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

[Karmady]

A lot of the kids stored their shoes and things in the mats because they didn't have lockers - I would hope this is a practice that is banned going forward. It had to be a horrific way to die. Having asthma and knowing what it's like not to be able to breathe and then the panic sets in - poor kid.

As I understand it, they typically store their stuff in the mats while the mats are horizontal. So his shoes were in there when the mat was horizontal and it was then tipped up to vertical for storage during the holiday causing the shoes to fall to the bottom.

Also, while it's true they stored their stuff in the mats because they didn't have lockers, the reason they didn't have lockers is because of the locker fee. Not because there were none available. I'm sure the next fight will be over locker fees!

 

[Karmady]

There was ample time for something to happen. An assault or an accident. There was time for someone to remove him from that location for sure. And yes return him later - after all the activities in the old gym that day. Maybe he was terminally injured, dying. ??? Already that person violated alot of rules, laws, codes- anyway. BUt so many laws had already beenbroken..the mats stored in that position...not returned to a safe position.

I can absolutely see - I am sorry- people ( read teachers, coaches, admin- students!!) ( people who can't speak for themselves- as the official said) covering it up. staging things :-(

My hubby saw the photos, and he has seen alot of not good things- his dad was kidnapped and murdered. He was absolutely shocked by this case and photos and one thing he said was KJ looked worse after less than 24 hours in that mat than his father did after 3 weeks buried in the sand in Central America. :-( harsh and sad but that's what he shared with me.
poor Kendrick!

Not to be gruesome, but being buried in sand in an arid climate, especially, actually preserves a body. Check the discussion of this in the Adrienne Salinas thread by peeps familiar with desert dwelling. No comparison to positional asphyxiation - especially in the upside down position.

jmo

 

[IzzyBlanche]

BBM

"The one he fell into was in the middle of the stack, and he couldn’t get to it any other way than from the top ‘cause they’re so heavy he couldn’t move them.”

http://valdostadailytimes.com/local/x6223544/Timeline-of-a-tragedy

BBM. Page 1 of the crime lab report:

When the teacher made their way to the rolled-up mats in the back row along the Old Gymnasium southwest wall they saw what appeared to be a deceased body.

http://www.news4jax.com/blob/view/-...Crime-lab-report-in-Kendrick-Johnson-case.pdf

So the sheriff is contradicting his own crime lab. Very interesting.

 

[Flossie JMO]

bbm
Do you know if there is a forum on Websleuths for this case?

Perhaps this case: Haidl Gang Rape Trial - Merged Threads - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community

 

[IzzyBlanche]

BBM

The DNA testing of a speck of blood on the gymnasium wall, 50 feet from where a Lowndes High School student’s body was discovered, was one of many time-consuming steps authorities took to complete the four-month probe, all of which culminated Thursday into a completed autopsy and a timeline of the event surrounding the final hours of the life of Kendrick Johnson, 17.

DNA testing confirmed the blood did not belong to Johnson and the autopsy report was subsequently released this week by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

and

“We found bloody Kleenex in one of the bathrooms and traced them to one of the flag girls who got hurt during practice, but we have them tested to make sure and it was female DNA,” she said.

http://valdostadailytimes.com/local/x6223544/Timeline-of-a-tragedy

I wasn't referring to either of those things. I was referring to the streaks of blood shown here at about 2:15:

I see I was mistaken about the testing: right after this the deputy says it was not Kendrick's blood. But he also goes on to say they didn't try to find out whose it was because they determined it was "not related to our crime in any way."

How did they determine that? And I thought it wasn't a crime.

[video=youtube;Smetun7ZDDM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Smetun7ZDDM[/video]

 

[IzzyBlanche]

If his nose had been bloodied before being placed in the mat (and, presumably, he was totally incapacitated or killed by it?), I cannot imagine that there wouldn't be blood between where that assault took place and where his body was found. And yes, a broken nose would have been easily identified by a coroner (and he wouldn't have been incapacitated by anything less). Moreover, the way that rigor and livor mortis had set in was consistent with the position that his body was found in the mat.

While I can't say that I can guess how *exactly* he descended into the mat (i.e., did he slip at some point, fall off balance, or just keep reaching in deeper without thinking about how difficult it would be for him to extricate himself?), I am absolutely certain that nobody else was involved, that he was not rolled up in a mat, that he was not beaten and forced into a mat, and that this was a totally horrible tragedy. My heart goes out to his parents, and I feel so sorry that they are being used by a lawyer as an opportunity for a rich lawsuit. The death of one's child is such a violation of the natural order -- even though they stand to profit financially from a lawsuit, nothing can give them any real justice here.

