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

[vlpate]

Thanks for correcting me! No idea why I said "we" don't know. Should have said *I* don't know and hadn't seen it posted here.

I thought I had been unclear, actually. I just don't see the scenario as hard to believe, he likely never remotely anticipated he would get stuck.

 

[FrayedKnot]

actually, if one googles "honduras arid", the search results include numerous references to "arid" regions within the country

IDK, I spent 2+ months in Tegucigalpa in the 90's. It isn't even the most humid region in Honduras, but it was very soupy. And I am an almost-Native Floridian. i know from humid.

 

[Salem]

Stop bickering in here and stop bashing the family. The family have every right to question what happened to their child on school grounds. Any parent would be asking questions in a case like this where it is not obvious what happened.

Leave the family alone. They are considered victims here.

Salem

 

[Karmady]

actually, if one googles "honduras arid", the search results include numerous references to "arid" regions within the country

True. The op didn't mention honduras specifically, that I recall. Which is why I put "especially" after in arid climates. I wasn't sure the OP was talking about an arid climate. Regardless, being buried in sand in any climate is more likely to preserve a body than it being exposed, as in this case. The only exception I can think of is if the sand itself was wet. Otherwise, sand wicks fluid and lowers temperatures, has fewer parasites/insects, etc. Regardless of whether the climate is arid. Not to mention the impact that cause of death had on the body in this case.

Also, having seen the video of how sweaty the kid who intentionally put himself in the mat was, the conditions inside that mat had to be perfect for decomposition, not even taking the inverted body position into account.

 

[trendsetter_]

The fact that there was a student shown coming in BEFORE him should be taken into consideration. Could have been a fight between him and the other student. Maybe K went to the mat to change his shoes so they could fight and actually got them out successfully. It's mentioned the other student is seen gone left in the direction of the locker room. They're fighting in the locker room, and maybe K was pinned to the wall before getting the blow to the neck. So maybe this "unidentified" student knew he couldn't just leave him there. He panics and gets help(because it is mentioned other students came into the gym).If the locker room is a wrap around(open on both sides),the two(or three or however many, cause he had help!!)could have dragged him out to the side where the mats are. The accomplice(s) help him stuff K into the mat, and the shoes could have easily been thrown in behind him(to look like an accident), explaining their position. IDK! all the possibilities.

I just put that scenario out there because when i was in high school, the girls(or boys) would meet up to fight in the gym, and sometimes the bathrooms.

 

['Ailina]

Is this satire? Mats should no longer be stored in the rolled position? I have a feeling there are very few strangers to the situation who are pained by looking at rolled mats. I'm hoping satire.

I'm sorry -- though my wording lacked the precision I was going for, my thoughts were honest.

I was exploring the alternative of folding the mats, rather than rolling them. Naturally, storing them flat would be impractical.

And my thoughts were with the students and faculty of Kendrick's high school. Not strangers who happen to venture on campus. Hope I've clarified a bit. I normally don't employ satire unless it's for comedic relief.

 

[vlpate]

The fact that there was a student shown coming in BEFORE him should be taken into consideration. Could have been a fight between him and the other student. Maybe K went to the mat to change his shoes so they could fight and actually got them out successfully. It's mentioned the other student is seen gone left in the direction of the locker room. They're fighting in the locker room, and maybe K was pinned to the wall before getting the blow to the neck. So maybe this "unidentified" student knew he couldn't just leave him there. He panics and gets help(because it is mentioned other students came into the gym).If the locker room is a wrap around(open on both sides),the two(or three or however many, cause he had help!!)could have dragged him out to the side where the mats are. The accomplice(s) help him stuff K into the mat, and the shoes could have easily been thrown in behind him(to look like an accident), explaining their position. IDK! all the possibilities.

I just put that scenario out there because when i was in high school, the girls(or boys) would meet up to fight in the gym, and sometimes the bathrooms.

The student who went in before him went straight to class, this was verified by LE. Which locker room are you talking about?

 

[vlpate]

The official autopsy from GBI indicates no blunt force trauma (contrary to the title of this thread), and the death was ruled an accident. No crime against a child found. All organs present and accounted for.

Second Autopsy - Performed by William Anderson (see murerpedia ref. to Anderson, re Martha Ann Johnson)

No mention in second autopsy of newspaper in place of organs.

“…But when Dr. Bill Anderson, the private pathologist who conducted the second autopsy, opened up the teen’s remains, the brain, heart, lungs, liver and other viscera were missing. Every organ from the pelvis to the skull was gone.

This is not exactly what the second autopsy states, but rather that the viscera removed from the initial autopsy was not present. Not all of his organs from stem to stern, just those removed. Some (first autopsy), were examined in-situ, which, if I understand correctly, would not be removed.

