A second investigation into the death of Kendrick Johnson has officially been closed, with authorities calling his death accidental.
The May 2013 death of Johnson has sparked national outrage after investigators have continuously failed to bring justice in his case. The 17-year-old was found dead rolled up inside a gym mat at Lowndes High School in Valdosta, Georgia. The family demanded justice after a second autopsy confirmed that he died from blunt force trauma to the side of his neck and not accidental positional asphyxia, which the first autopsy claimed.
The condition of Johnson’s body, which showed injuries inconsistent with asphyxia, and conflicting reports, also led to the family questioning why their son’s death was being labeled as an accident. They firmly believe that the teenager was killed before being rolled up in the mat. The initial report claimed that as Johnson reached to retrieve his shoe, he somehow became trapped in the center of the mat.
Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk, who was not with the department at the time of Johnson’s death, read “every page” of the documents from the Justice Department, who concluded their own investigation in 2016. In their statement shared that year, The DOJ stated that there was “insufficient evidence” to support federal charges in the case. Paulk also agreed that there was “nothing to substantiate a homicide.”
Johnson’s father, Kenneth Johnson, slammed the sheriff’s office but said he was not surprised by the latest development.
“You can’t do an investigation with the same investigators who covered it up. They’re not going to uncover something that they covered up,” he told CNN.
