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

[IzzyBlanche]

Mats were normally stored horizontally. Over Christmas break, the school decided to store them vertically. That's in the article.
So when he stored his shoes in there, it would have been in a horizontally stored mat.
He could have tried to get it out and fell in head first. I fail to see why that would be impossible.
He might have not realized he wouldn't be able to get out of the mat.

I posted earlier that I understand how the mats were normally stored horizontally and why it makes no sense to me that he would have tried to get something out of one after it had been re-stored vertically.

And him trying to get it out would have been the only way he could have fallen in head first directly down into the opening as he was found.

It makes no sense to me that a kid of normal intelligence wouldn't realize after two seconds that he had no chance at all of reaching something at the bottom of a 7-foot hole, and would keep trying to reach it until he fell in.

 

[jjenny]

I posted earlier that I understand how the mats were normally stored horizontally and why it makes no sense to me that he would have tried to get something out of one after it had been re-stored vertically.

And him trying to get it out would have been the only way he could have fallen in head first directly down into the opening as he was found.

It makes no sense to me that a kid of normal intelligence wouldn't realize after two seconds that he had no chance at all of reaching something at the bottom of a 7-foot hole, and would keep trying to reach it until he fell in.

Teenagers of normal intelligence do things that make no sense day in and day out.

 

['Ailina]

Teenagers of normal intelligence do things that make no sense day in and day out.

Moms, too. Like touching the iron to see if it's cooled down enough to put away. (Guilty.)

(Sorry. It was wide open. And I needed the chuckle.)

 

[Linda7NJ]

Teenagers of normal intelligence do things that make no sense day in and day out.

Truer words were never spoken! lol

(Not MY kid)

roflmao! Just kidding!!!!


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[pearl]

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.



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.

Snipped and bolded by me. Hope I did it right.
The mat itself is likely a rich source of DNA and trace evidence. The mats at my former school are used by wrestlers, tumbling, cheerleading, playing around, and maybe other things. This could involve a couple hundred students a day. During wrestling season, they have been a source of staph infections so they have to be disinfected. A couple were trashed because it was felt they couldn't be properly disinfected. Unless instructed otherwise by LE or their liability insurance company, the school probably trashed the mat.

 

[pearl]

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.

I am a former teacher of 31 years and will give my opinion about the school district's responsibility in Kendrick's death. If a lawsuit is brought against Lowndes County school system by Kendrick's family, they will probably get money. The death has been determined accidental, and I believe it was. Others believe he met with foul play. Whichever is true, he died on school property. As someone said earlier, he died on the school's "watch." His death, whether accidental or murder, on school property meets the standards of liability. The school was not responsible for his death. Who is responsible when a previously unheard of accident occurs? Schools try to foresee where students may be endangered and address those issues. Schools cannot predict what every student in a school may or may not do. That is an impossibility.

 

[Cyan]

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?

As much as I hate to say it...

.... Look at the death of Ken McElroy as a prime example of a global cover-up.

 

[Cyan]

I posted earlier that I understand how the mats were normally stored horizontally and why it makes no sense to me that he would have tried to get something out of one after it had been re-stored vertically.

And him trying to get it out would have been the only way he could have fallen in head first directly down into the opening as he was found.

It makes no sense to me that a kid of normal intelligence wouldn't realize after two seconds that he had no chance at all of reaching something at the bottom of a 7-foot hole, and would keep trying to reach it until he fell in.

On the "fell into the mat" theory...

The bleachers are next to the vertically placed mats. Getting to the top of the mats would've been easy. Climb... walk walk.. lie on stomach.. shoe's at the top of the mat.. crap.. I knocked shoe further down into mat.. scoot further... slip.. pain from being angled awkwardly in the mat.. so try to scoot to the bottom.. oh crap.. now Im not uncomfortable.. now I'm just stuck.

I don't know what to think, really, but the best I could figure would have happened with the "fell into the mat" theory.

 

[gxm]

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


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BBM

"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, according to Prine. 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."

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

 

[gxm]

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.

BBM

"But because school had just started back after Christmas break, all of the mats had been moved and stored vertically in that one area, according to Jones. So a mat that may have rested on top of a horizontal stack was now at the back of the bunch after they were turned vertically, stated Jones."

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

 

[FrayedKnot]

No, that's not what I'm suggesting.

Once again I am not as read up on this case as I would like to be. But didn't he enter the gym in the morning like 10 or 11?

If not, forget it, I have my facts wrong.

But if I'm correct with that time frame, the official scenario is that shortly after entering the gym, he ended up in the mat. Right? Because he was never seen again, didn't make it to his next class.

I'm not saying that somebody sat on top of the mat every second of every day.

I am saying that if he ended up in the mat shortly after he entered the gym, and other activities took place in the gym after that throughout the afternoon and evening, it seems strange that no one else sat on top of the mats during any second of that time to have observed the body before the next morning.

Also I'm not going anywhere with this, just questioning things that don't make sense to me. That's all. I even recognize that I am being self-contradictory. I don't have a theory. I'm just trying to make sense of a very strange case.