The second autopsy mentions "apparent" non-accidental blunt force trauma, with "further investigation needed".

 

[SyraKelly]

The fact that there was a student shown coming in BEFORE him should be taken into consideration. Could have been a fight between him and the other student. Maybe K went to the mat to change his shoes so they could fight and actually got them out successfully. It's mentioned the other student is seen gone left in the direction of the locker room. They're fighting in the locker room, and maybe K was pinned to the wall before getting the blow to the neck. So maybe this "unidentified" student knew he couldn't just leave him there. He panics and gets help(because it is mentioned other students came into the gym).If the locker room is a wrap around(open on both sides),the two(or three or however many, cause he had help!!)could have dragged him out to the side where the mats are. The accomplice(s) help him stuff K into the mat, and the shoes could have easily been thrown in behind him(to look like an accident), explaining their position. IDK! all the possibilities.

I just put that scenario out there because when i was in high school, the girls(or boys) would meet up to fight in the gym, and sometimes the bathrooms.

I would think all of what you described above..something would have been on the video-there were 2 cameras IIRC bythe doors.And nothing was caught..so there was no fight!If there was..KJ's parents would have told everyone about a fight..This fight would have been reported by now

I thank god that boy went to the left..I can only imagine what his life would be like right now.I can honestly see people(not you) trying to pin a murder on him when this was an accidentALL MOO

 

[Hucklepie]

When I've read articles on this on the CNN and Yahoo websites, I felt certain that it was murder. After sitting here reading all 26 pages of this thread, I lean far more toward a tragic accident.

I'm a high school teacher, and I'm familiar with these kinds of mats. I can't imagine trying to push one up into a vertical position from an originally horizontal position, but I know that it's not impossible to tip one over if you're pushing and rocking it with it in an originally vertical position. I can see thinking (especially at that age) that I'd climb into the mat, wiggle a little bit, tip it over, and wiggle back out. Even though now I'm 100% certain I wouldn't try it, after Kendrick's death, it still seems plausible to me. Maybe I'm assuming a little too much flexibility and "wiggle room" inside the rolled-up mat - maybe Kendrick assumed the same. I can easily name more than a dozen of my students who would jump to the same conclusion and go wiggling into a vertical mat without a second thought, believing that their body weight would be enough to tip it over safely.

I can also easily see a student deciding that a rolled-up mat (whether horizontal or vertical) is a perfectly logical place to keep their belongings, no matter how bizarre that sounds. I can even see a student tossing their shoes into a vertical mat for safekeeping, figuring they'd just tip the mat over and get the shoes when they want them back (and figuring that no one would think to look there to steal their shoes). Lockers are free at my school, but that doesn't stop my students from leaving their stuff anywhere and everywhere, including in random hiding places in my classroom, simply because they believe it's more convenient that way.

I watched the CNN video and it looked like paint, not blood, on the shoes found at the crime scene, but I'm willing to concede that it might look totally different in person. I do find it weird that they didn't take the hoodie or shoes that were found in the gym into evidence, and that they're so blithely waving away the blood on the wall. I'm glad they ruled the blood out as belonging to Kendrick, but I think I'd feel better if they said "We're also investigating where this blood came from."

I spend a lot of time trying to help my students make good decisions and trying to convince them that their logic in certain situations isn't always the most sound. Many of them think that I'm just too old/out of it/whatever to understand their logic, and in some cases, maybe they're right. This terrible tragedy just strikes me as a teenager following his (in this case, unwise) intuition with tragic results.

 

[redheadedgal]

I can see thinking (especially at that age) that I'd climb into the mat, wiggle a little bit, tip it over, and wiggle back out. Even though now I'm 100% certain I wouldn't try it, after Kendrick's death, it still seems plausible to me. Maybe I'm assuming a little too much flexibility and "wiggle room" inside the rolled-up mat - maybe Kendrick assumed the same. I can easily name more than a dozen of my students who would jump to the same conclusion and go wiggling into a vertical mat without a second thought, believing that their body weight would be enough to tip it over safely.

have you seen this video?
[video=youtube;ykMO2meJKj4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykMO2meJKj4[/video]

 

[Cyan]

I'm quite curious about Kendrick's death and am being objective: Undecided and probably over analyzing everything. I'm sorry if this is unorganized, but here are some things to view, read, look at, whatever you may want to call it. I'm also featuring a link to an interview featured on AC360 that shows still images and video some of us may not have seen previously. The interview features video footage of the gym, still images of Kendrick and partial shots of investigators, and an attempted interview with Sherriff Prine. Please keep in mind that this video is at least several weeks old.

* The shoe was tested for blood, but why was the Hollister shirt (found much closer to Kendrick) left untouched by investigators?

* Where was/were the camera(s) positioned at in the gym?

