UNSOLVED: The School Gym Murder 1

Summary

---

Murder: True Crime Stories – Unsolved: The School Gym Murder, Part 1

Podcast: Murder: True Crime Stories
Host: Carter Roy
Episode Date: December 9, 2025

---

Episode Overview

In this gripping first installment of a two-part series, host Carter Roy explores the mysterious and controversial 2013 death of Kendrick Johnson, a 17-year-old found dead in his high school gymnasium in Valdosta, Georgia. The episode traces the Johnson family’s devastating journey from heartbreak to advocacy, examining the initial investigation, critical missteps, and the beginnings of a community movement seeking justice. Carter Roy focuses on why this case remains unresolved, highlighting the personal impact and the unanswered questions that still haunt Kendrick’s loved ones.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Stage: Trust and Tragedy in School

• Carter Roy opens by framing schools as places of trust and safety, emphasizing the Johnson family's lack of fear around Kendrick attending Lowndes High School.
  • “They didn't have fears about sending him to class or worry about him staying late for a basketball game. But when Kendrick never came home one day in 2013, the trust they had shattered.” (00:12)
• The family’s ordinary expectations are transformed into a nightmare by Kendrick’s disappearance and the subsequent investigation.

2. Who Was Kendrick Johnson?

• Kendrick is painted as a quiet, well-liked athlete with dreams of going pro in football—distinct for being thoughtful and bringing people together with humor.
  • He was “tall, fit and handsome… more of a listener than a talker,” and “well liked by his classmates and had a reputation at school as a good kid.” (04:25)
• The timeline shifts to the evening of January 10, 2013, when Kendrick failed to come home, prompting his family to escalate from worry to a missing persons report.

3. Discovery of the Body and the Initial Investigation

• On January 11, Kendrick’s body is found, upside down inside a vertical, rolled-up gym mat, his feet visible, face swollen and a pool of blood beneath him. (09:12)
• Detectives find a wad of bloody paper towels in a nearby girl’s bathroom—initially a possible sign of foul play. (10:24)
• Analysis of scattered school surveillance footage is hampered by inconsistent timestamps and technical problems; vital footage is “practically unusable.” (21:59)
  • “There was video of Kendrick entering the gym, but none that showed him leaving.” (10:24)

4. Emerging Suspects and High School Dynamics

• Rumors and social media posts suggest motives and suspects among Kendrick’s peers, some tied to old conflicts.
  • Notably, a student (pseudonym “Charlie”) reportedly posts “when you start messing, the goons bodies start showing up,” fuel for police suspicions. (10:24, 16:08)
• A prior fight between Kendrick and another student, William Clark, and purported threats by William’s brother Sean, become focal points in the investigation. (21:59)
• Alibis, contradictory statements, and racial tensions complicate assessments and community reactions.

5. Official Ruling: Accident or Cover-Up?

• The first autopsy rules the death an accident—specifically, positional asphyxia from being trapped while reaching into the mat for shoes, a “freak accident.” (21:59)
• Kendrick’s parents push back, doubting he could have become stuck or remain undiscovered so long in a busy school.
• Procedural issues arise: the coroner wasn’t notified for five hours, seen as potentially compromising the crime scene. (21:59)
  • "Bill Watson [the coroner] disagreed. He said the five hour wait was improper and that Kendrick's body had been moved, meaning the crime scene had been compromised." (21:59)
• Despite reviewing over a hundred interviews and hundreds of hours of surveillance, authorities close the case as accidental by May 2013. (31:03)

6. Dramatic Revelations and Second Autopsy

• The Johnson family exhumed Kendrick’s body, commissioning an independent autopsy by Dr. Anderson.
  • Shocking discovery: Kendrick’s internal organs were missing—replaced by wadded newspaper. Each responsible party denies removing the organs. (32:55)
  • “Instead of a heart, a pair of lungs and a brain, there were J.C. penney advertisements, letters to the editor, and comic strips.” (33:09)
• Dr. Anderson concludes the original findings are incompatible with the evidence. Key inconsistencies include:
  • Normal lung weight (contradicting asphyxia).
  • Unhealed cuts on Kendrick’s left hand and internal bleeding by the jaw suggest possible blunt force trauma.
  • Dr. Anderson: “Kendrick was likely murdered” and already dead when placed in the mat. (35:56)

