Back in January, Kendrick Johnson was found dead in the gym of Lowndes County High School in Valdosta, Georgia. Officially, his death was ruled an accident. But there were enough red flags to make his parents conduct their own autopsy--one that suggested his death was a homicide. Some new and incredibly disturbing details have since come out that have federal prosecutors seriously considering whether to launch an investigation of their own.
CNN got its hands on video and pictures of the death scene and showed them former FBI agent Harold Copus. When Copus saw them, he was convinced that Kendrick was murdered.
A 15-minute video and nearly 700 photos taken by sheriff's investigators in Lowndes County documented the horrific scene. Johnson's body, clad in jeans and and layered orange and white T-shirts, was found wedged into a rolled-up wrestling mat in January. His face was bloated with pooled blood, some of which had poured out of his body, soaking his dreadlocks and spilling onto the floor.
There were more streaks of blood on a nearby wall -- but it wasn't Johnson's, according to investigators. Meanwhile, Copus said there appeared to be no blood on a sneaker that the teen supposedly was attempting to reach, located inches beneath him.
A pair of orange-and-black gym shoes found a few yards from the body had a substance that looked like blood on them, but investigators told CNN the stains weren't blood -- and so the shoes weren't collected as potential evidence. The same went for a hooded sweatshirt found a few feet away from the teen.
Copus said he can't explain how investigators handled items found around the gym.
Watch the full piece
here:
Copus, who is now a private investigator in Atlanta, all but says that Lowndes County investigators botched the probe into Kendrick's death. The independent autopsy appears to confirm this. It found that Kendrick had died after being hit with a blunt object to the neck. This is consistent with what EMTs found when they examined Kendrick's body. However, the crime lab report found no evidence of blunt force trauma. I don't think I need to tell you that this absolutely reeks.
To add insult to injury, it turns out that some of Kendrick's organs were removed prior to his burial.
During an autopsy, internal organs are removed and examined before being returned for burial. But when Dr. Bill Anderson, the private pathologist who conducted the second autopsy, opened up the teen's remains, the brain, heart, lungs, liver and other viscera were missing. Every organ from the pelvis to the skull was gone.
"I'm not sure at this point who did not return the organs to the body," Anderson said. "But I know when we got the body, the organs were not there."
Instead, the cavities where those organs should have been were stuffed with newspaper. To put it mildly, this is way outside normal practice.
The Justice Department initially decided against a civil rights investigation when this story broke in September. But in light of what's since come out, Michael Moore, the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, says he's giving serious thought to opening a new investigation.
"This is about getting to the facts and the truth, and we want the Johnson family and the community of Valdosta to have confidence in the process," Moore said. "I am cognizant of time, and we continue to move the process along."
Moore urged anyone with information about Johnson's death to contact his office.
Sounds to me like a lot of heads need to roll when all is said and done.