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

[Karmady]

Thanks for posting this.

I read it and I'm sorry (this is not directed at you, GXM, just jumping off from the article) but the official scenario makes absolutely no logical sense to me.

OK, I get that the mats were normally stored horizontally, and I can understand kids using the spaces in the middle of them to store things, including shoes, that weren't of much value to them to avoid locker fees, kind of like putting them in a round cupboard with no doors.

(Although this isn't what the article says. Not once does it say the kids stored items in the mats, but it does say they stored them under the mats. Which leads me to wonder how they lifted 700-pound mats to store things under them. But going along with the assumption that the spaces in the middle of the mats were the storage areas...)

I can understand that over the break those mats got moved and stored vertically.

I can understand KJ coming back from break, going to get his shoes where he last left them, and finding that the mats had been moved and were now standing vertically.

That's where the whole scenario of him looking for his shoes and accidentally falling in begins the epic fail.

The article states: "The students may have been walking on top of the roughly 700-pound, 7-feet-tall mats to retrieve school supplies and personal items, as interviews revealed that students commonly used the rolled-up mats to avoid locker fees, stated Edwards."

And: "It appears that since the mats were stacked up on end and had been moved and stored that way over the holiday break, his shoes weren’t where he left them, so he had to climb up on the mats."

Just for fun, I measured the height of my front door. Less than 7 feet.

So we're to believe that not only KJ, but all the other kids who stored their stuff in this manner were so mathematically and physically (I mean in the sense of actual physics, not their physiques) challenged that they actually thought they could reach down from a 7-foot height and retrieve their possessions, which had presumably fallen to the floor?

The items might not have fallen to the floor if the mats were wrapped tightly enough to hold them snugly, but if the middle spaces were big enough to hold a human body, anything smaller in them would have most certainly fallen to the floor.

My refrigerator is approximately 5'10" tall. Can you imagine lying on top of it thinking you can retrieve something on the floor?

I think most five-year-olds of normal intelligence would know better. Yet this kid was supposed to be trying to reach down from an even taller height to retrieve something?

Does not compute.

He may have voluntarily been on top of those mats, but it was not because he was trying to retrieve something that he'd left in one when it was lying horizontally on the floor.

most likely, the kids didn't know exactly how tall the mats were or consider that they would never be able to reach an item on the floor with the height of their body plus an outstreched arm. Kids don't think like that. A lot of adults don't either. jmo

 

[Karmady]

Any time in that 24 hours period in the gym. There was dried blood on the wall that wasn't tested. He could've been jumped immediately, after school, that evening, the next morning before school...
I never said his body was stuffed into the mat, I think he was rolled up into it the same way other dead bodies are rolled into carpets and sheets, and I read the mat was horizontal.

There were lots of people in and out of the gym all that day and evening per the article and that's the last time he was seen on video or anywhere. Including his next class. If he was killed that evening or the next morning before school, where was he when he didn't go home and why would whoever killed him bring his body back to the school, break in and roll his body up in a mat. And even if they did, why would they then hoist an extremely heavy mat with a body in it to a vertical position rather than leave it horizontal. And why would the gym teacher have had to struggle to reach it if it wasn't a mat that was already vertical from the holiday?

I can understand why people had questions just hearing the parents' side of the story. I was curious myself. But now being informed of the details, it seems highly unlikely (to say the least, imo) that there's any foul play involved here. jmo

 

['Ailina]

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


Unless he was attacked by someone who was able to teleport in and out of the gym, I can't see how anyone could believe this a murder. There no opportunity for a crime to occur here, and it is unclear if there was any motive for anyone to kill him. This tragic story is being exploited as an opportunity for a lawsuit, and I believe it will fail.

(Snipped by me)

Although I personally wouldn't view the family's lawsuit as "exploitation," I do agree, Montjoy -- the only reasonable interpretation of the video evidence that's been provided is accidental death. I guess I've arrived at my pseudo-juror's opinion.

May Kendrick Johnson rest peacefully, and may his family somehow survive their unimaginable loss.

 

[Linda7NJ]

Serious question. I haven't read everything available on this case.

I understand that the video shows no one followed him into the gym except that one student. Is there video evidence showing that there was no one in the gym--for lack of a better term--lying in wait?

Are we do believe there is only one way in and out of that gym?

Every gym I've ever been to had multiple entrances and exits and also connecting girls & boys locker rooms which also each had two exits.




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[Linda7NJ]

most likely, the kids didn't know exactly how tall the mats were or consider that they would never be able to reach an item on the floor with the height of their body plus an outstreched arm. Kids don't think like that. A lot of adults don't either. jmo

I guess we travel in different circles.