While I cannot see any way that this was a homicide, and I cannot fathom how there could be such a conspiracy as to murder KJ and cover up the crime, I do totally agree with you about the value of civil discourse. I'm grateful that we can discuss the facts of the case.

BBM for focus. A broken nose, yes. But a person can have a bloody nose without it being broken. That's what I meant.

Also, he could have been incapacitated by the blunt force trauma to the neck found in the second autopsy.

 

[IzzyBlanche]

Ebony is not known for unbiased coverage. Recently they did a story on this case titling it "Has Kendrick Johnson's Murder Been Solved?"

Another interview with Beau Webster. He repeats his nonsense about his "investigation" into the KJ case but doesn't seem to know the basics of a crime scene investigation. He is speaking with crime author Fred Rosen. It doesn't matter how full of bull he is, the story will surely take on a life of it's own and become gospel within a week.

Unfortunately, as has been the case many times in the past - MSM is not reporting what is actually going on. Leigh Touchton, a retired NAACP President and current Lead Investigator of Valdosta SLCC, wrote a letter to the Director of NAN after doing a lengthy and thorough investigation into this case. Since I can't source the letter and MSN hasn't picked it up, you will have to google Leigh Touchton + Kendrick Johnson.

Her letter explains why this case continues to go on and on when it was just a freak accident. Here's a simple question to ask oneself - why, if the second autopsy was done in June, and attorney CB King had a copy of the results in July, did they wait to make finding newspaper instead of organs in Kendrick's body a major incident only days after a new and famed attorney joined the case? Four months to "break" this news, really? My answer, for attention. It seems the cases that need hype and major drama to get noticed were usually not plausible cases to begin with.

Speaking of MSN: In September Anderson Cooper introduced reporter Victor Blackwell who was reporting on the "exclusive" autopsy report CNN had obtained. Not once was the "newspaper" mentioned. Why not?

Kendrick was 5'10" and weighed 160 - his father looks rather larger than that trying to get into the mat. JMO

BBM:

Here is the letter. I hope it is okay to post this source. If not will someone please alert the mods to delete.

Very interesting.

One thing I don't understand though is that if the parents are just out for $, it seems they could more easily attempt prove a negligence type of suit than murder.

I don't know. I just wish the sheriff's department would release the dang videotape in question. If it truly shows nothing nefarious, all this brouhaha would go away.

Thanks for the info.

http://mediabugs.org/bugs/kendrick-johnson-racist-murder---valdosta-ga-

 

[gxm]

But regardless of the time it took the LCSD to process the scene, they were required by law to notify the coroner immediately. So why the delay!

It's been explained in the link in my comments. LE thought they were doing the coroner a favor because they were still processing the crime scene and the coroner would not have access until they were done. So they waited to call the coroner when they were done to keep him/her from having to wait four hours.

 

[popsicle]

In regards to a nose injury.. even if not broken an autopsy would note an ante-mortem injury, contusion or some such. Also, I would think someone reaching into a mat would fit much better than someone being rolled inside one or being stuffed into one. Think of how a baby is born...one shoulder at a time. jmo

 

[gxm]

BBM. Page 1 of the crime lab report:

When the teacher made their way to the rolled-up mats in the back row along the Old Gymnasium southwest wall they saw what appeared to be a deceased body.

http://www.news4jax.com/blob/view/-...Crime-lab-report-in-Kendrick-Johnson-case.pdf

So the sheriff is contradicting his own crime lab. Very interesting.

I don't know how many rows of mats there were but a mat could be in the middle and in the back depending on which way you are looking at them. I get the feeling that some of the directional/spatial disparity is simply perspective. For instance, one commenter was insisting that KJ went left, not to the right as LE has stated. I watched the video and he appears to go to the right to me. But, actually, he was heading diagonally which could be right or left depending on how you look at it. I'm just not seeing any intentionally "wrong" information, just different perspectives that start to make sense when viewed as a whole. JMO. OMO. MOO.

 

[LinasK]

BBM for focus.

Is this such a suggestion? I apologize in advance if Valdosta Today isn't considered MSM.

In addition, two students allegedly told the LCSO that Johnson had recently been in a ‘dispute’ over a girl just prior to his death. On the day his body was found, a Facebook post read, “‘when you start messing the goons bodies show up.”

http://valdostatoday.com/2013/06/kendrick-johnsons-body-to-be-exhumed-2nd-autopsy-done/

Okay, now we have a motive! And we know the assailants were students- this is why it is important to note that the video footage shows he wasn't alone in the gym, despite what others tried to tell us.

 

[Karmady]

Okay, now we have a motive! And we know the assailants were students- this is why it is important to note that the video footage shows he wasn't alone in the gym, despite what others tried to tell us.

