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

['Ailina]

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.

Thank you for pointing that out! My apologies: I incorrectly thought family supporters were bearing posters depicting images of both Kendrick and Emmett Till. I now see the comparison is being made by bloggers and journalists at large.

(In my personal view, a comparison like this doesn't seem to hold much strength. Maybe because we now know exactly what Emmett Till suffered. When I look at Kendrick's photo, I don't see the same certainty.)

 

[LinasK]

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!

I agree, I still think it was murder, no accident! Especially since his organs have been removed, and there was evidence of blunt force trauma. Everyone just wants to think it was a tragic accident rather than believe some kids are capable of murder.

 

[Snoods]

So so many inconsistencies...

But I seriously do not think a school would leave "old blood" dripping... Then drying ... On a gymnasium wall... Due to health issues, etc...

But... If that is "old blood"... Not related to Kendicks case...Then there should be some investigation on the event which caused THAT much blood on the wall! :what:

I agree with that! That is a lot of blood, not a few droplets as described in earlier articles. It's not cast off, but contact blood right? Meaning someone would be against the wall with a bloody wound dripping down.

 

[x_files]

I agree, I still think it was murder, no accident! Especially since his organs have been removed, and there was evidence of blunt force trauma. Everyone just wants to think it was a tragic accident rather than believe some kids are capable of murder.

I have a horrible feeling he met foul play too. If the footage is released and it shows him fall into the mat, with no one around him, then I'll believe it's a tragic accident.

 

[x_files]

I agree with that! That is a lot of blood, not a few droplets as described in earlier articles. It's not cast off, but contact blood right? Meaning someone would be against the wall with a bloody wound dripping down.

That's what I see cast off from hitting someone on the head- blunt force trauma, then stuffing him into the matt.
Two or more teens or a large, strong man.

 

[MissJ]

Blunt force trauma is not an accident, in this case/ JMO

 

[Linda7NJ]

I was researching the suffocation due to being upside down.

From what little knowledge I've amassed .,...
In my very unqualified opinion, it takes hours to die from being upside down. was the gym empty for HOURS?


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[Montjoy]

IMO, the second, privately funded autopsy was performed at the behest of a lawyer who wants to provide grounds for a lawsuit, perhaps against the school for providing inadequate security or something similar. It seems to me that it's not too hard to buy an expert opinion, as many trials have shown us. The timeline doesn't really provide time for a murder and coverup, and if there was any evidence that other kids were following KJ into that part of the gym, it would have been an open and shut case. (And not revealing all of the surveillance video of the gym doesn't suggest anything sinister to me -- the school has an obligation to protect the identities of its (minor) students.)

 

['Ailina]

I was researching the suffocation due to being upside down.

From what little knowledge I've amassed .,...
In my very unqualified opinion, it takes hours to die from being upside down. was the gym empty for HOURS?

(Snipped & bbm)

I bet we've been visiting the same sites! I've been digging for this info, too.

I also wondered why Kendrick wasn't found sooner, given the time he was there and the presence of other people at various times. One paramedic source said a person in this circumstance may lose consciousness in 30 minutes.

I consider the acoustic nature of the mat, the inverted position, the small amount of space between the victim's airways and the floor, also the amplifying acoustics of a gymnasium (I can never understand what people are saying if giving speeches in a gym). I don't think it was possible for sounds originating inside the mat to be audible to others.

Judging from the gym photos, it appears to me there was nothing visible that would've indicated a person was in the mat, unless an observer were peering directly down into the mat. But this doesn't take into consideration the report that Kendrick's upper-body was documented to be partially out of the mat when authorities arrived.

Disregarding how or why Kendrick ended up in the mat, it appears to me it was impossible for him to be seen or heard.

Moo.

 

[Elley Mae]

Federal lawsuit claims Bend man died from being stuck upside down in inversion therapy table

http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-n...f/2013/07/federal_lawsuit_claims_bend_ma.html

Man in Utah Cave Faced Tough Odds, Doctors Say

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/man-trapped-utah-cave-limited-time-doctors/story?id=9184843

"The rib cage is built from the top-down so the lungs expand into the body cavity," said Wright. But when someone is upside down, the lungs "are working against the weight of your liver, of your intestines and the breathing muscles have a difficult time overcoming that."

Eventually, Wright said people in a head-down position will most likely die of suffocation.

 

[iSleuth]

(Snipped & bbm)

I bet we've been visiting the same sites! I've been digging for this info, too.

I also wondered why Kendrick wasn't found sooner, given the time he was there and the presence of other people at various times. One paramedic source said a person in this circumstance may lose consciousness in 30 minutes.

