But we need to keep in mind that words can sometimes have dire or even fatal consequences. In the second part of this article, I will tackle the myths surrounding the Kendrick Johnson case. It was probably just a single pressure application. He also clarified this bruise was less than 1 in size and could have compressed his carotid artery and caused a stoke. Two years before the death, their younger son was in a brief shoving match with Johnson on a bus to their teams football game. To this day, Kenneth and Jacqueline Johnson are still fighting for justice as their sons case opens and closes more than a McDonalds. Similar searches were conducted on the two brothers, who live elsewhere and a girlfriend of one of the brothers, according to the Associated Press. State and local law enforcement concluded the 17-year-old died accidentally but his parents insisted KJ was murdered. As with most boyhood disagreements, one would have thought that was the end of it. (read more), Im not a lawyer, but having seen ALL of the action taken by Daryl Parks and Benjamin Crump in this case, against thetotally innocent Bell family, my opinion is the countersuit will be easily won by them if any jury sees the facts of the malicious and specifically intentional attack. Kendrick Johnson was a 17-year old sophomore at Lowndes High School in January 2013. State and local law enforcement . He's covered some of the biggest trials this decade, from Hemy Neuman to Ross Harris to Chip Olsen, the latter of which was featured on Season 7 of the AJC's award-winning "Breakdown" podcast. The investigation was closed nearly five years ago, after federal investigators concluded there was insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that someone or some group of people willfully violated Kendrick Johnsons civil rights or committed any other prosecutable federal crime.. Additionally, the claim that she lured Kendrick into the old gym so BB2 could beat him up is without merit. On Tuesday, eight years after his body was discovered in a gymnasium at his Valdosta area high school, Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk announced he had reopened the investigation into the 17-year-olds death a victory for Johnsons parents, who remain convinced their son met with foul play. I will begin this with what we know. Atlanta Black Star is a narrative company. Acting Up's host, Cortney Wills, even brought up the fact that Ebony Magazine was sued for covering the Kendrick Johnson story because they implied the involvement of the Bell brothers in the . The feds seem to agree. And it was . The Bell family filed a countersuit in March, claiming the Johnson family defamed them on social media, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported. There are new developments in the case of Kendrick Johnson, a 17-year-old Black student found dead in a school gym in Lowndes County, Ga. in 2013. On January 11, 2013, the Johnson family was told that Kendrick had died. Brian and Branden Bell have been targets of suspicion in Johnsons death since shortly after his body was found upside down in a vertically stored gym mat at Lowndes High School on January 10, 2013. In the Kendrick Johnson case Parks and Crump needed to identify someone, anyone, whom they can accuse of being the enemy. Track outages and protect against spam, fraud, and abuse, Measure audience engagement and site statistics to understand how our services are used and enhance the quality of those services, Deliver and measure the effectiveness of ads, Show personalized content, depending on your settings, Show personalized ads, depending on your settings. One day Kendrick didnt come home from school. Federal investigators dropped probe into students death in 2016, Mystery surrounds Valdosta student's strange death, Kendrick Johnson case: Evidence or innuendo, Case close: Feds decline to bring charges in Kendrick Johnson case, FBI report says suspects weren't near dead teen, Third private autopsy claims foul play in Kendrick Johnson death, Atlanta parents say trip to state soccer finals marred by racial slurs, Seeing is believing: Stars and styles from tonight's Met Gala, No, a bionic bordello isnt coming to rural Georgia, Braves star Ronald Acua Jr. day to day after exiting game with left shoulder contusion, Mistrial over murder charge for defendant accused in Gwinnett teens death, From victim to suspect: Man shot in Union City faces murder charge in Atlanta, YSL case: Lawyer pens court-ordered essay. Brian Bells Instagram (Photo: Instagram). School survailence was taken from the school. In 2018, an independent autopsy indicated signs of foul play in the teen's death, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Not only was the footage stored on 6 different servers, but they were stored on different brands of servers. He did not. That analysis, collected from campus surveillance cameras, included time stamps that adjusted discrepancies between multiple video systems that had not been synchronized, according to the FBI. Jason Pollock Throughout the investigation, the Bell brothers insisted they had not seen Kendrick on the day . The pain of death threats, rape threats, a multitude of civil cases, FBI raids and Grand Jury testimonies. Unsatisfied with that account, Johnsons parents had his body exhumed and examined by forensic pathologist Dr. William Anderson in June of 2013. Get our latest