Kendrick Johnson’s Death Reopened after 13 Years of Unanswered Questions
After eight years of more questions than answers, the case of Kendrick Johnson will officially be reopened after the teen's death over 13 years ago. Georgia’s Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk has confirmed that his office will reopen the investigation after it recently received long-sought-after documents.
The death of Kendrick Johnson has been riddled with questions from both family members and the public after conflicting autopsies and back and forth lawsuits propelled the teen’s death to the national spotlight. The case was opened when Johnson, 17, who had disappeared in January 2013 was found rolled up in a wrestling mat at his school gym the day after his mother filed a missing person report. Johnson was found lodged in the vertical mat with his head toward the floor and his legs facing up.
The initial investigation ruled the teen's death as an accident because investigators believed Johnson fell into the wrestling mat after he was trying to retrieve his shoe. One shoe was found on the floor below his head while his other shoe was found on top of him. After the initial autopsy conducted by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), officials ruled the death as an accident caused by “positional asphyxia.” Despite the family's belief that foul play was involved, the sheriff's office closed the case.
After conflicting reports between the authorities who investigated the death and paramedic reports, the Johnson family hired a medical examiner to conduct a second autopsy. The second autopsy yielded a different cause of death. There was a small bruise found on the right side of Johnson's neck that was ruled to be indicative of blunt force trauma. The medical examiner, Dr. William Anderson, dismisses the initial autopsy ruling of positional asphyxia and instead declared that the “manner of death was not accidental.” According to the Justice Department, Dr. Anderson “found hemorrhages to the jaw line area not detected during the GBI autopsy.” The second autopsy also revealed that some of Johnson's organs were missing from his body and were replaced with crumpled-up newspapers.
In 2019, the family re-filed a lawsuit and argued their son's missing clothing, organs, and even brain were removed in an attempt to interfere with the investigation. A third autopsy was eventually performed and the result of that autopsy yielded “apparent non-accidental, blunt force trauma” as well. The last two autopsies cast a cloud of doubt on the GBI's initial autopsy and strengthened the Johnson family's fear that foul play took place.
A federal investigation into the criminal civil violations in the case yielded no results. The Justice Department shared, “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 Johnson’s civil rights or committed any other prosecutable federal crime.” Following the federal investigation, authorities did not proceed forward with any federal criminal charges, and the case was closed on the federal level.
New Sheriff Offers Hope for Johnson Family
The reopening of the case comes after Sheriff Paulk won reelection in 2016. Paulk had previously served as sheriff for 16 years but retired in 2012 right before Johnson's death. Paulk had previously requested documents from the federal investigation in April 2019 but was denied the documents.
After the documents were approved to be sent to the sheriff's office late last year, Paulk vowed to thoroughly re-examine the case. Paul shared with a local news outlet, "People ask me was it an accident or a murder, and I say I can't give you an opinion until I see every bit of evidence that we have."
The sheriff's office has received 17 boxes of information related to the case. Everything from paperwork to hard drives was released to the sheriff's office. Paulk explained, “We’ll go through every bit of it. If we find a contradiction, we're going to resolve any contradiction."
The sheriff's office plans to examine and compare documents from the state investigation and documents from the federal investigation. Paulk explains that his office will take a look at any discrepancies that exist between both to thoroughly vet the events of that day and the overall investigation. As this new investigation unfolds, it is expected that new investigators as well as some old investigators who participated in the initial case will be involved in the re-examination process.
A second look at the case with fresh new eyes has breathed hope into the Johnson family. Johnson's mother Jacqueline Johnson shared with CNN, “It's been eight long years. I'm feeling hopeful.” Kendricks father Kenneth Johnson shared the same sentiment expressing, “We're not asking for any favors. We're not asking for anybody to lie to us. We just want the truth to come out.”