7. Community Outcry and Renewed Investigation

• Public outrage erupts. Crowds rally; civil rights leaders (e.g., Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King III) and attorney Benjamin Crump pressure authorities to reopen the case. (37:37)
• The family’s failed push for a coroner’s inquest is offset by news that the U.S. Attorney, Matthew Moore, will review the case.
  • “On October 31, 2013, Matthew Moore finally agreed to reopen the case. After 10 months of fighting, the Johnsons had scored a major victory.” (37:37)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the community’s trust:
  “Their child had been failed by the one place he should have been protected.” — Carter Roy (00:12)

• On discovery:
  “Poking out of one of the vertical mats, which stood 6ft tall, was a pair of white socked feet.” — Carter Roy (09:12)

• On the nature of Kendrick:
  “His grandma called him her peculiar grandchild because he was so much quieter than his five siblings.” — Carter Roy (04:25)

• On suspicion spreading via social media:
  “It was something like when you start messing, the goons bodies start showing up... For the detectives, this was a huge red flag.” — Carter Roy (10:24)

• On autopsy findings:
  “Kendrick’s organs were nowhere to be found… Instead of a heart, a pair of lungs and a brain, there were J.C. Penney advertisements, letters to the editor, and comic strips.” — Carter Roy (32:55, 33:09)

• On the possibility of murder:
  “Dr. Anderson believed Kendrick was likely murdered… the reason his lungs were empty of fluid was because he was already dead when he was put inside the mat.” — Carter Roy (35:56)

• On the family’s persistence:
  “The Johnsons held daily rallies in the community and continued to raise awareness for the case through Facebook. With the public pressure mounting, on October 31, 2013, Matthew Moore finally agreed to reopen the case.” — Carter Roy (37:37)

---

Timestamps for Critical Segments

• 00:12–01:21 – Introduction of Kendrick Johnson & setting the stakes for the story
• 04:25–09:12 – Kendrick’s personal background and the immediate aftermath of his disappearance
• 09:12–10:24 – Discovery of the body; initial reactions and gathering evidence
• 16:08–19:41 – Early suspects, school dynamics, feud backgrounds
• 21:59–28:50 – Autopsy findings, family doubts, procedural missteps, problematic surveillance
• 32:55–35:56 – Shocking details from the second autopsy and evidence of possible homicide
• 37:37–40:03 – Community response, civil rights attention, and federal investigation reopens

---

Tone and Style

Carter Roy uses a somber, detailed storytelling approach, emphasizing empathy for the victim’s family and community while methodically analyzing the twists and ambiguities of the case. The language is clear, serious, and reflective—focused on raising critical questions without sensationalism.

---

Conclusion

Part one of “The School Gym Murder” meticulously builds a case for why Kendrick Johnson’s death is not just an unsolved mystery, but a story riddled with controversy, conflicting narratives, and community activism. Listeners are left at a pivotal moment—federal authorities have just reopened the case, setting the stage for deeper revelations and the Johnson family’s ongoing search for truth in part two.

---

Transcript

[Carter Roy]

This is crime house.

We put a lot of trust in schools. They're where our kids spend most of their days, where they learn not just math and science, but how to navigate the world, how to solve problems, deal with conflict, and be better humans. So it makes sense that we expect and hope that our kids will be safe when we send them off to school every day. For the Johnson family of Valdosta, Georgia, Lowndes High School was like a second home for their son. They didn't have fears about sending him to class or worry about him staying late for a basketball game. But when Kendrick never came home one day in 2013, the trust they had shattered. Their child had been failed by the one place he should have been protected. And as the investigation dragged on, the Johnson family started to wonder if they would ever learn what really happened to Kendrick.

People's lives are like a story. There's a beginning, a middle, and an end. But you don't always know which part you're on. Sometimes the final chapter arrives far too soon, and we don't always get to know the real ending. I'm Carter Roy and this is True Crime Stories, a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios that comes out every Tuesday and Thursday. Crime House is made possible by you. Follow Murder True Crime Stories and subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts for ad free early access to each two part series. And if you can't get enough true crime, go search and follow Crime House daily, our team's twice a day show bringing you breaking cases, updates and unbelievable stories from the world of crime that are happening right now. Please be advised that this episode includes sensitive content involving the death of a minor and graphic medical findings. Please listen with care. This is the first of two episodes on the mysterious death of 17 year old Kendrick Johnson in 2013. Today I'll introduce you to Kendrick and tell you about the day that everything changed for the Johnson family. We'll learn how Kendrick was found dead in his school gymnasium, the controversial investigation that followed, and how his family continued to fight for justice. Next time, I'll share how their efforts paid off when a U.S. attorney reopened Kendrick's case. But just when it seemed like the Johnsons would finally get answers, the Department of Justice delivered some crushing news. And to this day, Kendrick's family is still looking for the truth and for closure. All that and more coming up.