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[jjenny]

Are we do believe there is only one way in and out of that gym?

Every gym I've ever been to had multiple entrances and exits and also connecting girls & boys locker rooms which also each had two exits.




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Other students were playing basketball in there shortly after he went in. Seems rather unlikely nobody would see any confrontations or fighting.

 

[Montjoy]

'Exploiting' means, first and foremost, to make full use of something. It doesn't necessarily imply the sense of exploitation which means being unfair. And to be clear, I suspect that a lawyer approached them with an idea of a lawsuit, not the other way around (but I could be wrong -- and regardless, people may make all sorts of decisions when in profound grief).

 

[Linda7NJ]

There were lots of people in and out of the gym all that day and evening per the article and that's the last time he was seen on video or anywhere. Including his next class. If he was killed that evening or the next morning before school, where was he when he didn't go home and why would whoever killed him bring his body back to the school, break in and roll his body up in a mat. And even if they did, why would they then hoist an extremely heavy mat with a body in it to a vertical position rather than leave it horizontal. And why would the gym teacher have had to struggle to reach it if it wasn't a mat that was already vertical from the holiday?

I can understand why people had questions just hearing the parents' side of the story. I was curious myself. But now being informed of the details, it seems highly unlikely (to say the least, imo) that there's any foul play involved here. jmo

So WHO exactly found him in there? And what were they doing when he was found?


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[jjenny]

Well, either way- whether it was a murder or an accident- the school district probably is at fault. And why are they charging a locker fee for a public school???
If the investigation was flawed, I'd be suing LE. I just don't see this as a family out solely to profit off their son's death. I think they just want justice.

LE are immune from lawsuits if they perform their duties reasonably - you can not sue them for a flawed investigation.

 

[LinasK]

There were lots of people in and out of the gym all that day and evening per the article and that's the last time he was seen on video or anywhere. Including his next class. If he was killed that evening or the next morning before school, where was he when he didn't go home and why would whoever killed him bring his body back to the school, break in and roll his body up in a mat. And even if they did, why would they then hoist an extremely heavy mat with a body in it to a vertical position rather than leave it horizontal. And why would the gym teacher have had to struggle to reach it if it wasn't a mat that was already vertical from the holiday?

I can understand why people had questions just hearing the parents' side of the story. I was curious myself. But now being informed of the details, it seems highly unlikely (to say the least, imo) that there's any foul play involved here. jmo

So then maybe the assailants were lying in wait for him by the mats and it happened immediately. Who said the mat was found vertically? I could've sworn it was horizontal, and I have read more than just the parents' story. To me it's just the opposite, a tragic accident seems highly unlikely, and a murder likely.

 

[LinasK]

Other students were playing basketball in there shortly after he went in. Seems rather unlikely nobody would see any confrontations or fighting.

Or maybe there is a code of silence and there are kids that know something???

 

[Montjoy]

So then maybe the assailants were lying in wait for him by the mats and it happened immediately.

And did they then teleport out of the gym?

 

[LinasK]

And did they then teleport out of the gym?

Why would you think that?

 

[jjenny]

Or maybe there is a code of silence and there are kids that know something???

So they saw him getting murdered but continued to play basketball?
Again, why would everyone be involved in this global cover up of a murder?

 

[LinasK]

So they saw him getting murdered but continued to play basketball?
Again, why would everyone be involved in this global cover up of a murder?

I don't know the motive(s) or the assailants in this case.

 

[MissJ]

Schools are responsible if something happens to a student on their watch. They would have a lot of reason to cover up. JMO

 

[Montjoy]

Why would you think that?

Because no possible assailants were ever seen leaving the gym.

 

[LinasK]

Because no possible assailants were ever seen leaving the gym.

And you know this how???

 

[jjenny]

Schools are responsible if something happens to a student on their watch. They would have a lot of reason to cover up. JMO

If that were the case, why would they leave the body in the school gym?

 

[IzzyBlanche]

most likely, the kids didn't know exactly how tall the mats were or consider that they would never be able to reach an item on the floor with the height of their body plus an outstreched arm. Kids don't think like that. A lot of adults don't either. jmo

I don't agree. I think most of us learn at an early age that we are not going to be able to reach down from a height well above our own to retrieve something at ground level, without assistance.

If we are reaching down from something closer to our own height, then yes, it seems more plausible. Until we try it. Either as adults or children. Heck, I'm guilty of doing that myself.

Another thought occurred to me as well. (Not directed at you, just thinking out loud so to speak.) Unless there were bright spotlights in that part of the gym that shone down into the coiled mats, how could he have even seen his shoes at the bottom?