Last night, CNN learned of a potential bombshell in the case of Kendrick Johnson, the Valdosta, Georgia teenager found dead in a rolled-up gym mat last January. Investigators initially determined it was an accident, despite evidence that strongly suggested Kendrick was beaten to death. An independent autopsy paid for by Kendrick's family concluded that Kendrick had indeed been murdered. Now comes word that almost three months ago, prosecutors got a tip from another student at Lowndes County High School that one of his former classmates had confessed to killing Kendrick.
The anonymous e-mail tip is dated January 27. The sender of the e-mail does not suggest he or she personally witnessed a confession; instead, the sender claims to have been told information by somebody who purportedly was aware of a confession in the 2013 death by one of the people implicated in the e-mail.
Johnson's body was found in a rolled-up mat in the Lowndes High School gymnasium on January 11, 2013. Investigators with the sheriff's office ruled his death accidental, concluding that Johnson climbed into the center of the gym mat to reach for a shoe and got stuck.
According to an incident report provided to CNN by the sheriff's office, investigators interviewed two of four students identified by name in the anonymous e-mail on January 28.
Both students acknowledged they knew the 17-year-old Johnson but denied any involvement in his death.
The incident report does not indicate whether the investigators attempted to speak with the two other students identified in the e-mail.
Lowndes County prosecutors subpoenaed Mediacom for subscriber information associated with the email. If I'm the person who wrote that email, I'd have a lawyer on speed dial. And I'd better be prepared to tell everything I know about this case. After all, based on what we know so far, a whole lot of people are covering for a murderer. Consider that the pathologist who conducted the second autopsy found that Kendrick's organs had been removed and the cavities stuffed with newspaper. The medical examiner found that he'd suffocated after falling into the mat. However, EMTs who examined Kendrick's body found evidence of blunt-force trauma to the neck, but it wasn't mentioned in the state examiner's report. A forensic video analyst determined that
at least an hour of surveillance video from the gym is missing.
Although the case is officially closed, the sheriff's office has been actively soliciting public comments. This may be the first instance of them responding to one of those comments--doubtless because the area U. S. Attorney is conducting his own probe into the case, and both his eyes and those of the nation are firmly on them. Hopefully it will lead to whoever is responsible for this--and for covering it up.