And the kid very respectfully told us that he just wasnt used to people like us talking to someone like him and treating someone like him in that way. Paulk said the sheriffs office already questioned two people since the reopening of the case. That one determined the cause of death as blunt force trauma. In that autopsy, the pathologist discovered Johnsons organs were missing, removed during the first. "If covid wasn't happening, I'd be downtown right now with millions of people marching for justice. Months after his death, Lowndes County Sheriffs Office investigators ruled it was an accident and closed the case. 2023 Cable News Network. Show more 6:12 Missing video in teen gym-mat death? Krista Monkon Scribd. This death does intrigue me. But his parents, Jackie and Kenneth Johnson never believed that. One student testified that they would go down into the mats to retrieve the items, according to the report. Kendrick Johnson, was a 17-year-old high school sophomore, found dead, inside of a rolled-up gym mat at Lowndes High School gymnasium on January 11, 2013. In 2015, the grieving family filed a $100 million lawsuit that accused the former sheriff, the school superintendent and an FBI agent of stuffing the body inside the mat in the school gym to disguise it as an accident. An FBI video analysis concluded that they were in different areas of the school when Johnson entered the gym. I quote they are going to catch me anyway, I shouldve never done this. POLLOCK:I think that it is very important in our journalism and art culture that we have the op-ed and I did not feel that it was necessary to interview white people in Valdosta about this story, because there were already eight years of records of what they thought about it. VALDOSTA, Ga. (WALB) - Kendrick Johnson's family is full of hope after they brought a new recording to light with a possible confession to law enforcement. Ive been doing homicide 23 years and 12 of those years Ive investigated cold-case homicides. This case involves race, so no explanation can quell the endless accusations from some, including requisite allegations that this was a modern-day lynching. A second local investigation into the 2013 death of Kendrick Johnson, the Georgia teenager who was found dead in a rolled-up gym mat, has been closed with no charges filed, according to a report released by Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk. POLLOCK: Its worse than avoidance. During the interview, my partner and I were very assertive, we were very professional, we were very thorough, but we were also somewhat aggressive. I can relate to everything you said. Racism is the front and center reality of this story and all the other stories like it that are coming to the forefront now. William R. Anderson, a doctor hired by Johnson's family, conducted the second autopsy in June 2013 after his body was exhumed. This gruesome finding only increased their anguish and further fueled their skepticism of the original official findings. A third autopsy was conducted on Johnson after his body was exhumed for the second time in June 2018, with the results concluding he died from non-accidental blunt force trauma between his neck and abdomen, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. And when you drop one ball, it starts a chaineffect. VALDOSTA, Ga. (WALB) - Kendrick Johnsons family is full of hope after they brought a new recording to light with a possible confession to law enforcement. Type above and press Enter to search. While conspiracies surrounding Kendrick's death have been the subject of numerous investigative shows and documentaries, filmmaker Jason Pollock, who recently released Finding Kendrick Johnson, focuses on one fundamental question: What happened? appreciated. A South Georgia sheriff is putting up a $500,000 reward of his own cash for information leading to the conviction of anyone who killed Kendrick Johnson, the high school student found dead . Aside from that,people know me. Johnson's body was head-down in a rolled-up mat that was positioned vertically. Thats not the way a proper investigation goes. Most people in Hollywood, especially white people, hadnt heard about KJs story and we had a lot of doors closed because of that fact. To learn more about the case, pick up this week's issue of PEOPLE on newsstands now. The Johnsons also publicized their sons face after death a comparison the documentary hammered home. There are few starker example than Kendrick Johnson, an African American teenager found dead inside a rolled-up gym mat at his high school gymnasium in 2013. KJ Johnson is everybody's child.". JACKSONVILLE, Fla A new piece of potential evidence has been brought to authorities in the high-profile death of a Valdosta teen. $980,000 clubhouse for Putney Park set for a vote. Did you encounter any technical issues? TCR: How did you maintain objectivity in a story that is so deeply personal to the peopleinvolved and really focuses on their experience over anyone elses? The Lowndes County Sheriffs Office is currently working to authenticate the recording and the voice on it. 25,115 people follow this. When it came time to narrate the film, he turned to singer and actress Jenifer Lewis. We started investigating in 2017, and most of the film was done by the beginning of 2020. The Valdosta Daily Times Kendrick Johnson is shown wearing his Lowndes basketball uniform. I felt that we had let the Johnson family down. The report says his feet were visible from the top of the mat. Krista Monkon Scribd. And earlier we had heard that same kid call another one of his classmates n****r. That word came off his tongue like it was just a regular sentence. Third autopsy results show non-accidental damage to boy found dead in rolled up in gym mat, Teens arrested after 11 injured in South Carolina park shooting, Former South Georgia State College president passes away. He wrote that a student was alleged to have left the school about an hour before Johnson was last seen alive for a wrestling tournament. Investigation into death of Georgia teen found in a rolled-up gym mat 8 years ago will be reopened. The Crime Report: Jason, what prompted you to get involved in