* The scene may or may not have been compromised by investigators as indicated by one photograph shown in the video.

* The gym instructor said some of Kendrick's books slipped down from the top of the mat. How likely is it that Kendrick managed to slide or fall into the mat without knocking them down?

* Edwards was reported by the Valdosta Times as saying "kids normally lean in, pick the shoes out, and change."

The above statement leaves no wonder as to why there are so many questions about Kendrick's death when something as simple as a careless choice of words can indicate disrepancies. A person normally leans down to retrieve something stored horizontally, not lean in.​

* Edwards was quoted by the Valdosta Times as saying, "We don’t know if he retrieved one shoe and went for the second, but the one shoe and his books all landed in the same area and we have the crime scene pictures. Nothing was touched.”

Where are Kendrick's books in any of the photographs?​

If nothing was touched, why aren't they seen in any of the photographs?​

Were the words "We have the crime scene pictures" a lack of judgment (as opposed to "photos of the scene" or "photos of the potential crime scene") or indicative of something more?​

* A CNN examination claims that two of Kendrick's notebooks were found in the gym more than 20 feet away from each other.

Were these "the books" that the coach said fell from the top of the mats when he pulled the mat with Kendrick down to ground level?​

* What sports were students playing in the gym after the point that Kendrick was last seen on camera?

If the mat's were stifling Kendrick's cries for hopes, it is not unfeasible to believe that if sports such as basketball were taking place in the gym that those cries would go unheard due to the immediate noise and reverberation.​

* Kendrick's parents do not believe that he cut his fingernails that short and are curious about the bruising below them.

Sheriff Prine said in January that "every fingernail" had been collected from the gym. Is this statement just a poor euphamism or indicative that they found Kendrick's fingernail tips seperate from his body at the scene?​

* The Valdosta Times reported that the camera(s) in the gym was/were "motion-controlled." Were these cameras motion-controlled as in could rotate? Motion-controlled as in a poor choice of words for "motion-activated" or "motion-censored"? Or are/were the cameras both? They are NOT the same thing! A motion-activated camera should have a much better tale to tale.

* Many photos that were taken at the scene are indicative that they were taken by investigators. They are in color.

Why was the photo image of Kendrick's face, after his death, released in black-and-white? Was this originally photographed in black-and-white?​

* Less reliable sources (I didn't find more reliable sources, but not saying they aren't out there) indicate that Kendrick arrived at the funeral home with only a broken pair of headphones and without his clothing.

Where are his clothes?​

If Kendrick had headphones with him at the time of death, he most likely had a device that he had been listening to: MP3 player, cell phone, etc. Did he own any of these items and did if so, did his parents note if they are missing?​

* Sheriff Prine's attitude toward the media has grown less than cordial. While I can see how he'd feel like a broken record.

Could Sheriff Prine lower suspicions about Kendrick's death by approaching questions in a more professional manner? Instead of saying "The case is closed" and ushering people out of his office, sounding aggitated, instead politely say "We've completed our investigation. The autopsy results are consistent with positional asphyxiation and our coroner's inquest has concluded. The case is closed...".​

* It was reported to the Valdosta Times that it was believed students climbed the bleachers and sat on top of the mats, but the mats, previous to the holiday, had been stored horizontally.

“There were bleachers right there beside the mats and they climb up on top of them,” said Edwards. “...there were Skittles, Twizzlers, Mountain Dews and Dr. Pepper. You can tell they’d sit up there.”​

*A photograph of the gym seems rather indicative that students did not regularly climb the mats to sit on them. The bleachers, next to the stacked mats, appear to stand between 2' to 3.5' feet tall. This leaves a considerable distance that someone would have to pull themselves just to sit atop them, not to mention that they'd been stored horizontally prior to the Christmas holiday break.

Photo of Bleachers/Mat here: http://localtvwtkr.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/gymmat.jpg?w=402​

The photo does not show any wrappers on the floor near the mats , bottles, or cans that indicate people had been on or near those mats. Where precisely were these items found? Were they discarded or collected as potential evidence?​

* There are people curious about the condition of Kendrick's head (not referring to the blunt-force trauma at this point). Refer to people with poor circulation who are virtually immobile. They often experience swelling due to the fluids pooling in their legs/feet due to the poor circulation. There are multiple physicians who have spoken about what may occur when people are suspended upside down or compressed (refer to illusionist David Blaine).

I myself am curious about the area of compression around the top of Kendrick's head as well as the blunt-force trauma.​

***Sorry for messed up media links.. Attempted to unembed as an edit, but could not find the option to do so as an after-post edit.
-------
Sources:

h ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRPg9RJYLfk
http://valdostadailytimes.com/local/x6223544/Timeline-of-a-tragedy/
h ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-7r7WFmsSM
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id...-17-year-old-football-player-valdosta-georgia
http://localtvwtkr.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/gymmat.jpg?w=402

 

[al66pine]

Cyan,
Good questions & observations, as was your long post a week or two ago.

