COPS have reopened the death investigation of a teen found rolled up in a high school gym mat in 2013.
The case of 17-year-old Kendrick Johnson, of South Georgia, was reopened by the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office on March 5, 2021.
It continues after the U.S. Department of Justice handed over 17 boxes of evidence collected by federal agents, Sheriff Paulk revealed.
The boxes – containing hard drives, paperwork, and other materials – were sent to the sheriff’s office in February and March of 2021.
Prior to the case’s reopening, Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk and Kendrick Johnson’s dad wrote letters to Save Ourselves ATL for the release of federal documents.
According to Paulk, the Sheriff’s office began trying to acquire the documents in April of 2020.
It wasn’t until late 2020 when the Sheriff’s office heard the documents would be released soon.
And now, a complete a re-examination of the case may take up to an additional six months.
Paulk said: “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.”
He also noted that the new evidence is “a good piece of the puzzle that was missing.”
Johnson was found dead on January 11, 2013 in the gym at Lowndes High School in Valdosta.
According to investigators, the young teen, who was found by his schoolmates, had died in a freak accident.
Johnson had been trying to grab a shoe that fell in a rolled-up mat, which was placed upright, when he became stuck upside down in the wrestling mat and unable to breathe.
Investigators ultimately ruled his cause of death to be accidental asphyxiation and it the case was closed in June of 2020.
Kendrick Johnson’s mom, Jacquelyn Johnson, speaks at a rally for her son on June 13, 2020Credit: Getty Images – Getty
However, his family believes he was murdered by schoolmates and ordered three autopsies to further investigate.
The first two subsequent autopsies conducted showed blunt force trauma as the cause of death.
Yet, a third autopsy from 2018 ruled the cause of death as “apparent non-accidental, blunt force trauma” but also determined some of Johnson’s organs were missing.
Johnson’s family filed a lawsuit in 2019 over his death, alleging that his clothes and organs, along with his brain, were discarded to interfere with the investigation.
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Marcus Coleman, a family spokesperson, told 11Alive that the family is “optimistic” regarding the Sheriff’s office announcement.
“They are grateful, but cautiously optimistic. They’ve been through eight years of hell,” Coleman added.
Since Johnson’s death no one has been charged with any crimes relating to his case.
