Kendrick Johnson's death: Case CLOSED as sheriff terms Georgia teen's death as 'weird accident'
The death of a black teenager, whose body was found upside-down in a rolled-up gym mat at Lowndes High School in Valdosta, Georgia in 2013, was an accident, Sheriff Ashley Paulk informed on Thursday, January 27. The 16-page report that detailed the sheriff's findings echoed the ruling made by a previous sheriff in 2013, concluding that there was no evidence of foul play involved in the death of the teenager.
Sheriff Ashley Paulk of Lowndes County reopened the case in March 2021 in the face of theories that someone killed the Georgia teen and officials covered up the truth. "The teenager Kendrick Johnson, 17, most likely crawled headfirst into the mat to retrieve a pair of sneakers that he had thrown inside earlier and got trapped," said Paulk. In its second local investigation, the 2013 case has been closed with no charges filed.
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In a 16-page summary of his investigation, Paulk wrote, "All of the evidence, testimony, interviews, grand jury testimony and even the blunt coercion and intimidation of some persons being questioned does not produce anything to prove anything that would have resulted in the death of Kendrick Johnson."
The sheriff added that he found it "disturbing and unethical" that the investigation turned into a witch hunt after the initial probe was closed without any criminal charges. Paulk, who was not in office when Kendrick died, based his reopened case on 17 boxes of the material provided by the Federal authorities.
The sheriff dismissed the theories of a coverup, saying he reviewed the testimonies of 58 people and several autopsies. "Any person who looks at this case objectively would know that it would be impossible to conceal any evidence due to the involvement of so many agencies and investigators," he said. "In closing, I am quite sure there will still be a contingent that will believe there was foul play," the sheriff said in his report.
Kendrick was found in a rolled-up gym mat on January 11, 2013, and his death was ruled accidental by local authorities several months later. The first of the three autopsies on the teen showed he died from asphyxiation with the authorities determining he had likely got trapped in the mat while trying to retrieve his shoes.
The US Department of Justice closed its own investigation in 2016, saying it "found insufficient evidence to support federal criminal charges." But a second autopsy on the exhumed body of the teen showed evidence of blunt force trauma on his neck and theories have floated that Kendrick was murdered.
Kendrick’s mother Jackie Johnson told WSB-TV that she would continue to push for a federal investigation to be reopened again. "You didn’t find nothing in 17 boxes?" she said. "That’s the craziest lie you could have told. We already knew what team you were on. You are not on the team of righteousness." "I will fight as long as I have to uncover what exactly happened to Kendrick Johnson," said his father, Kenneth Johnson, wearing a T-shirt that read 'Kendrick Johnson didn’t roll himself up into no mat'.