I think I get what you're saying: if kids were always climbing up there and it was such a normal thing, and if KJ "fell" in there at appr. 10 a.m., then why didn't anyone else notice KJ's body in there the rest of the day?

I am also confused by the crime scene photos; if they pulled the vertical mat horizontal in order to rescue what that thought could be a living KJ, why was it still rolled up in the photos? Conversely, if they already knew him to be deceased, why did they pull down the vertical mat and disturb a crime scene?

Who pulled the mat down? Students? Teachers? Admin? LE?

Or was the mat one of the ones still horizontal?

I need to go back and re-read all the articles. ( although that often will muddy the waters even more).


ETA: okay, I see it was the coach who began frantically pulling down the mats to get to the one with KJ's body. But why didn't he then unroll it? Maybe there were some (sorry) fluids or odor that told him KJ was already dead?

 

[FrayedKnot]

BBM

"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, according to Prine. 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."

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

See, that is EXACTLY what it looked like in the crime scene photos. Thank you. But then how could his head and arms have been outside the mat? Not only was KJ not 7 feet tall, but the end of the mat where his head and arms were to have been sticking out would have been flush with the floor, no? :waitasec:

 

[mrsward]

I have done the same thing.. infact when i read this thread i started panacking !
When i around 12 i had gone to an indoor play centre and they had a foam tube that id gone into head first ( generally being silly i had the intention of standing up with it over my head to make my siblings laugh!)

I got stuck and i could not for the life of me get out. My legs had left the floor and i couldnt shout for help qs my shouts were muffled.. thank god a parent saw me !
It was taken away from the centre floor by staff ..and ive been scared of small spaces ever since

Poor boy..

 

[jjenny]

See, that is EXACTLY what it looked like in the crime scene photos. Thank you. But then how could his head and arms have been outside the mat? Not only was KJ not 7 feet tall, but the end of the mat where his head and arms were to have been sticking out would have been flush with the floor, no? :waitasec:

Who says his head and arms were outside the mat?

 

[jjenny]

As much as I hate to say it...

.... Look at the death of Ken McElroy as a prime example of a global cover-up.

Ken McElroy was a person a lot of people didn't like. Whereas this was a well liked teenager. Also sheriff has no relatives as students in the school (despite the rumors).

 

[BeginnersLuck]

I also thought it was odd that the gym teacher didn't unroll the mat when he was found, because that would be my first instinct. Then I thought, maybe he touched his leg or looked in the other end of the mat and it became obvious to him that Kendrick was deceased.

I in no way see any giant conspiracy here.

I think as he reached for his belongings, he got stuck and as he struggled to get free, he became even more stuck, deeper in the mat. He was wedged upside down. He couldn't back out. There was only one way his body would go if he struggled and that is forward. I don't think anyone could hear him yell through all that foam. I think of a sound proof studio. There is no where for the noise to go.

I think this was a tragic, freak accident.

 

[IzzyBlanche]

I think I get what you're saying: if kids were always climbing up there and it was such a normal thing, and if KJ "fell" in there at appr. 10 a.m., then why didn't anyone else notice KJ's body in there the rest of the day?

I am also confused by the crime scene photos; if they pulled the vertical mat horizontal in order to rescue what that thought could be a living KJ, why was it still rolled up in the photos? Conversely, if they already knew him to be deceased, why did they pull down the vertical mat and disturb a crime scene?

Who pulled the mat down? Students? Teachers? Admin? LE?

Or was the mat one of the ones still horizontal?

I need to go back and re-read all the articles. ( although that often will muddy the waters even more).


ETA: okay, I see it was the coach who began frantically pulling down the mats to get to the one with KJ's body. But why didn't he then unroll it? Maybe there were some (sorry) fluids or odor that told him KJ was already dead?

BBM--yes, that's what I was saying.

 

[jjenny]

BBM--yes, that's what I was saying.

How exactly would it even be possible for kids to "always be on the mats" when the mats weren't even stored vertically but instead horizontally prior to this?

 

[gxm]

How exactly would it even be possible for kids to "always be on the mats" when the mats weren't even stored vertically but instead horizontally prior to this?

I agree. It's terrible he wasn't found sooner but, IMO, it took a day to find KJ's body because it wasn't until another group of kids went looking for their belongings in the mats.

 

['Ailina]

I have done the same thing.. infact when i read this thread i started panacking !
When i around 12 i had gone to an indoor play centre and they had a foam tube that id gone into head first ( generally being silly i had the intention of standing up with it over my head to make my siblings laugh!)

I got stuck and i could not for the life of me get out. My legs had left the floor and i couldnt shout for help qs my shouts were muffled.. thank god a parent saw me !
It was taken away from the centre floor by staff ..and ive been scared of small spaces ever since

Poor boy..

This bears repeating, for those who may overlook it.

Thank you, Mrs. Ward, for relating your experience. This is an important thing for me to have read.