I just don't think this ever had a snowballs chance in hades. King was giving it a shot. I wish there were laws to protect citizens who get emotionally and financially involved in some of these cases that don't pan out.

 

[BeginnersLuck]

Wow, when the case first started Attorney King sent the Johnsons into the school with a letter telling them to release the videos to CNN. The man has :moo::moo:

Leigh Touchton interview - she bought the entire case file so has a ton of information. She also sort of clears up the EMT question.

She said she would never give an interview to CNN because of the way they are parsing the information.

She speaks to the difference between the Medical Examiner for the State and a private Pathologist.

If you really are interested in the facts of Kendrick Johnson case, this interview is a must. Thanks to momrids6

She even talks about how they recreated a scene with someone in the mat in the gym. This is something I was really interested in trying to do. I definitely recommend listening to her interview. She did a ton of homework!

 

[vlpate]

She even talks about how they recreated a scene with someone in the mat in the gym. This is something I was really interested in trying to do. I definitely recommend listening to her interview. She did a ton of homework!

The test she referred to is on youtube "Kendrick "KJ" Johnson Mat Test"

It's not exact, but it is still very hard to watch.

 

[LadyL]

BBM: I was thinking something on the same lines with the neck trauma. If he was on his head and his neck was bent with all his body weight on it, would it present as trauma in the autopsy?

Also after reading up on the person that did the second autopsy, it appears he doesn't have a great rep. He was also hired by the family to do this and in these cases, a lot of times they will tell the family what they want to hear if they are being independently paid.

I think people are seeing dollar signs and not necessarily doing what's in the best interest of KJ. The insinuations that I am reading that this is somehow race related, make me want to vomit.

[bbm]

agreed

I don't think there's any foul play here, as odd a death as it is

 

[vlpate]

"Attorneys for the parents of Kendrick Johnson, the 17-year-old high school student who in January of this year was found dead inside a rolled-up wrestling mat in the Lowndes High School gym, will tomorrow announce that they have filed legal documents officially requesting that a judge order a Coroner's Inquest into Johnson's death.

Kendrick Johnson's parents, along with family attorneys Chevene B. King, Jr. and Benjamin Crump, will address media tomorrow (Tuesday) at 11:30 a.m. to discuss the filing and their next legal moves in the case." [LINK]

What is a Coroner's Inquest?

A coroner's inquest is defined as an "official judicial inquiry before a coroner and a coroner's jury for the purpose of determining the cause and manner of death".

This is the second request by the family for a Coroner's Inquest - the first was in April, 2013.

 

[Shlock Homes]

I think the parents might have a better chance suing the school for safety violations than covering up a murder.

I agree. If the kids can't afford to pay for a locker, and they're using the mats for hiding their stuff, then that's a safety issue. Although from the sounds of it, the vertical stacking wasn't the norm.

 

[FrayedKnot]

Did all the students know what was going on, or the police department, the Sheriff's department, the Medical Examiners, coroners, teachers, crime scene personnel, EMT's, transport personnel - do you realize how many people would have had to get together and hatch a conspiracy.

Steubenville - how's that working for them?

Sandusky is a good example, but the difference is, those keeping the secrets had sick loyalties or something to lose. I can't imagine everyone within hearing distance of the gym that day had loyalties or something to lose.

Ah, but the EMTs report contradicted what the SD said ad the coroner said the SD was negligent in waiting 6 hours to call and compromised the investigation. I posted the links upthread.

So if there is some CYA going on, those parties are not in on it.

 

[Karmady]

I agree. If the kids can't afford to pay for a locker, and they're using the mats for hiding their stuff, then that's a safety issue. Although from the sounds of it, the vertical stacking wasn't the norm.

The locker fees are cheaper than the gym shoes by a mile, no doubt.

 

[vlpate]

I believe it will stream here.

 

[Karmady]

I believe it will stream here.

Thanks, but I think I've seen this one before

 

[beth272]

OK. But it seems to me that if KJ could have purposefully wedged himself into the mat, other students could have equally purposefully wedged him into the mat.

I don't see the two possibilities as mutually exclusive, unless the timeframe allowed for full rigor, which it doesn't.

Exactly, I just had to say that I totally agree with this. If its impossible for someone else to force him into the mat then its impossible for him to force himself...I don't know what the hell happened that day but what I don't believe is that KJ wedged himself in that mat