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

[Reader]

I must have missed the post, where is the article that shows the timeline of the incident?


New Disturbing Evidence In Kendrick Johnson Death

RSBM

Thanks for the video! Very telling the 'crime' comment and lack of cooperation with the reporter. If you've got nothing to hide why not explain?

Another shoe and hoodie with unknown stains not collected, not wearing shoe covers with all that blood around? Like the investigator said, CSI 101.

On the timeline, here is a previous post and link:

Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - Kendrick Johnson-rolled up gym mat--blunt force injury

 

[pearl]

Hi ya'll. I've been kind of following this case. I live about an hour and a half from Valdosta. My thoughts on the GBI autopsy. I have known a couple of families who had a loved one autopsied by the GBI. It has been my understanding that the body is embalmed by the GBI medical staff after the autopsy is complete. If so, there would be no reason for the funeral home staff to do anything except prepare the body for viewing. Just my thoughts.

 

[gxm]

I must have missed the post, where is the article that shows the timeline of the incident?

Apparently the gym has 4 cameras, and they take stills. They aren't releasing any of the stills that show other kids, so clearly Kendrick was not alone in that gym.

The crime scene photos show Kendrick's shoes resting near his legs inside the mat, so why would he be reaching for a shoe if he already had his? The positioning of the shoe seems to indicate that they were tossed in after he had been put in upright.

It seems to me that the surveillance video would have been looked at before they finished gathering evidence, so if someone saw certain people they knew and didn't want to be connected to the crime, they probably would have taken steps to corrupt the evidence, like not further testing blood on the wall, or leaving other shoes and shirts that were found in the area.

I don't know about the disposal of organs, I'm guessing that not having them around means they cannot be tested if another autopsy is done. Since the case was closed rather than called a murder, I guess that's why they didn't feel the need to keep the organs preserved.

I find the interview with this police lieutenant interesting. When asked about the blood, he says it doesn't appear to be related to 'our crime'. So he's admitting it wasn't an accident? Freudian slip.

New Disturbing Evidence In Kendrick Johnson Death

KJ had two pairs of shoes. His street shoes and his gym shoes.

IIRC, KJ walked in alone and went to the right. Later, a group of kids entered the gym and went to the left. I'm not sure if that timeline has been updated with newer evidence.

 

[pearl]

I found this article. I looked but don't see it linked anywhere.

http://www.examiner.com/article/gbi...-case-began-with-unauthorized-request?cid=rss

 

[IHAVENOCLUE]

Hi ya'll. I've been kind of following this case. I live about an hour and a half from Valdosta. My thoughts on the GBI autopsy. I have known a couple of families who had a loved one autopsied by the GBI. It has been my understanding that the body is embalmed by the GBI medical staff after the autopsy is complete. If so, there would be no reason for the funeral home staff to do anything except prepare the body for viewing. Just my thoughts.

Thank you, Pearl!

Interesting!

:seeya:

 

[jjenny]

KJ had two pairs of shoes. His street shoes and his gym shoes.

IIRC, KJ walked in alone and went to the right. Later, a group of kids entered the gym and went to the left. I'm not sure if that timeline has been updated with newer evidence.

What I don't understand as to why the two shoes are in the mat with him and off his feet (as shown in the photo). If he was trying to reach for a third shoe, why would his shoes be off?

 

[gia2]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2451501/Kendrick-Johnson-death-Grisly-scene-photos-suggest-athlete-murdered.html

A very strange crime and incredibly distressing for the family. I hope they find answers. I really wish his parents and family didn't have to have seen that picture of his face after death.

From looking at the scene images I am a little confussed about the blood by the shoe. There is a pool of blood surrounding that shoe, you can't see how large it is as the photo cuts it off, but it's the length of this shoe. Based on its size you would imagine that the pool of blood would have meant that those who were at the scene would have suspected an injury or attack on him.
I assume this blood came from the 'blunt force trauma' to the size of his neck? If it did then it must have been a sizable wound based on the amount of blood and I'm not sure how the initial investigators would have missed it.
If anyone has information/an explanation about this then I'd like to hear it.

I don't think the red substance on the shoe with the orange laces looks like blood. It looks more like a wax JMO.

Personally I don't think the fact his organs were removed points to anyone trying to hide the crime (anymore than the crime scene points to there being a crime rather than accident). Getting rid of his organs wouldn't stop them finding out the cause of death as the police would already have video evidence. Does anyone have any ideas as to what could possibly be hidden by getting rid of the organs?