[Walton Goggins / Ryan Reynolds]

So you want to start a business? You might think you need a team of people and fancy tech skills, but you don't. You just need Godaddy Arrow. I'm Walton Goggins. And as an actor, I'm an expert in looking like I know what I'm doing. GoDaddy Arrow uses AI to create everything you need to grow a business. It'll make you a unique logo, it'll create a custom website, it'll write social posts for you and even set you up with a social media calendar. Get [e-mail] Arrow that's godaddy.com Airo Hey, Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. One of the perks about having four kids that you know about is actually getting a direct line to the big man up north. And this year he wants you to know the best gift that you can give someone is the gift of Mint Mobile's Unlimited Limited Wireless for 15amonth. Now you don't even need to wrap it. Give it a [e-mail] Switch upfront payment.

[TikTok Business / Natural Cycles Advertisers]

Of $45 per three month plan equivalent to 15 per month required new customer offer for first three months only. Speed slow after 35 gigabytes if network's busy, taxes and fees extra. See mintmobile.com.

[Carter Roy]

Sometimes you can just tell a child has been raised right? That was the case with Kendrick Johnson in January 2013. The 17 year old had just started his second semester as a high school sophomore in Valdosta, Georgia. His grades were just okay, but his athletic abilities were where he really shined. He did basketball and track, but Kendrick's true passion was football. He constantly told his family he hoped to go pro one day, and Kendrick definitely looked the part of a football player. He was tall, fit and handsome, with dark eyes framed by shoulder length dreadlocks. But he wasn't a typical extroverted jock. His grandma called him her peculiar grandchild because he was so much quieter than his five siblings. As the baby of the family, he was always more of a listener than a talker. When he did speak, he tried to make his words count. He especially loved to tell jokes that brought people together. A kid like that was bound to be surrounded by friends, and Kendrick certainly had many. He was well liked by his classmates and had a reputation at school as a good kid. That's why his mom, Jackie, didn't micromanage his schedule. When Kendrick didn't get off the bus at his usual time on Thursday, January 10, she figured he had a good reason. Jackie knew there was a basketball game at school that night, so she assumed he'd decided to stay. It wouldn't be the first time a teen forgot to tell his parents something, and if he needed a ride home. He could always text her, but by 10pm she was starting to get nervous. When he didn't answer her calls, Jackie headed to the high school. She hoped she would find him sitting on the steps with a story about a dead phone battery. Instead, the campus was a ghost town. Her heart pounding in her chest, Jackie drove in circles, calling her son's name out the window. When she didn't get a response, she sped over to the Lowndes County Sheriff's Department to file a missing persons report. By the next morning, Kendrick still hadn't turned up. So around eight hours after Jackie first reported him missing on the morning of January 11, 2013, the search for Kendrick officially began. Sergeant Mike Adams pulled into the parking lot of Lowndes High School just after the first bell. He grinned as a couple of tardy teenagers rushed ahead of him. Lowndes was huge. With more than 3,000 students, it was one of the biggest schools in all of Georgia. Sergeant Adams hurried after the kids, pushing his way through the glass doors and into the foyer. An enormous tapestry depicting the school's mascot, a blond Viking, hung above the front office. Adams headed there first to ask the school secretary about Kendrick Johnson. He learned that Kendrick's first period teacher reported that he hadn't shown up that morning. At that point, Kendrick's mother and sister were already on campus looking for him. Adams tracked down the family, and they sat down to answer some questions. Jackie told Officer Adams about how Kendrick went missing the night before, the same story she told at the station. Adams first instinct was to ask her about Kendrick's friends and relationships. He told her that sometimes teens run off with a girlfriend or boyfriend or simply go out with friends and forget to tell their parents. Jackie said that as far as she knew, he didn't have a girlfriend, but she gave Adams the name of one of his best friends. Because the students involved were minors at the time, I'm using pseudonyms throughout the story. In this case. I'll call Kendrick's friend, James. James had recently been suspended, so Adams radioed another officer who spoke to the student at his home. It didn't take long to hear back. James claimed he hadn't spoken to Kendrick since the previous morning. From what James could remember, Kendrick didn't say anything about skipping school or running away. With nothing else to go on at the moment, Sergeant Adams finished up in the office and left the school. But just a few hours later, he got a call from Lowndes. This one was a code blue. A dead body.