I consider the acoustic nature of the mat, the inverted position, the small amount of space between the victim's airways and the floor, also the amplifying acoustics of a gymnasium (I can never understand what people are saying if giving speeches in a gym). I don't think it was possible for sounds originating inside the mat to be audible to others.

Judging from the gym photos, it appears to me there was nothing visible that would've indicated a person was in the mat, unless an observer were peering directly down into the mat. But this doesn't take into consideration the report that Kendrick's upper-body was documented to be partially out of the mat when authorities arrived.

Disregarding how or why Kendrick ended up in the mat, it appears to me it was impossible for him to be seen or heard.

Moo.

This case has really grabbed me from a few perspectives. 1. true crime person 2. teacher 3. parent I am just going to let it rip. forgive me. OMGGG

I think he was found Much Much sooner. if not immediately...I think they tampered with the boy and the scene-immediately- in secret and after hours.

There is no way he was not found sooner. Not in a school...no way. Every room is used throughout the day. ( even if it is the old gym) The cover up is protecting every single member of that school and it makes me sick. From its minor students, to the gym teachers, coaches, nurse, and entire administration all the way to the very top principal and superintendent of schools, LE and ......

I think they were so busy tampering with his body that they forgot about the blood on the wall. Which by the way only certain school personel can even come in contact with body fluids. not teachers!?!

The coroner said it himself they are protecting people in the community, the school said it themselves too.... they are protecting the students- who murdered that poor teen and protecting the people who plotted to cover the crime scene. Shame on them I hope alot of people go to jail over this.

The fact that his nails were clipped makes me think of the athletic department people who also often teach health programs in public schools too.

MOO:truce:

 

[jjenny]

I fail to see why school and everybody else would be involved in this supposed global conspiracy to cover up a murder.

 

[gxm]

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

He may have set them down when he went to reach for the other pair, and they tumbled in after him when he fell in. IMO, the shoes support an accident scenario.

 

[gxm]

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.

The image is very distressing, especially considering KJ was such a good-looking kid. It's understandable that the family was horrified. But, it is consistent with livor mortis which further supports the conclusion that KJ was not moved after death as he was found in an upside down position.

 

[Elley Mae]

I for one do not believe that he reached in to retrieve a shoe. If it was reachable from the top he would not have fallen in the mat. If I thought that my shoe was in the rolled map on the floor I would have pushed the mat over not try to reach it from the top. That assessment is not believable to me.

http://www.hlntv.com/slideshow/2013/10/10/kendrick-johnson-georgia-gym-mat-death-evidence

I am not seeing the mat he ended up in. In the pictures posted at the above link the cream colored mats have breaks/cuts in the foam and the large red one on the floor is the wrong color.

The one shoe that shows red drops on it looks to be paint and not blood to me.
jmo idk

 

['Ailina]

I think he was found Much Much sooner. if not immediately...I think they tampered with the boy and the scene-immediately- in secret and after hours.

...

There is no way he was not found sooner. Not in a school...no way. Every room is used throughout the day. ( even if it is the old gym)...

(Snipped by me)

Thought-provoking post, iSleuth! Thanks for "letting it rip." I appreciate your directness.

I can't speak to theories of conspiracy and rarely give them fair consideration because the nature of them is just way beyond a scope I can wrap my mind around. I am, in contrast, drawn more to individual involvements and details, but that's just my preference.

What I found most intriguing was your comment about students finding Kendrick almost immediately and tampering with his body and the scene. While I don't know how probable this is, I think it's entirely possible!!

_____________

A related personal experience...(please bear with me)...

Several months after a girl disappeared from my high school many, many years ago, some of my friends found her book bag in the woods behind our campus. They came and told me what they'd found. I asked to see it (part of me didn't believe them).

Sure enough, the bag and books were hers -- her name was written on the inside cover of the texts.

I asked my friends if they'd reported it to a teacher or the principal. They looked at me as if it were an original idea and said, "no."

By the time the principal was alerted and LE had arrived, over an hour had passed since her belongings had been discovered. Her books, makeup, hairbrush had been picked through, picked up, moved.... The area around the bag had been trampled by a dozen pairs of sneakers, at least.

I often wonder if anyone would have ever told an adult or if the other kids would've just taken the poor girl's things as macabre souvenirs. And I wonder if investigators were ever able to glean any forensic evidence at all. How badly was the scene compromised?

SO...As much as I'd like to believe most kids would alert a teacher or authority if they discovered someone in distress or deceased, I sadly acknowledge the possibility kids might not, but instead, linger in their fascination until aid is futile and/or evidence is all but destroyed.

(Note: The girl mentioned above was found deceased years later. Her murderer was never officially charged, but it's the general view of local LE that the person responsible was convicted in a separate case out of state and died in prison.)

 

[gia2]

I agree, I still think it was murder, no accident! Especially since his organs have been removed, and there was evidence of blunt force trauma. Everyone just wants to think it was a tragic accident rather than believe some kids are capable of murder.