I do think the family would always be made aware that the full remains of their relative is not sent for burrial. I would have assumed any destruction of part of the body would at least be documented somewhere.
ALL is MOO, JMO etc. Just trying to make sense of such a strange scene.

 

[jjenny]

I think the assumption is the blood came out of the body as it was decomposing. I agree that organs being removed doesn't point to cover up of a crime. I suspect they were badly decomposed and therefore discarded.
They certainly couldn't have been sold-the body was decomposing and the organs wouldn't be any good.
I find it strange that he is rolled up into a mat with two white shoes off his feet and in the mat with him.
How is that explained?

 

[gxm]

What I don't understand as to why the two shoes are in the mat with him and off his feet (as shown in the photo). If he was trying to reach for a third shoe, why would his shoes be off?

I speculate that at some point he had taken his shoes off to walk on the gym floor, or just to prepare to put the other pair on, and was holding them when he fell in.

 

['Ailina]

My apologies in advanced for my graphic descriptions below. Another equally possible explanation for the pair of shoes found off of his feet in the mat...

It appears to me he wouldn't have been able to bend his knees much at all, which severely limited the movements he would've been capable of during any self-preservation efforts. Before losing consciousness, one in this circumstance may have "kicked" in a scissor fashion, or pushed against the sides of the mat with the balls of the feet. These particular shoes appear to be lace-ups that aren't tied. If on the foot, they could have easily been kicked off, or pushed off with the alternate foot, which may have occurred either due to the struggle to get out, or as a survival reaction in response to suffocating conditions.

I'm no expert -- just trying very hard to envision what voluntary or involuntary actions and movements I might've done if in the same precarious circumstance. Moo.

 

[x_files]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2451501/Kendrick-Johnson-death-Grisly-scene-photos-suggest-athlete-murdered.html

A very strange crime and incredibly distressing for the family. I hope they find answers. I really wish his parents and family didn't have to have seen that picture of his face after death.

snipped

Great link. wow. Had did he manage to throw his sneakers in after he fell in? I want to see all the footage- this is disgusting! I would be beyond angry if I was his family- what a cute kid too.
Why not release the footage to the attorneys? Something stinks!

 

['Ailina]

On the graphic postmortem photo (of Kendrick's face) being circulated right now....

No doubt, it's shocking and disturbing. It's the honest depiction of death. I think most people would immediately conclude the victim was assaulted. But most of us are not accustomed to seeing such images. Images like this are -- by their very nature -- violent and incendiary. We see something like this and think, "This is not natural! These things just don't occur! Someone inflicted this!"

Medical examiners and coroners are trained to observe the surface, study it, document it, then go beyond the surface in search of the evidence the rest of us don't see and wouldn't understand if we did see it.

When viewing images like this, I try to assume the perspective of a juror. I put my initial emotional and guttural reactions aside and save conclusions for Science. I personally am also unsatisfied with only two autopsies. I'd request review by at least three more independent professionals -- Dr. G not withstanding.

If this was due to foul play, may justice be quick and decisive. If this was a tragic, unthinkable accident, may we all learn from this entire ordeal. In either case, may Kendrick's family be comforted and supported by all who knew and loved their son!

MOO.

 

[jjenny]

I speculate that at some point he had taken his shoes off to walk on the gym floor, or just to prepare to put the other pair on, and was holding them when he fell in.

If he was holding them, how did they end up on top of him?

 

[pearl]

I retired last year from teaching middle school for 31 years. Our school system has a good wrestling program that uses mats like the ones pictured with Kendrick inside it. That mat wasn't tightly rolled at all. They will roll up so that the round opening in the middle is much smaller. Our students and coaches usually just roll them loosely because they are incredibly heavy and cumbersome. With the middle hole being that big, I can see someone falling into it. What I can't see is how the foam (or whatever it is) could cause the disfigurement to his face. Working around middle school age children has allowed me to safely say that if there is a way to defy logic and do something, a student will do. The window of opportunity for someone to have murdered this boy is so small. Schools are very busy. Students want to go to RR, to see the nurse, to the office, etc often. Gyms are magnets for much of the student body. My opinion is Kendrick's death was a tragic accident although his facial features in the daily mail picture bothers me.

 

[Linda7NJ]

I read that students saw his feet, the coach frantically hurried to get him out....

How are there photos of his feet?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

 

[gia2]

I think the assumption is the blood came out of the body as it was decomposing. I agree that organs being removed doesn't point to cover up of a crime. I suspect they were badly decomposed and therefore discarded.
They certainly couldn't have been sold-the body was decomposing and the organs wouldn't be any good.
I find it strange that he is rolled up into a mat with two white shoes off his feet and in the mat with him.
How is that explained?