Adams joined another deputy named Carrie Quinn in the Gym where the body had been found. Just like the rest of the building, the place was enormous, complete with a basketball court painted in the school colors, maroon and white. Adams could tell by the smell that the body was in the southwest corner. Several huge blue and white cheerleader mats were against the wall, rolled up tight. These were heavy, thick pads a high flyer might use to practice a trick. Sergeant Adams felt his heart sink as he and Quinn got closer. Poking out of one of the vertical mats, which stood 6ft tall, was a pair of white socked feet. When they moved the other mats away, their worst fears were confirmed. The person inside was a young boy. His face was swollen, but he looked like 17 year old Kendrick Johnson. On the floor nearby was a pool of blood. Sitting on top of it was a clean Adidas shoe.

Just after 10:25am Sergeant Adams called for backup. Soon two detectives arrived. John Marion and Jack Priddy. Marion checked the area around the gym, and it didn't take long for him to find something suspicious. In a nearby girl's bathroom, there was a wad of bloody paper towels stuffed in a trash can. It was the first piece of evidence that seemed to suggest Kendrick may have been the victim of foul play. Meanwhile, Detective Priddy hiked back to the front office to check the school surveillance footage. But since Lowndes was so massive, that was easier said than done. Just in the wing where Kendrick's body was found, there were 35 cameras worth of footage to dig through. Making matters worse, the timestamps weren't accurate, so Priddy couldn't be sure what time of day the footage was actually recorded. After hours of searching, he finally found the right video. It showed Kendrick entering the gym from the hallway outside. The footage was timestamped at 1:09pm the previous afternoon. The cameras positioned inside the gym caught the same movement, but these were timestamped 1:19, 10 minutes after the cameras outside. And there was no way to immediately tell which time was correct. For all investigators knew, both of them might be wrong. Regardless, there was video of Kendrick entering the gym, but none that showed him leaving. When Detective Priddy tried to get a copy of those tapes, he ran into technical issues. The IT person promised to send the police all the footage he had from the last 48 hours. But given the number of cameras, he estimated that copying everything would take a couple of days at least. While the school worked on the footage, Detectives Pretty and Marion created a rough timeline of Kendrick's final hours. They knew he arrived at school on the bus the previous morning around 7:30am he likely died just after 1pm when he entered the gym, and that would mean he didn't go to the basketball game that night. His body may have been stuck in the gym mat for almost a full day before he was found. But at that point, the detectives still weren't clear on the timing. And before they could do anything else, they got some disturbing news. Word about Kendrick's death was already spreading through the school. Facebook was flooded with posts mourning his loss or spreading rumors about what might have happened to him. And not everyone was kind. Right after school that day on January 11, at around 2.30pm, a girl came to the sheriff's office. She claimed that one of her fellow students, a boy who didn't get along with Kendrick, made a post on Facebook that he hastily deleted afterward, though she couldn't remember the exact wording. It was something like when you start messing, the goons bodies start showing up. For the detectives, this was a huge red flag. And just like that, they had their first suspect.

TikTok for business is helping owners like you reach new customers every day we.

[TikTok Business / Natural Cycles Advertisers]

Saw up to a 10x return on our TikTok shop ads a few years ago. I started sharing my love for fashion on social media and Willow Boutique was born. We're not just a place to shop, we've really become a community. TikTok allows us to find more people to have that great experience. I cannot imagine my business without TikTok. It's completely changed my life and I could not be happier.

[Carter Roy]

Head over to get started.TikTok.com TikTokads meet.

[TikTok Business / Natural Cycles Advertisers]

Natural cycles the only FDA cleared and CE marked birth control applied. That's 100% natural, hormone free and side effect free. Here's how it works. The app analyzes daily changes in your body temperature to find your fertile window so you can plan or prevent pregnancy naturally. Natural Cycles is a clinically proven non hormonal birth control option that's 93% effective with typical use and 98% effective with perfect use. No synthetic hormones, just science. And if you're ready to start family planning, switching from preventing to planning a pregnancy is as easy as tapping a button. Plus, the Natural Cycles app makes tracking fertility easy. You can measure your temperature trends using an Oura Ring, Apple Watch or our Bluetooth thermometer, which is free when you sign up for an annual subscription. Join over 4 million registered users who are taking control of their fertility naturally. Save 15% when you sign up with code [e-mail] that's radio15 for 15% off today.

