Latest / Murder Files Unsealed / Death of Kendrick Johnson - Part Two

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Death of Kendrick Johnson - Part Two · Murder Files Unsealed

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The parents of Kendrick Johnson shared a photograph with the
• 0:03
  media depicting their son's face as he rested in the
• 0:07
  funeral home. In this image, Kendrick Johnson's face appears severely swollen,
• 0:13
  rendering it almost unrecognizable. The public reacted with shock to
• 0:18
  the photograph, leading to increased support for the Johnson family
• 0:22
  in their pursuit of the truth. On May eighth, twenty thirteen,
• 0:28
  a judge authorized the exhumation of Kendrick Johnson's body. A
• 0:32
  private pathologist was subsequently engaged to perform a second autopsy.
• 0:38
  This examination indicated that Kendrick Johnson had experienced hemorrhaging on
• 0:43
  the right side of his neck, suggesting that he likely
• 0:46
  succumbed to blunt force trauma. The pathologist determined that his
• 0:51
  death was not accidental. Furthermore, the second autopsy uncovered that
• 0:57
  several of Johnson's organs were absent, and in their place,
• 1:01
  his body had been filled with newspaper. The Georgia Bureau
• 1:05
  of Investigations GBI asserted that following the initial autopsy, Johnson's
• 1:11
  organs were reinserted into the body prior to its transfer
• 1:16
  to the funeral home. However, the coroner indicated that these
• 1:20
  organs were not sent to the funeral home due to
• 1:23
  significant decomposition and were disposed of prior to that transfer.
• 1:29
  The funeral home stated that it received the body without
• 1:33
  any organs, which were typically substituted with materials such as
• 1:38
  paper or sawdust during the embalming process. The Johnson family
• 1:43
  attempted to file a lawsuit against the funeral home for
• 1:47
  allegedly mishandling their son's remains, potentially to obscure the actual
• 1:53
  cause of death. However, this case was ultimately dismissed. The
• 1:58
  absence of the organs prevented any testing during the subsequent autopsy,
• 2:03
  intensifying the suspicions of Johnson's parents regarding a possible cover up.
• 2:09
  In light of this new information, Matthew Moore, the US
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  Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, announced a formal
• 2:17
  review of the case. The Johnson family sought a coroner's inquest,
• 2:22
  aiming to initiate the reclassification of Kendrick Johnson's death as
• 2:27
  non accidental and to reopen the investigation. However, their request
• 2:33
  was ultimately denied, despite the coroner, Bill Watson, having initially
• 2:38
  voiced concerns regarding the sheriff Department's management of the case,
• 2:43
  surveillance footage and suspects finally emerge. CNN obtained the security
• 2:49
  footage from the school on the day of Kendrick Johnson's death. However,
• 2:54
  upon examination, it became evident that the footage provided minimal
• 2:58
  clarity regarding the events of that day. The cameras directed
• 3:03
  at the mats were out of focus and exhibited erratic movement.
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  The footage only captured Kendrick Johnson approaching the gym and
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  a few seconds of him jogging inside. There was no
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  evidence of him being present in or exiting the gym,
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  and notably, he did not attend his subsequent classes. Moreover,
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  a significant hour of footage from the gym was absent,
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  coinciding with the period that could have clarified the circumstances
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  surrounding his death. This discovery further fueled skepticism among those
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  who believed that the incident was not merely an accident.
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  In twenty fourteen, Kendrick Johnson's parents initiated a wrongful death
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  lawsuit against the school officials, claiming that their son had
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  been subjected to harassment by a white student, which the
• 3:55
  school allegedly overlooked, potentially due to racial bias. Ebony dot
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  com reported that the murder of Johnson was allegedly committed
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  by two white brothers. Although their names were not disclosed,
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  the physical description of these individuals bore a striking resemblance
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  to Brian and Brandon Bell, whom the publication suggested had
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  taken Kendrick's life due to a prior altercation that had
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  occurred over a year prior and had intensified. The Johnson
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  family further alleged that the brother's father, who was serving
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  as an FBI agent at the time, played a role
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  in concealing the murder by influencing the school and the
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  authorities involved in the investigation of Johnson's death. In twoenty fifteen,
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  the Johnsons initiated a civil lawsuit seeking one hundred million
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  dollars against thirty eight defendants, which included three of their
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  son's classmates, the educational ins institution, the local crime laboratory,
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  various state and federal officials, five agents from the GBI,
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  an FBI agent, among others. The parents contended that the
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  sons of the FBI agent were responsible for Johnson's death
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  and utilized their connections to obstruct the investigation. However, Johnson's
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  father acknowledged that he possessed no concrete evidence to substantiate
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  these allegations, leading the Johnsons to withdraw their lawsuit. They
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  subsequently faced a lawsuit for over eight hundred fifty thousand
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  dollars in attorney fees and more than one million dollars
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  in defamation claims. Ultimately, a judge mandated that they pay
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  nearly three hundred thousand dollars in legal fees to those
• 5:51
  they had accused without sufficient evidence. In June twenty eighteen,
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  Kendrick Johnson's remains were exuls humed for a second time,
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  leading to the execution of a third autopsy. The results
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  of this second autopsy indicated that Johnson's death was