Thanks for that. I had thought it had probably occured that way but I wasn't sure of the shoes positioning in comparison to where he was found. I had also thought perhaps those mats were heavy and so the blood would have collected inside rather than seeping but, yeah wasn't sure.
EDIT: Ahhh I just watched the video posted by Shlock Homes. I see now that this was the shoe he was reaching for.

The trainers positioned on top of him is strange. I think they could either have been rested on top of the matt (I'd read in an article some kids without lockers would put their shoes/change of clothing on or around the mats until class, but not sure if that is accurate or not).


Or perhaps some of the students were in the habit of throwing lost property into the mats so that the owner would have a hard time retreving their lost stuff. I guess it'd be chance they landed inside the mat where KJ's body was laying. This is just a guess based on the mentality of the guys I went to highschool with.

These explanations are probably long shots!

All my comments are MOO, JMO etc

 

[gia2]

My opinion is Kendrick's death was a tragic accident although his facial features in the daily mail picture bothers me.

Respectfully snipped.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge about the mats. I've not seen these mats before this case.

The death image is really distressing. I'm quite shocked it is available for viewing publically. It appears that the image is being used by KJ's family to raise awareness and support of the idea that foul play was involved. I agree with other posters on here, it doesn't indicate foul play. Just that a deceased person was upside down with blood and fluids pooling for many hours.

 

[Cyan]

I wish that there were someplace that all of the photo imagery captured that day was displayed... Just viewing the photographs at http://www.hlntv.com/slideshow/2013...on-georgia-gym-mat-death-evidence?hpt=hln10_3 has me wondering many things.

I wish that they had been published/released/displayed in the order in which they were taken. My observation using these photographs:


Photo 4 confirms Kendrick was discovered inside of one of the blue, non-pleated mats.

Photo 2 and Photo 7 clearly show one of the black shoes on the wooden floor area of the gym.

Photo 6 shows one of the black shoes near a pool of blood on the concrete portion of the floor. This is presumably the shoe that Kendrick was allegedly "reaching" for?

Photo 1 shows what appears to be a large blue mat off to the right. Photo 2 shows a rolled up blue mat lying horizontally on the floor... the second black shoe to the far right of the frame.

Photo 7 shows a mat, second from the left, that has recently been unbound.

Photo 4 shows a pair of Nike shoes that appear to be wedged between Kendrick's leg/posterior and the padding of the mat.

Photo 10 shows the shoe of unknown origin.

Photo 12 shows blood on the wall.


Questions About These Photos:



Two shoes in two seperate locations. If Kendrick was searching for the shoes because he himself put them in a mat, wouldn't it be likely that he would have hidden the two (black) shoes together in the same mat? Wouldn't they at least be nearer to each other?

Are the blue mats featured in Photo 2 and Photo 3 the same mat?

When Kendrick was found, was the mat initially positioned vertially or horizontally?

If it was Kendrick himself that put his shoe(s) inside a mat, wouldn't it have made more sense to put them within the mat shown in Photo 7?

How did the Nike shoes end up in the mat with/behind Kendrick? If he were alone and had them off, wouldn't it have made more sense to leave them outside of the mat on the floor?

The shoe of unknown origin in Photo 10 raises a lot of questions. Most, if not all, of the substance appears to be blood-like. Most of the substance on the shoe has not been marred, scuffed, or rubbed after it got on the shoe. What about the area just below the base of the tongue of the shoe? It appears to be lighter or less dense. Could this be indicative of multiple injuries to someone? Could this area of substance have come from a different person other than the darker/more recent substance? Nikes aren't especially cheap, who just leaves them behind at school and why? Which set of bleachers was this shoe discovered under?

Photo 12 shows a wall with blood that obviously ran down the wall. Notice how some of the streaks to the left and right of the "raised center" are considerably lighter? Are some of these streaks of blood much older or from multiple people? Most of these "trails" seem to originate from above the level of which the photograph was taken except for two toward the lower center of the photograph. What happened that made these "trails" appear to originate from a much lower point than the darker, seemingly more recent ones?

Why doesn't the school release the photo stills and blot out the student's faces or identifiers with photoshop and release them?

In Photo 13, why was Kendrick's sock so loose off of his foot, as if he or someone else had been attempting to take it off?