[Lemonade Pet Insurance / Marshalls / Coca Cola Advertisers]

If you're an experienced pet owner, you already know that having a pet is 25% belly rubs, 25% yelling drop it. And 50% groaning at the bill from every pet visit. Which is why Lemonade Pet Insurance is tailor made for your pet and can save you up to 90% on vet bills. It can help cover checkups, emergencies, diagnostics, basically all the stuff that makes your bank account get nervous. Claims are filed super easily through the Lemonade app and half gets settled instantly. Get a'@lemonade.com pet and they'll help cover the vet bill for whatever your pet swallowed after you yelled drop it.

[Carter Roy]

On January 11, 2013, 17 year old Kendrick Johnson was found dead in his high school's gymnasium, stuffed in a rolled up cheerleader mat. While the authorities were investigating, they got some interesting intel from one of Kendrick's classmates. According to the student, someone posted on Facebook saying something to the effect of when you start messing, the goons bodies start showing up, the girl who reported the post said the person who wrote it, a student we'll call Charlie, had problems with Kendrick and his buddies. Kendrick's group of friends called themselves the Cliotville Clique, or cvc. Cliotville was a local neighborhood and apparently one of the boys in the CVC was flirting with Charlie's girlfriend, which kicked off a feud. And just as police were recording the girl's statement, Detective Marion got a call. There had been an assault near Lowndes High School. When Marion arrived, he was surprised to find that the supposed victim was Charlie, the same person who'd posted that threatening message on Facebook. According to Charlie, he'd been attacked a few hours earlier. He claimed that Kendrick's sister drove up alongside him while he was walking down the road. She accused Charlie of killing her brother. Before he could respond, a group of young men jumped out of her car, knocked him down and started beating him when one of the assailants hit him in the face with a silver pistol before he was finally able to run away. Charlie insisted he wasn't involved with Kendrick's death and had no problems with him. But he also said he didn't have a Facebook account, which he later admitted was a lie. After listening to Charlie's story, Detective Marion made note of the alleged assault but didn't file charges. He was skeptical that Charlie was telling the truth since he didn't have any visible injuries. If anything, Marion wanted to learn more about Charlie's connection to Kendrick. But before doing that, he still had to nail down the facts, including when exactly Kendrick had died.

On January 13, two days after Kendrick was found dead, Detectives finally got a bit more clarity. They learned that Kendrick had missed his fourth period class, the one he would have gone to after entering the gym. Which meant he died shortly after 1pm that confirmed what Marion had already suspected. Now that he had a rough timeline established, he turned to the gym teacher who found the body. Coach Philip Peplo. Peploe explained that on the morning of January 11, his students were filling out a class survey when one called out for help. They had spotted a pair of feet wearing socks stuck upside down inside one of the mats. Coach Peplo cleared the kids out and took a look. He reached out cautiously and tugged on one of the ankles. It didn't budge. Instead, it felt slightly rigid. Piplo could tell the boy was dead. By then, several students had already called 911.

After talking to Peeplo, Detective Marion reached out to some of the students and spoke to several other kids who attended the school. That's how Marion learned that a lot of students stashed their gym shoes inside the mats. It was a way to store shoes without having to rent a locker. One of Kendrick's friends told police he and Kendrick actually shared a pair of Adidas because they had gym at different times. According to him, at the end of each class, Kendrick made a jump shot and tossed his shoes into the middle of the mats for him to find. This information completely changed Marion's understanding of the case. Initially, he believed that Kendrick was a victim of foul play, but now he wasn't so sure. With that in mind, Marion and his team took another look at the evidence. Kendrick was found wearing socks. He was upside down inside the mat with one of his arms pinned to his side. The other was outstretched as if he was reaching for something. His street shoes, a pair of Nikes, were tucked behind his legs inside the mat. Meanwhile, his Adidas for gym class were in two places. One of them was stuck behind his head, and the other was on the floor next to the mat. A dried pool of blood had spread under Kendrick's head, Yet somehow none of it had gotten on the one shoe that was on the ground. There was also some additional blood splatter on the wall around 40ft away. That's when detectives started to wonder if Kendrick's death could have been an accident. They theorized that he tried to reach his shoes by climbing on top of the upright mat and diving in head first. He was 5 foot 10, and the mat was a little more than 6ft tall. He might have gotten stuck and slowly suffocated in that case, his death would have been a freak accident. And that's exactly what the autopsy rule.

