Disclaimer: The article contains mentions of murder. Reader discretion is advised.
On January 11, 2013, authorities discovered the body of Kendrick Johnson in the Lowndes High School gym in Valdosta, Georgia. After initiating an investigation, police sent his body for an autopsy. The preliminary autopsy found that Johnson’s body had no injuries, so investigators ruled his death as an “accident.” In the following years, Johnson’s family tried exhuming his body for additional autopsies. Subsequently, authorities reopened the Kendrick Johnson case in 2021. The case is thoroughly detailed in the documentary Finding Kendrick Johnson.
In the initial phase of the investigation, police speculated that Kendrick Johnson wanted to retrieve his shoe from a rolled-up mat. However, he couldn’t get out and died, per WALB News. In May of that year, police officially announced that Johnson’s death was an accident. On the other hand, Johnson’s parents believed that someone murdered their kid. But things went bizarre when the attorney of Johnson’s family revealed the difference between the information from the paramedics and what investigators said. The outlet reported that in June 2013, the court announced a second autopsy in Johnson’s case.
Citing the second autopsy report, WALB mentioned that Kendrick Johnson died from an “unexplained, apparent non-accidental, blunt force trauma.” Thereafter, Johnson’s family requested the police to rule Johnson’s death as a homicide. In the following years, Johnson’s family tried to get justice, and in 2018, a third autopsy conducted on the deceased noted that Johnson’s death was “non-accidental.” People from the community, including Johnson’s family, pressurized the law-enforcement agencies to reopen the case. As a result, authorities reopened Kendrick Johnson’s death case in March 2021, per NPR.
Are there any suspects in Kendrick Johnson’s death?
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the family of Kendrick Johnson came forward with a recording in which a young man claimed to have killed Johnson. Citing the recording, the publication mentioned that the man alleged that authorities would catch him eventually. The man said, “They are going to catch me anyway. I should’ve never done this. I was young and stupid. Kendrick didn’t deserve this, man.”
Meanwhile, WALB noted that authorities started investigating the email that allegedly claimed that an ex-schoolmate killed Kendrick Johnson. However, the publication claimed that the confession was a hoax.
Last year, in September, Kendrick Johnson’s parents filed a lawsuit worth $1 billion against law enforcement authorities. The Telegraph noted that the case was filed against the local sheriff’s office and state investigators for allegedly giving false information to Johnson’s parents and ruling his death as an accident.
The documentary Finding Kendrick Johnson is available to stream on TUBI.