In Photo 5, Kendrick appears to be entering the gym in dark pants and a t-shirt. Examine his feet in this photo, particularly the toes and heels. In Photo 5, is Kendrick wearing shoes similar to the ones that he is wearing in Photo 9 or was Kendrick wearing re-inforced socks that just appear darker than what he was found wearing as shown in Photo 4? The socks shown in Photo 4 do not appear reinforced at the heel, as what Photo 5 might indicate. Were the Nikes found in the mat with Kendrick what he was wearing on his feet in Photo 5?

What is going on in Photo 14?

What does the position of Kendrick's pant legs being mid-calf possibly indicate?

Reading a source other than CNN indiates that the mat was upright, meaning Kendrick was upside down. If the mat was wide enough to accommodate Kendrick squeezing into it, how was his shoe stuck? It would seem to me that the only way in which that could occur is if it were wedged there. The white Nikes behind Kendrick's knees appear to be wedged in part because of his body being present.[/B]

Investigators have said that the substance on the shoe of unknown origin and the t-shirt found in the gym was not blood. So what was it?

If the blood on the wall was old and not Kendrick's, what does this indicate about other students who use the gym and those who are supposed to be supervising the students using it?

How is Kendrick believed to have climbed on top of the mat? What are the indicators to investigators that this is what happened?

Examine Photo 6. Look at the blood that is approximately at the base of the tongue down to the toe of the shoe. Why is there smeared blood? Looking toward the toe, it appears that there is a possiblity that the tip of the shoelace had been moved before the photo was taken. [/I]

All the shoes were Nike brand.

Rumors abound that Kendrick was dating the current girlfriend or former girlfriend of the sheriff's son.


If I were I were to take the time to continue picking at these photographs, I'm certain that I could find other things that would raise questions, but I think this is enough. I'm not going to say that strange and bizaare things don't happen and that people never do foolish things... But I'd think it would've been easier to untie the mat or loosen the tie (and pull the mat a little loose at the interior roll) or to ask for something such as a broom or a hockey stick?

If this occurred before school dismissed for the day, why wasnt it noticed that Kendrick was missing? Were there no other classes held in this gym after the time Kendrick entered?

Something about this just... Hinky Meter reading is off the chart.

Sources:

http://www.hlntv.com/slideshow/2013...on-georgia-gym-mat-death-evidence?hpt=hln10_3

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/01/1...ter-getting-trapped-in-wrestling-mats-in-gym/

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...ne-teen-found-wrestling-mat-article-1.1480548

 

['Ailina]

The death image is really distressing. I'm quite shocked it is available for viewing publically. It appears that the image is being used by KJ's family to raise awareness and support of the idea that foul play was involved.I agree with other posters on here, it doesn't indicate foul play. Just that a deceased person was upside down with blood and fluids pooling for many hours.

(snipped and bbm)

Yes, in following the extremely courageous example of Emmett Till's mother. (I've always wondered if I'd have the courage to do the same, if I were ever faced with the same horrible ordeal. (God forbid.))

I fully sympathize with the family for speaking out in this way and admire them greatly for it. Their strength is astounding.

Be that as it may, as an observer who only sees what she finds on the Internet, I am not yet persuaded Kendrick's death may be fairly compared to Emmett Till's. I haven't seen evidence of a vast conspiracy to protect a party of merciless, bigoted murderers. (Not saying just such a group is not responsible for this. If this is precisely what occurred, I pray they be held accountable!)

I do believe the family should continue fighting for the truth, no matter what that truth is eventually revealed to be. And if displaying this particular image of their son is something they feel is necessary, I support their decision. Although I do hope my younger children don't inadvertently see it.

 

[Cyan]

(snipped and bbm)

Yes, in following the extremely courageous example of Emmett Till's mother. (I've always wondered if I'd have the courage to do the same, if I were ever faced with the same horrible ordeal. (God forbid.))

I fully sympathize with the family for speaking out in this way and admire them greatly for it. Their strength is astounding.

Be that as it may, as an observer who only sees what she finds on the Internet, I am not yet persuaded Kendrick's death may be fairly compared to Emmett Till's. I haven't seen evidence of a vast conspiracy to protect a party of merciless, bigoted murderers. (Not saying just such a group is not responsible for this. If this is precisely what occurred, I pray they be held accountable!)

I do believe the family should continue fighting for the truth, no matter what that truth is eventually revealed to be. And if displaying this particular image of their son is something they feel is necessary, I support their decision. Although I do hope my younger children don't inadvertently see it.

Many people are referring to this due to the uncanny resemblence of Kendrick to Emmett in both life and death, not so much as the manner of death.