Medical examiner Marianne Gaffney Kraft noted no wounds on Kendrick except for a scratch on his wrist and some minor trauma to his right pinky. She determined he died from positional asphyxia. In other words, he suffocated inside the mat she felt. This explained the puddle of blood beneath him and why his head was so swollen. She estimated he had been upside down for almost 24 hours. As blood rushed to his head, it caused it to swell. Eventually, it would have dripped out of his nose and mouth, forming the puddle. The findings shocked everyone, but no one more than Kendrick's parents, Jackie and Kenneth. They simply couldn't believe he died in an accident. They thought he was too tall and athletic to get stuck that way. And they didn't understand how he could have possibly been stuck for 24 hours in a school full of students and teachers. Kenneth, who identified his son's body, believed the medical examiner got it wrong. He thought that right before he died, Kendrick had been in a fight, and Kenneth was determined to prove it. On January 16, five days after Kendrick was found dead, the Johnsons held a public vigil there. They mourned Kendrick and urged the police to reconsider their belief that Kendrick's death had been an accident. And they began openly questioning the investigation. One of their main critiques was that the authorities had waited too long to notify the coroner, Bill Watson, of about Kendrick's body. By law, officers are required to call a coroner immediately when a body is discovered. But in Lowndes county, police often waited until after a crime scene was processed. Sheriff Chris Prine insisted there was little Watson could have done except wait in the parking lot while officers finished securing the evidence, which took five hours. He swore that no police officers touched Kendrick's body, but Bill Watson disagreed. He said the five hour wait was improper and that Kendrick's body had been moved, meaning the crime scene had been compromised. In response to the pushback, the authorities kept Kendrick's case open as they continued to examine evidence. The bloody tissues found in the bathroom were sent for testing, as was the blood splatter found on the gym wall. Then, five days after the body was found, on January 16, 2013, the school's IT department finally turned over the surveillance footage. It was a huge amount of data, 290 hours of video from 35 cameras. Authorities eagerly scanned the footage, but what they found disappointed them. The cameras, pointed at the mats in the gym, were out of focus. Making the video practically unusable. Other footage was erratic because many of the cameras were motion activated, and the recordings often showed students appearing and disappearing with unreliable timestamps. In the end, detectives didn't learn anything new from the video. They confirmed that Kendrick arrived at school on time and entered the gym after 1pm they also found some footage of him jogging through the gym right after arriving, but there was no way to tell when and if he approached the mats. The team was back to square one, and now Kendrick's family was demanding answers. Hoping to find another witness, detectives began asking students who knew Kendrick if he had any enemies. A couple of names cropped up regularly in these interviews. First, there was Charlie. He was the one who mocked Kendrick's death on Facebook and claimed that Kendrick's sister attacked him. But at the time Kendrick disappeared, Charlie was nowhere near him. His alibi checked out, and eventually even Kendrick's sister quickly stopped believing he was responsible. Then there was a white classmate we'll call William Clark, depending on who you asked. He was one of Kendrick's friends. The two played on the football team together, and a year before his death, Kendrick and William got in a fight on a bus to a game. It's not clear what the fight was about, but it apparently started when William and Kendrick began bickering at it was lighthearted, but eventually things turned physical. At some point, William grabbed Kendrick by his dreadlocks and yanked his head down. Kendrick pulled William's hands off his hair, and that's when the real fight started. According to a teammate, Kendrick one kind of. The bus driver called the police. William was allowed to watch the game from the stands while Kendrick was held in the back of a squad car. William claimed the two of them made up after the incident and considered each other friends, but Kendrick's father said his son described it differently. According to him, Kendrick said that William's brother, who we'll call Sean, went around telling people that the fight wasn't over after the bus ride. And that wasn't all. Kenneth claimed tensions were so high that William's father, who we'll call Scott, got involved. Kenneth said Scott confronted Kendrick at school, claiming the fight on the bus wasn't fair, and he even allegedly invited Kendrick to come by his house and fight William a second time. According to Kenneth, Kendrick shrugged off the interaction, and the second fight never happened. And Scott Clark, who was an FBI agent, adamantly denied the conversation ever took place. But the history between William and Kendrick was enough to make several students suspect the Clark brothers were involved in his death. Which meant detectives finally had a strong lead.