storiesin the feed of your favorite networks. Who was Kendrick Johnson? "Im treating it like its a brand new case," Paulk said, according to the newspaper. Ryan Anthony Domek-Hernandez claimed that BB1 told him that his brother BB2 killed Kendrick over an argument about BB2s girlfriend (TE)- this statement was the one that suggested a 45-lb weight was used in the beating and influenced Dr. Andersons third autopsy findings. Eight years after the body of Kendrick Johnson was found in a rolled-up gym mat at . He denied allegations that he killed Johnson over a fight they had the previous year. The Bells father, a former FBI agent, is accused of directing officials to obscure the investigation, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The rush of righteous anger for a young man cut down in the prime of his life is understandable- reasonable even- when we look at the history of young Black men having their deaths swept under the rug. Meanwhile, a forensic pathologist hired by the Johnson family concluded the death was a homicide, with evidence of unexplained, nonaccidental blunt force trauma.. Two Georgia brothers under investigation in the death of a classmate found in a rolled-up gym mat spoke out for the first time to insist they're innocent. Most of the servers had not had routine maintenance since they were installed in 2006. WGA Sets Strike For 12:01 AM After Talks With Studios Fail, Polite Society Review: A Cultural Action Adventure Film Complete With Martial Arts And Wirefu, Evil Dead Rise Review: Deadites Cause High-Rise Havoc In Lee Cronins Horror Venture, Chevalier Review: Kelvin Harrison Jr Holds Court As A Violin Virtuoso. What didnt come out in court, because Mark OMara withheld it worried it would be too disconcerting for a public to absorb, was that Prosecutors Angela Corey, Bernie De La Rionda, and their investigators knew the deception in April 2012 and intentionally did not ask for identification from the person, Jeantel, from whom they took an official statement. Their testimony shows they had no evidence, Porter wrote. Thursday, December 08, 2022 at 10:47 AM by Venic Nyanchama. A petition was created at the start of this year that has since accumulated over 1.5 million signatures, which sparked the reopening of the case. it was the son of a fucking retired FBI agent. The police investigated the matter thoroughly and Georgia Bureau of Investigation experts conducted an autopsy. Investigators, who suspected hed become trapped after attempting to grab a pair of sneakers, ruled his deatha freak accident. With literally thousands of pages of documentation released under the FOIA available readily and free on the internet, yet lies run rampant in the media, on social media, in podcasts and blogs. However, the brothers still maintain their innocence in . The crisis we face about truth and reliable facts is predicated less on the ability to get people to believe the *wrong* thing as it is on the ability to get people to *doubt* the right thing. Andersons findings indicated blunt force trauma to the right neck and soft tissues, thus suggesting Kendricks death was not accidental. The law student has shared those emails online. Myth #4: Kendrick died of blunt force trauma. Discover your dream home among our modern houses, penthouses and. Over the years, the Johnsons have publicly implicated brothers Brian and Branden Bell in Kendrick's death. Last month, the Bells' cellphones and computers were seized by federal marshals, and their parents' home was raided. The person of interest whose identity remains redacted in the FBI video analysis was observed in the LHS parking lot headed towards J-Wing at the time Kendrick is last seen, according to the FBI report. This reality was the reason for our unwillingness to praise Zimmerman attorney Mark OMara. 17-year-old Kendrick Johnson was found dead in a rolled-up gym mat. Facts: There was no missing footage and the raw footage was unaltered and made available to the Johnsons and their legal team. She discovered the body by design, the Johnsons alleged. Apr 29, 2023 - Entire rental unit for $67. Kendrick was an 18-year old student at Lowndes High School in Valdosta, GA. The suit accused the Bells and another LHS student, Ryan Hall, of being . It was all a lie. Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. The Johnson family evidently concluded, without the benefit of any evidence at all, that Rick Bells sons had a hand in murdering Kendrick. I was embarrassed for not knowing more about this documentary sooner and embarrassed by the films lack of attention from the media. Both Parks and Crump were facing a potentially devastating reveal to the rest of the world. The young mans arms were pinned and no one else was near enough to hear his cries for help or to help him escape. The white girl (TE) rumored to be at the middle of the rift between BB2 and Kendrick went on oath stating she was not even dating BB2 at the time of Kendricks death and that she had never messed around with Kendrick, therefore giving no cause for jealous rivalry. What happened here? The most glaring and most important one is his statement that KJ entered the old gym at 1:09 pm. But when social media became abuzz with news of the lawsuit, Florida States commitment to Bell came under considerable heat. The raw footage as well as the program needed to view this footage in its raw form were made