Ga. Teen’s Case Has Officially Been Reopened
posted by Joshua Dungee | March 12, 2021 | In NewsEight years after the death of Georgia teen Kendrick Johnson, Sheriff Ashley Paulk of the Lowndes County sheriff department confirmed that he has reopened the case. According to WSBTV, federal investigators gave Paulk documents requested in the case from two years ago.
In January 2013, Kendrick Johnson, a 17-year-old student at Lowndes County High School was found dead and rolled up in a gym mat and in May 2013, his death was ruled an accident.
Jacquelyn Johnson, Kendrick’s mother, told CNN: “It’s been a long eight years,” but she is “feeling hopeful.”
The original investigation determined that Johnson mistakenly fell into the center of the mat while reaching for a shoe and got trapped. According to CNN, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation conducted an autopsy and determined that the cause of Johnson’s death was a result of accidental positional asphyxia.
However, Johnson’s family hired a pathologist who also conducted and autopsy which ruled that the cause of death was “unexplained, apparent non-accidental, blunt-force trauma to the neck.”
Paulk, who was a retired sheriff during the time of Johnson’s death has since come out of retirement and requested that any information that was obtained during the federal investigation be distributed to his department.
According to First Coast News, Paulk wrote a letter to the US Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia stating “It is vitally important that we have access to any information on the case of K.J. Johnson that any federal agency has not previously released.”
Photo courtesy of Raymond Clarke Images
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