[Lemonade Pet Insurance / Marshalls / Coca Cola Advertisers]

Marshall's buyers are hustling hard to get amazing new gifts into stores right up to the last minute. Like a designer perfume for that friend who never RSVP'd wishlist topping toys for her kids who came too.

[Carter Roy]

Mm.

[Lemonade Pet Insurance / Marshalls / Coca Cola Advertisers]

Belgian chocolates for the neighbor. A cozy scarf for your boss. And a wool jacket for your husband that you definitely did not. Almost forget.

Marshalls. We get the deals, you give the good stuff even at the last minute.

[Carter Roy]

Phew.

[Lemonade Pet Insurance / Marshalls / Coca Cola Advertisers]

Find a Marshalls near you. Coca Cola for the big, for the small, the short and the tall. Peacemakers risk takers for the optimists, pessimists for long distance love for introverts and extroverts, the thinkers and the doers for old friends and new Coca Cola for everyone. Pick up some Coca Cola at a store near you.

[Carter Roy]

In January of 2013, 17 year old Kendrick Johnson was found dead in his high school gym. An initial autopsy determined that he died of a freak accident. But for months, the Lowndes county sheriff's department continued to investigate the case. And eventually they found two strong suspects in Kendrick's death. Brothers William and Sean Clark. The detectives were eager to interview William and Sean, but when they approached them, they were told to speak to the family's lawyers instead. Which was strange because the brothers did speak to several media outlets around the same time. William insisted he was Kendrick's friend and said he couldn't even remember what the fight on the bus was about. Both he and his brother were adamant that they didn't see Kendrick on the day of his death, and they were nowhere near the gym where his body was found. And that was all the police could glean about the brothers. With no probable cause, they couldn't forced them to Talk.

By May, five months after Kendrick's death, police had interviewed more than 100 people. On top of that, they'd reviewed hundreds of hours of surveillance footage and tested several blood samples found inside the gym. The bloody tissues in the girl's bathroom belonged to a color guard performer who injured herself on the morning Kendrick was found. The blood spatter on the wall found 40ft from the body wasn't Kendrick's. Police couldn't identify whose blood it was, but they believed it had been there for a while. Though many of the students had theories about who might have killed Kendrick, the authorities believed all of them were based on gossip. In the end, they didn't find any proof he had been murdered. And so on May 2, the Lowndes county sheriff's department officially closed the investigation and ruled that Kendrick Johnson's death was a freak accident. The news infuriated Kendrick's parents. They protested outside the police station and contacted the media. They believed that because Kendrick was black, the authorities had chosen not to fully investigate his case. But the Johnson family wasn't giving up. If the police weren't going to keep the case alive, the Johnsons would. Kendrick's parents exhumed Kendrick's body and paid for a second independent autopsy by a pathologist named Dr. Anderson. And what he discovered was truly shocking. Kendrick's organs were nowhere to be found.

During an autopsy, organs are normally removed and placed in bags, but they're supposed to be returned to the body before burial. In this case, the organs were replaced.

By wadded up newspaper. Instead of a heart, a pair of lungs and a brain, there were J.C. penney advertisements, letters to the editor, and comic strips. Funeral homes often used sawdust or cotton to fill cavities in bodies. It was highly unusual to use something like old newspapers. The family contacted the funeral home that prepared Kendrick for burial. They declined to comment about the newspapers, but insisted the organs were already missing when they took custody of the body. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which had performed the autopsy, disagreed. They said the organs were in the body when they sent it to the funeral home. But the Lowndes county coroner, Bill Watson, sided with the funeral home. He explained that the organs were so badly decomposed after the initial autopsy that they had to be destroyed. With all that, he said, she said, it was difficult to know who was telling the truth. And there was another issue. No one could find the clothes Kendrick was wearing when he died. At first, a lawyer for the funeral home told cnn, they received the clothes at the same time as the body. But a few days later, they retracted the statement, claiming they never received the clothes at all. All the mess made the Johnson family suspect that somebody was covering up a mistake. But even without the organs or clothes, Dr. Anderson was able to perform the second autopsy. And when he reviewed the first one, he noticed a major red flag. Kendrick's cause of death was listed as positional asphyxia. That means he was stuck in a position where he couldn't breathe. When someone dies like this, they fight for breath. In their final moments. This struggle wears out their muscles until eventually their heart fails. And as it does, fluid fills the lungs. The lungs typically triple or even quadruple in weight by the time of death. But in the original autopsy report, the medical examiner noted no fluid at all. Kendrick's lungs were a completely normal weight for his size, Dr. Anderson believed this made positional asphyxia impossible. And as he examined the body, he noticed even more inconsistencies.