I have a few questions about this line of thought; I know a lot of people are thinking in this way. Perhaps you can help me get a clearer image about why people think this. I can’t quite understand the rationale that the disposal of organs after autopsy and there being blunt force trauma to a body that has fallen from height onto that area of the body must mean murder.

1) What about the disposal of his internal organs leads you to believe there was a murder and a cover up?
Kendrick's body underwent an autopsy. All of his organs would have been removed and checked as part of that procedure. Then would then be returned to his body in a fashion (i.e. not in their natural positions and wrapped in plastic or bagged up to help preserve them until burial). The empty cavities are then filled with packing.
I don't believe that the disposal of organs after autopsy is standard, but it is certainly not unheard of if the condition of those organs is poor. Remember Kendrick was deceased and upside down for about 18 hours and not cooled to reduce the rate of decomposition.

2) What type of injuries do you think he sustained that were sufficient to kill him, would be undetectable from the outside of his body but also apparent from examination from one or more of his organs?
We know from the pictures of the scene that there was not enough blood to indicate a stabbing. That would be apparent from his body anyway.
There has been no mention of signs of strangulation such as marks or cuts on his neck. Considering the way his body lay for so many hours I’m sure this would be difficult to determine just by looking. As the initial cause of death given was positional asphyxia, I believe that there would be little outward sign of cause of death. I don’t think disposing of his organs would do anything to hide suffocation of another form. That would be evident from inspecting his neck, bones, muscles etc.
We know that there is evidence of blunt force trauma to Kendrick’s neck, was there signs of any on other parts of the body?
If there were a severe head injury we’d expect to see signs of that on his head, face, scalp and his skull. From the images think it’s safe to say we can’t tell if he’d had a head injury. There would most likely be some signs though, if his body was examined again, such as a fractured skull etc.

There is a photo of Kendrick from the shoulders down to his feet. His top had moved upwards revealing his stomach. There were no signs at all of any bruising, cuts or marks of any kind I could see. So if there were any serious injuries to the internal organs of his torso they weren’t evident to those observing the outside of his body (in the photo at least!). Now, I’m ginger haired with the palest skin there is, so I bruise worse than a peach. I wouldn’t know how early bruising would show up on Kendrick’s skin tone and where his body would be pooling blood away from this area.
If a second autopsy was requested, it wouldn’t be just the internal organs which indicated injuries consistent with a non-accidental event. Would I be correct in assuming that those who believe Kendrick met with foul play, that the destruction of the organs would hide the real cause of death or that it couldn’t be conclusively determined without them?

3) If the only blunt force trauma was found on Kendrick’s neck, wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that this blunt force trauma could be the result of a person falling head first onto the floor from a height of approximately 6ft onto the side of their face, without being able to soften the fall with their hands due to space restrictions inside the mat?
Of course if there is trauma to other parts of his body then that could be very interesting.

I am genuinely trying to understand why so many people believe that blunt force trauma and the disposal of organs equates to murder/foul play, because Kendrick fell from a height onto his face, quite possibly without anything reducing that impact, and that disposal of organs isn’t unheard of after autopsy.

I do hope that this case is investigated. We know that there is a very narrow window for foul play to have occurred. There was surveillance of the gym and so the number of people who could possibly be involved is very small and specific. I hope that Kendrick’s clothing was kept so they could be tested for DNA/hairs etc from those other people who entered the gym after him.

 

[gia2]

I think he was found Much Much sooner. if not immediately...I think they tampered with the boy and the scene-immediately- in secret and after hours.

There is no way he was not found sooner. Not in a school...no way. Every room is used throughout the day. ( even if it is the old gym) The cover up is protecting every single member of that school and it makes me sick. From its minor students, to the gym teachers, coaches, nurse, and entire administration all the way to the very top principal and superintendent of schools, LE and ......

The school was NOT SEARCHED immediately. He was not reported missing for hours. Why would anyone, with no idea that someone from the school had gone missing that day, go to the trouble of looking into every 6ft, vertical wrestling mat in the gym?!
Kendrick was 5'10 I believe, his feet were not sticking out of the top. He was concealed inside, out of view. It makes absolutely no sense he would be found that day unless there was a class in that gym which used those mats or after the discovery that Kendrick was last seen in the gym and he was not seen leaving.

What conspiracy do you think is going on? Would that be a family member trying to protect the perp?


Why would anyone tamper with his body?
Wouldn't it make more sense if 1) someone attacked him, realised they'd gone too far and had accientally killed him. Panicked and then put his body in the nearest place they thought no one would find him for a while?
Or b) he was thrown in there by someone who wanted to upset him/be mean but not kill him. He then perished due to the position he was in.

