What happened to Kendrick Johnson? Lawsuit explored as parents of dead Georgia high school student sue investigators

Kendrick Johnson, a 17-year-old student of the Lowndes County High School, was found dead in the school's gym in 2013. The police issued a lengthy report in 2022 that claimed that Johnson's death was not a case of murder. The police claimed that Kendrick's death was accidental and the autopsy reports mentioned that Johnson died of non-accidental blunt force trauma.

Kendrick Johnson's parents filed a $1 billion lawsuit against the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Lowndes County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday, September 19, 2023. According to Fox5 Atlanta, the suit claimed that the two law enforcement agencies had provided "false information" about the teen's death ten years ago.

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Kendrick Johnson's body's independent autopsies showed blunt-force trauma as the cause of death

Ten years ago, on January 11, 2013, the body of 17-year-old Kendrick Johnson was found at the gym of the Lowndes County High School. Police initially inferred that the death was an accident and ruled out the possibility of a murder. The case was eventually closed.

The first investigation into the case noted that the teen possibly fell into the center of a mat while he was trying to get his shoe. The investigation claimed that Kendrick allegedly got trapped in the mat and lost his life there.

Two independent autopsies revealed that the cause of death was non-accidental blunt-force trauma. Police, meanwhile, ruled the cause of death to be accidental positional asphyxia.

As mentioned earlier, the teen's family filed a lawsuit against the agencies involved in the investigation of Johnson's death. The lawsuit stated that the agencies provided the family with false information. It added that the agencies claimed that Kendrick had no major bruises or trauma on his body, which was contradictory to what the autopsy had found.

Inconsistencies in the facts of the case, several official reports, and the condition in which Johnson was found, made his family question the conclusion made by police. They hired a pathologist to conduct an autopsy, which claimed that the cause of death was undetermined.

A federal investigation also took place in 2013, however, it was shut down in 2016. The feds claimed that there were "insufficient evidence to support federal criminal charges." The Justice Department that initiated the investigation, later issued a statement, saying,

"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."

A second local investigation took place but was again closed with the conclusion that it was an accident. Johnson was found wrapped up in a gym mat in 2013. Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk issued a report claiming the same as well. Paulk said,

"There is nothing to substantiate a homicide. Nothing criminal happened."

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The lawsuit claimed that authorities had provided false information regarding Kendrick Johnson's death investigation

Paulk wasn't a part of the force when the incident took place. Thus, to investigate the death again, in 2019, he urged the federal agency to provide him with the information about the evidence they collected initially. The Justice Department, however, declined the request. After 2020, the permission was ultimately granted and Sheriff Ashley Paulk got hold of the shreds of evidence.

The evidence collected by the feds and that Paulk received included grand jury testimony, several digital evidence, and an autopsy report. This was all was generated after the feds conducted the procedure. Paulk, however, could not conclude anything that would prove the presence of foul play in Kendrick Johnson's death.

The victim's family was not at all convinced with the findings. Kenneth Johnson, the victim's father told CNN, that the family had no faith in Lowndes County. He added that they had known what the outcome would have been from the beginning.

"You can’t do an investigation with the same investigators who covered it up. They’re not going to uncover something that they covered up," Kenneth said.

When such questions regarding the investigation of Kendrick Johnson's death were highlighted, Paulk stated in the report,

"I am quite sure that there will still be a contingent that will believe there was foul play. I encourage everyone to study ALL the evidence in this file before forming an opinion."

Paulk released the report last year where he claimed that the death was an accident. Following that, he announced a reward of $500,000 that he would pay personally, to anybody who can provide evidence that foul play was involved and that Johnson was murdered in 2013.

While the lawsuit was filed, Kendrick Johnson's mum, Jackie Johnson, said that it was a shame that the family had been fighting for justice for over teen years.She said that they didn't seem to care about Kendrick and that he was "just another child that they want to sweep under the rug."

She added"

"They killed the wrong child, but they got the right parents because we are going to continue to fight for Kendrick."

Kenneth Johnson further stated that he believes authorities are trying to cover up for each other, and thus, ruled his son's death to be accidental in nature. The Johnsons' attorney, Jonathan Burrs has mentioned that the evidence collected by authorities contradicts the cause of death mentioned report and the death certificate.