For example, the only injuries the first medical examiner noted were a scratch on Kendrick's wrist and mild damage to his right pinky. But Dr. Anderson found unhealed cuts on the fingers of his left hand, which Kendrick likely got right before he died. The cuts look like they were done by fingernails, suggesting that he may have been in a fight, just like his father believed. But the biggest bombshell was yet to come. As Dr. Anderson examined Kendrick's neck, he noticed an area near the jaw had bled internally. Damage to that area can massively affect blood pressure, and in some cases, injection, even cause sudden death. None of this was described in the original autopsy report. But for Dr. Anderson, this was irrefutable proof that Kendrick Johnson had died of blunt force trauma. The reason his lungs were empty of fluid was because he was already dead when he was put inside the mat. Dr. Anderson believed Kendrick was likely murdered. At best, that meant the police made some serious mistakes. At worst, they were covering up a homicide. But either way, the results meant that Kendrick's killer was still out there.

The news sparked outrage from the Valdosta community. Crowds of hundreds joined the Johnson family at rallies, calling for a second investigation into Kendrick's death. Civil rights leaders, including Reverend Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King iii, attended and offered to help. Soon, the Johnsons hired lawyer Benjamin Crump, who had previously represented the family of Trayvon Martin, to pressure the Department of Justice to reopen the case. They requested a special hearing called a coroner's inquest. This is something like a trial where all the evidence relating to Kendrick's death would be presented to the coroner and a jury. Inquests don't assign guilt or determine legal liability, but they do establish official causes of death. And if Kendrick's death was ruled a homicide, it could force police to reopen a criminal investigation. Although coroner Bill Watson had previously said he wasn't satisfied with how the police handled Kendrick Johnson's body, he refused to hold an inquest. For the Johnson family, disappointed was an understatement. But luckily, they still had one more chance at justice. The U.S. attorney for the District, Matthew Moore, announced that he was considering taking another look at the case. In the meantime, the Johnsons held daily rallies in the community and continued to raise awareness for the case through Facebook. With the public pressure mounting, on October 31, 2013, Matthew Moore finally agreed to reopen the case. After 10 months of fighting, the Johnsons had scored a major victory. As the second investigation began, they were more confident than ever that they would find the person who killed their son. They had no idea that their path to justice was just beginning and it would drag on for much longer than they expected.

Thanks so much for listening. I'm Carter Roy and this is True Crime Stories. Come back next time for part two on the murder of Kendrick Johnson and all the people it affected. True Crime Stories is a Crime House original. Powered by Pave Studios. Here at Crime House, we want to thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you heard today, reach out on social media, rimehouse on TikTok and Instagram. Don't forget to rate, review and follow True Crime Stories wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly makes a difference. And to enhance your Murder True Crime Stories listening experience, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. You'll get every episode ad free and instead of having to wait for each episode of a two part series, you'll get access to both at once plus exciting bonus content. We'll be back on Thursday. True Crime Stories is hosted by me, Carter Roy and is a Crime House original. Powered by Pave Studios. This episode was brought to life by the Murder True Crime Stories team. Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benedon, Natalie Pertofsky, Lori Marinelli, Sarah Camp, Tara Wells, Molly Quinlan, Artwick, Hania Said and Russell Nash. Thank you for listening.

[TikTok Business / Natural Cycles Advertisers]

If you're an H Vac technician and a call comes in, Grainger knows that you need a partner that helps you find the right product fast and hassle free. And you know that when the first problem of the day is a clanking blower motor, there's no need to break a sweat. With Grainger's easy to use website and product details, you're confident you'll soon have everything humming right along. Call 1-800-GRAINGER clickgrainger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done.

[Carter Roy]

Looking for your next Crime House Listen? Don't miss Clues with Morgan Abshur and Kaylin Moore Every Wednesday, Morgan and Kaelin take you deep into the world of the most notorious crimes ever. Clue by clue, it's like hanging out with your smart true crime obsessed friends. Listen to Clues on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you listen to podcasts.