“He comes down the hallway, and essentially he enters the gym. He’s following another kid,” said Jones. “The first kid comes in and goes to the left. Kendrick goes in and off to the right towards the corner where the mats are. You don’t see anyone trailing him or someone he’s having a dispute with,” adding that allegations he had been in a confrontation that day or the day before were false.


http://valdostadailytimes.com/local/x6223544/Timeline-of-a-tragedy/?mobRedir=false

 

[IzzyBlanche]

It's been explained in the link in my comments. LE thought they were doing the coroner a favor because they were still processing the crime scene and the coroner would not have access until they were done. So they waited to call the coroner when they were done to keep him/her from having to wait four hours.

The coroner does not agree at all that they were doing him a favor. Nor does he appear to be aware of this so-called agreement with coroners that Prine refers to:

"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 wasn’t contacted when Kendrick’s body was first discovered.

“This was not fair to the decedent, his family, and the citizens of Valdosta and Lowndes County, Ga. And it’s wrong as rain,” Watson said in January when he spoke to The Times. “You may not want me on your crime scene, but it’s a law. It’s 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 it’s been proven accidental — and that’s how we’ve treated this investigation."

____________________________________________________

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.

 

[IzzyBlanche]

BBM

“Our investigators spent hours at the scene processing evidence.”

“Every fingernail in that gym was collected,” said Prine.

According to Edwards, the investigation at the scene took so long because they wanted to ensure that nothing was overlooked. She said the school allowed the mother and relatives to have a room in the board of education building while the scene was processed.


http://valdostadailytimes.com/local/x6223544/Timeline-of-a-tragedy

BBM.

They didn't collect the shoes with the orange laces. 1:20ish:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Smetun7ZDDM

 

[gxm]

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 wasn’t contacted when Kendrick’s body was first discovered.

“This was not fair to the decedent, his family, and the citizens of Valdosta and Lowndes County, Ga. And it’s wrong as rain,” Watson said in January when he spoke to The Times. “You may not want me on your crime scene, but it’s a law. It’s 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 it’s been proven accidental — and that’s how we’ve treated this investigation."

____________________________________________________

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.

BBM

KJ's body was discovered around 10:00 a.m. LE and medical personnel were dispatched around 10:30 a.m. School was locked down at around 11:00 a.m.

Two students, who entered the building for gym class at around 10 a.m., noticed sock-covered feet just below the top of one of many gym mats that had been rolled and stacked against the wall behind the bleachers during the Christmas break…

Law-enforcement and medical personnel were dispatched at about 10:30 a.m., and school was locked down at approximately 11 a.m. Shortly after, the LCSO requested backup and additional technicians from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

http://valdostadailytimes.com/local/x6223544/Timeline-of-a-tragedy

IMO, LE was focused on conducting a very thorough investigation. To date, I haven't read anything that has convinced me otherwise.

 

[vlpate]

BBM.

They didn't collect the shoes with the orange laces. 1:20ish:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Smetun7ZDDM

The shoes were tested and they were found not to be potential evidence. If they seemed out of place in a gym it might be different. Not everything at a crime scene is bagged and labeled as potential evidence.

 

[vlpate]

“He comes down the hallway, and essentially he enters the gym. He’s following another kid,” said Jones. “The first kid comes in and goes to the left. Kendrick goes in and off to the right towards the corner where the mats are. You don’t see anyone trailing him or someone he’s having a dispute with,” adding that allegations he had been in a confrontation that day or the day before were false.


http://valdostadailytimes.com/local/x6223544/Timeline-of-a-tragedy/?mobRedir=false

Authorities checked and verified the other kid in the video went straight to class. [link]

 

[IzzyBlanche]

The shoes were tested and they were found not to be potential evidence. If they seemed out of place in a gym it might be different. Not everything at a crime scene is bagged and labeled as potential evidence.

I realize that. But the sheriff did say that "every fingernail" in the gym was collected, which is contradicted by the failure to collect the shoes.

 

[Montjoy]

IMO, this case is almost impossible to discuss, because those who believe it murder must also believe in an elaborate and wide-ranging conspiracy theory, of which there has been absolutely no evidence. I find it to be bordering on LE bashing. No, I take that back. It's LE bashing, teacher/school bashing, student bashing (as this could not have been committed by one person), coroner bashing, and more. And most of the evidence that does exist/is known, is ignored or dismissed. That's why we've never seen any sort of theory of the murder which can fit within the known facts. The autopsy performed by a <modsnip> pathologist that was paid by a lawyer (who clearly intends on launching a lawsuit) is taken as better evidence than that of the coroner.

So very frustrating.

 

[LinasK]

Authorities checked and verified the other kid in the video went straight to class. [link]

And do we know for a fact that the gym was completely empty when Kendrick entered, that no other students were already there lying in wait for him???