On the clothing & MP3 & phone question, I wonder if autopsy protocol dictates a written inventory made by ME,
which would accompany the clothing items themselves as in separate package returned to family.

Or maybe ME does not separate clothing & personal effects.
Maybe funeral home would be responsible for inventorying & sorting out personal effects to return to family,
vs. processing the remains for burial (or cremation).

IIRC, both autopsy reports described clothing, but did not mention MP3 or phone.
As you said, autopsy #1 noted ear/headphones.
Imo, if MP3 or phone had bn found w. body or around mat, they would have seized,
at least initially as evd, so imo, it should be listed on LE evd log.

So many questions.

 

[momrids6]

Cyan,


IIRC, both autopsy reports described clothing, but did not mention MP3 or phone.
As you said, autopsy #1 noted ear/headphones.
Imo, if MP3 or phone had bn found w. body or around mat, they would have seized,
at least initially as evd, so imo, it should be listed on LE evd log.

RSBM:
GA prohibits cellphones at school. Yes, most have them- but if they go off ( at our school anyway), the kid loses it- and the parents have to pick it up. Mine have them in their athletic bags- which are in their dad's classroom; as they need them in case Mom the Taxi is running late, etc for practice pickups

 

[Cyan]

RSBM:
GA prohibits cellphones at school. Yes, most have them- but if they go off ( at our school anyway), the kid loses it- and the parents have to pick it up. Mine have them in their athletic bags- which are in their dad's classroom; as they need them in case Mom the Taxi is running late, etc for practice pickups

Suggesting that a kid without a locker that was found to have headphones would most likely be carrying a device on his/her person or have it hidden somewhere in the school.

 

[Cyan]

Cyan,
Good questions & observations, as was your long post a week or two ago.

On the clothing & MP3 & phone question, I wonder if autopsy protocol dictates a written inventory made by ME,
which would accompany the clothing items themselves as in separate package returned to family.

Or maybe ME does not separate clothing & personal effects.
Maybe funeral home would be responsible for inventorying & sorting out personal effects to return to family,
vs. processing the remains for burial (or cremation).

IIRC, both autopsy reports described clothing, but did not mention MP3 or phone.
As you said, autopsy #1 noted ear/headphones.
Imo, if MP3 or phone had bn found w. body or around mat, they would have seized,
at least initially as evd, so imo, it should be listed on LE evd log.

So many questions.

An interesting question that came to mind in hindsight is.... Where were the headphones discovered? In his pocket? Around his neck/dangling? Were they earbud headphones or a the more bulky sort?

A very morbid realization came to mind, in regards to Edwards stating the kids used to sit on top of the mats. Although there is no real indicator that they would sit on top of the mats regularly other than discovering candy and soft drinks upon the top of them, I had to wonder...

Did Kendrick accidentally get stuck the mat and someone become aware of it later and just leave him there, as kind of a sick joke, thinking he would be ok? Like possibly someone who could have been eating and drinking the previously mentioned items? There were two softdrinks and two types of candy mentioned.. as if two people had been up there and the mats had been stored horizontally prior to the holiday...

 

[momrids6]

Suggesting that a kid without a locker that was found to have headphones would most likely be carrying a device on his/her person or have it hidden somewhere in the school.

Many kids here use their own earbuds / headphones to listen on the school computers. He may have also had the Mp3/Radio type- I did not see the autopsy. Also some have their phones, mp3s in their car/friend's car.

 

[Hucklepie]

have you seen this video? Kendrick "KJ" Johnson Mat Test - YouTube

I had read about the video on this thread but hadn't watched it until you posted it. That's pretty scary.

 

[al66pine]

An interesting question that came to mind in hindsight is.... Where were the headphones discovered? In his pocket? Around his neck/dangling? Were they earbud headphones or a the more bulky sort? ...

SBM

Official autopsy rpt, link on vlpate's post 628
http://valdosta.sgaonline.com/2010vdt/pdfs/kendrick-johnson.pdf
Page 1, paragraph re Presentation of Body says
a set of B&W wire earphone/buds were across upper chest.

 

[al66pine]

RSBM:
GA prohibits cellphones at school. Yes, most have them- but if they go off ( at our school anyway), the kid loses it- and the parents have to pick it up. Mine have them in their athletic bags- which are in their dad's classroom; as they need them in case Mom the Taxi is running late, etc for practice pickups

To make sure I understand, GA prohibits students from carrying/ possessing cells at public schools? A statewide prohibition?
(I get the idea about prohibiting use, except in certain ltd. circumstances)

Thanks, momrids6, for local info.