this story and what were some of the hurdles you encountered in making it? But I just didnt let this die, I sat on my little egg all of last year just waiting for the right moment to figure out how to get it out because its a very important story in American history and one that has been completely forgotten about and covered up pretty much until now. The independent autopsy performed by Anderson also found that Johnsons brain, heart, lungs, liver and other organs were gone, while his parents also discovered his body was stuffed with newspapers prior to his burial. Community See All. Or at least the fact that he died as a result of something other than an accident." TCR: How is this kind of underlying and deep-seeded racism reflected in the handling ofthis case by both local law enforcement and the FBI? He vowed to review the controversial case. However, when Dr. Bill Anderson, the private pathologist who conducted the second autopsy, examined Kendrick's remains, the brain, heart, lungs, liver and every other organ from the pelvis to the skull were all missing. Anyone we interviewed didnt see us for a whole month after that. He then took aim at Michael Moore, the former U.S. attorney for Middle Georgia, whose investigation ended up having an armored car and teams of heavily armed federal agents swarm the Bells home in an early morning raid in 2015. Johnsons parents have said they think their son was killed. Paulk told WALB its a great feeling having the new evidence but hopes someone is not playing a cruel joke on the family. So, when you look at that example, and you have police who work in that environment, their mindsets absorb that culture as well. Authorities said he suffocated after falling into the mat while trying to retrieve a shoe.. Johnsons family, however, has repeatedly said they believe he was killed, and they reiterated that Thursday afternoon after the release of the sheriff's report. Possible new evidence presented in Kendrick Johnson case, Teens arrested after 11 injured in South Carolina park shooting, Former South Georgia State College president passes away. : No charges in Kendrick Johnson death, nr Blackwell Kendrick Johnson_00003415.jpg. It shouldnt have happened to Kendrick. So sad when such a vital young person loses their life. TCR: Do you consider yourself a whistleblower in exposing the failures of law enforcementin this investigation? The person on the tape must be identified, Ii it is a hoax, with the scammer who sold it, we need to know why those words exist on that tape, Coleman said. A judge, however, quashed their suit, writing in the ruling: Their testimony shows they had no evidence.. After extensive investigation into this tragic event, federal investigators determined that there is insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that someone or some group of people willfully violated Kendrick Johnsons civil rights or committed any other prosecutable federal crime, it said in a statement. State and local officials ruled that Kendrick suffocated after purportedly reaching for a pair of sneakers inside the mat and getting stuck. Russ Bynum/AP. by TCR Staff, The Crime Report October 19, 2021, This and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.. Community. Paulk also addressed claims that two students may have been involved, as well as conflicting accounts of Johnson's missing organs. It hasnt stopped, Im working on several cases at all times and continue having success. Yet to this day, despite multiple investigations, lawsuits and autopsies, no one can say for certain whether the death of Kendrick Johnson was an accident or a murder. The county sheriff said the death, initially ruled an accident, should be investigated. The body of Kendrick Johnson, 17, was found Jan. 11 in south Georgia, and Lowndes County sheriff's investigators concluded that he died in a freak accident - falling headfirst into an upright. WALB has . The circumstances of his death have been a source of conjecture, gossip, allegations and lawsuits ever since. Using state evidence gathered from a four-year undercover investigation, as well as interviews with Mitch Credle, a homicide detective assigned to the initial 2013 federal criminal civil rights investigation launched by the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Middle District of Georgia, the film reveals a case riddled with errors, and hampered by conspiracy and obstruction in law enforcement that included the FBI. Posted at 7:11 PM, Mar 08, 2021. and last updated 9:24 AM, Mar 09, 2021. All rights reserved. Johnsons body was exhumed for the second time for the third autopsy in June. We knew what the outcome would be from the very beginning, Kendricks father, Kenneth Johnson, told CNN. I told them I would also look at it, but I think there are people who would do some really cruel things and I hope its not a scam, Sheriff Ashley Paulk said. State and local law enforcement officials ruled the death an accidental asphyxiation, saying Johnson died after he climbed into a rolled-up mat to retrieve his sneakers. The U.S. Attorneys Office for the Middle District of Georgia was recused from the investigation many years ago.. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. That organization has been engaged in a planned and coordinated attack againstBlack civil rights since the very beginningthat history is directly connected to Kendricks case. The teens parents say they are not convinced. In a section of the report addressing the missing viscera, or internal organs, Paulk wrote that the viscera were in the body when it was taken to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for the initial autopsy and that the "only plausible explanation would be that the viscera were disposed of by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation because of their advanced decomposition.". Its that what-about-ism that Trump was pushing so much and that the media plays into. Anderson concluded Johnson died from unexplained, apparent non-accidental, blunt force trauma to the right neck and soft tissues, CNN reported. eating raisin bran at night, carrie leigh stewart and david baker, toffs clothing ferrymead hours,