I don't understand how tampering with the body would make it look any more like an accident? Surely there being shoes on top/after him would make it look more like it wasn't an accident?

I wonder if the cameras in the gym were on the whole time (including after school was let out).

 

[iSleuth]

(Snipped by me)

Thought-provoking post, iSleuth! Thanks for "letting it rip." I appreciate your directness.

I can't speak to theories of conspiracy and rarely give them fair consideration because the nature of them is just way beyond a scope I can wrap my mind around. I am, in contrast, drawn more to individual involvements and details, but that's just my preference.

What I found most intriguing was your comment about students finding Kendrick almost immediately and tampering with his body and the scene. While I don't know how probable this is, I think it's entirely possible!!

_____________

A related personal experience...(please bear with me)...

Several months after a girl disappeared from my high school many, many years ago, some of my friends found her book bag in the woods behind our campus. They came and told me what they'd found. I asked to see it (part of me didn't believe them).

Sure enough, the bag and books were hers -- her name was written on the inside cover of the texts.

I asked my friends if they'd reported it to a teacher or the principal. They looked at me as if it were an original idea and said, "no."

By the time the principal was alerted and LE had arrived, over an hour had passed since her belongings had been discovered. Her books, makeup, hairbrush had been picked through, picked up, moved.... The area around the bag had been trampled by a dozen pairs of sneakers, at least.

I often wonder if anyone would have ever told an adult or if the other kids would've just taken the poor girl's things as macabre souvenirs. And I wonder if investigators were ever able to glean any forensic evidence at all. How badly was the scene compromised?

SO...As much as I'd like to believe most kids would alert a teacher or authority if they discovered someone in distress or deceased, I sadly acknowledge the possibility kids might not, but instead, linger in their fascination until aid is futile and/or evidence is all but destroyed.

(Note: The girl mentioned above was found deceased years later. Her murderer was never officially charged, but it's the general view of local LE that the person responsible was convicted in a separate case out of state and died in prison.)

Wow what a tragic story and example. {{{ you}}}Thank you for sharing it. It reminds me of a few stories which became movie eg- "the river" and " stand by Me" don't kids observe the body in a macabre way ? I can't recall exactly.

see, a bit more to clarify my view thatyou brought up about tampering.
I can see several layers of tampering.

First assault. and the fleeing of the attacker(s)
Then secondary...what happened when next phase arrived. Gym teachers, admin, who else? nurse? custodians?
Tertiary- Medical Examiners and Funeral Home?

This event- the death of KJ -was during the school day. ( freaks me out) I am not sure anyone realized how many people bear responsibility and for certain it is on video tape in the gym.
So many people from teachers, and custodians night guards go through a school facility. think about it- especially inthis day and age.

So how ever KJ was injured. His body was evidence and organs would have evidence of internal injuries - ruptures- etc the brain particularly shows an entire forensic timeline doesn't it?

My step father had a traumatic brain injury but i also know from many cases here on WS ( Travis Alexander, Jon Benet, etc) bleeding and the dying brain just like blood stains are nature's time stamp. So they would show the time line if they were in the body. they would show time of death. wow. so...viola. They're gone.

I also think the sneakers were shoved in for utilitarian purposes only to hold the body in the mat.

Is there a diagram which shows how the gym mats were stacked in relation to the one where he was found? TIA

other questions : I would look at (minor) students who are other competitive athletes out for prime college recruitment.

maybe a stretch maybe not. It has happened. There is this case in CT google search Justice for Connie in CT. it will raise the hairs on the back of your neck. Parents accuse other parents of literally causing a car accident.\

http://voices.yahoo.com/tragedy-during-college-applications-sports-recruiting-10912943.html

Also, is it our business? did he have a Gf? and it sounds crazy in this day and age if she was white....i could see something like that happening in a HS too.
just sayin'
I have been teaching a long time - I have seen it all.
I thought I had seen or heard it all, until the case of KJ.

God bless him and his family.

 

['Ailina]

Thank you, (((iSleuth))).

Yes, an educator's perspective is extremely valuable. Middle schools/high schools are unique microcosms with intense societal norms NOT "normal" in society at large. (Though, to me, that's quickly changing due to social media.) Unless a person has been an educator or administrator in a school system, there are aspects of human behavior -- among adults and children -- that just wouldn't seem likely.

Like you, I also fall into the category of people who have experienced the microcosm as an educator, and ironically, this is a huge reason why I'm slow to invest in any scenario. (And why I'd probably make a p*ss-poor investigator!) So many possibilities, and no matter how unlikely they may seem, they may not be discounted.

That said, I think the weight of my conclusions will rest for the most part on the video surveillance. We may be in for a shock. Then again, maybe not.

(Edited for clarity.)