available to CNN, the Johnsons as well as their attorneys, and the DOJ in a folder on the hard drive provided. The partially unredacted report was made public through court filings last week. However, as predicted, the Kendrick Johnson case is an outcome of not stopping the absurd behavior of both Daryl Parks and Benjamin Crump in 2013, in its tracks. Analysis of the hard drives was conducted at the FBI Headquarters in Quantico, Va., between July 21 and July 24, 2014, documents stated. The passing period between 3rd block and 4th block was about 13:25. Unfortunately, much like George Zimmerman, this strategy needs perpetrators who they can identify as the enemy. VALDOSTA, Ga. - The brothers accused in a civil suit of killing Kendrick Johnson, the Georgia teen found dead inside a rolled-up gym mat in his high school two years ago, are suing. It should be noted neither Dr. Anderson nor the original pathologist found evidence of a stroke. Kendrick Johnsons body was found upside down in a vertically stored gym mat at Lowndes High School in January of 2013. What Falcons NFC South rivals did in 2023 NFL draft. Last month we shared the story of The Bell Family including two Brothers, Brian and Branden Bell, who were being targeted by Daryl Parks and Benjamin Crump and professional Black Grievance Industry. And this is where we find ourselves in 2021. The first autopsy done by the GBI found no. He entered the gym at 13:27. The Johnsons have rejected that conclusion and have made repeated claims their son was murdered by classmates and the incident was covered up by numerous local and state officials. Brian and Branden Bell were named in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the parents of Kendrick Johnson, 17, whose body was found stuck upside down inside the mat at Lowndes High School a day after he went missing in January 2013. He was marked present during this class and this was confirmed by not only his teacher but fellow students. Brian Bell (BB2) was attending class on the other side of the school when KJ went into the mats. Kendrick Johnson's body was discovered in rolled-up gym mat on Jan. 11, 2013. Johnson is Black while two of the teens his family accused in the lawsuit, brothers Branden and Brian Bell, are white. Honor Flight receives warm welcome to D.C. publicfile@live5news.com - (843) 402-5555, Johnson had entered the old gym area en route to his fourth block class, for which he never arrived. Despite the lack of physical evidence, despite autopsy results declaring Kendricks death to be the result of positional asphyxiation, and despite what The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has reported as seemingly ironclad alibis firmly placing both Bell sons in locations far from the old gym, U.S. Attorney Moore issued Agent Bell and his two sons target letters. Such letters may be issued when, according to internal guidelines, the prosecutor or grand jury has substantial evidence linking them to the commission of a crime and who is thereby a likely defendant. Brian and Branden Bell, sons of former FBI agent Rick Bell, were two people of interest in Kendricks case. The suit accuses school officials, law enforcement and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation of conspiring to protect the brothers. First thinking the discovery was a prank, the student alerted others, who investigated further. Facts: None of the confessions thus far have been deemed accurate or reliable. The two brothers, both Caucasian, have said they were friends with Johnson, but have maintained that they didn't see Johnson on the day of his death. Many believe that there is a satisfactory amount of evidence to charge the Bell brothers with the murder of Kendrick Johnson. Mamie Till Bradley, Tills mother, put his brutalized corpse on display at the funeral so that America could see the consequence of racism in the Jim Crow. Anonymous email in KJ case based on rumor, says author: Teen pleads guilty to false statements in KJ case: Judges ruling on the Domek-Hernandez affidavit: Was a potential witness in the Kendrick Johnson case silenced?. Sign up to receive The Atlanta Black Star Newsletter in your inbox. ..Murder is not petty. Kendrick Johnson, not unlike other young Black people, ended up dead and the authorities claim there was no foul play. Many believe that there is a satisfactory amount of evidence to charge the Bell brothers with the murder of Kendrick Johnson. Narrated by legendary singer, actress, and activist Jennifer Lewis, the documentary shows this case in graphic detail from his family testimony and what theyve experienced to pictures of Kendricks bloated body. 2023 Deadline Hollywood, LLC. Like a game of telephone, a simple Well, I heard can become a fact- often twisted and changed to become more salacious, more violent, just more. Kendricks body was found by a student the morning of January 11, 2013 upside down in a rolled up vertical gym mat. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! WATCH THE VIDEO HERE. Kendricks school helped cover up this brutal crime. A 19-year-old witness #8, Rachel Jeantel, walked into court and the admissions began: She wasnt a minor on February 26th 2012 she only just met Trayvon two weeks earlier at her 18th birthday party she was never hospitalized and she never went to the funeral because she barely knew him. Johnson's death was ruled an accident by local authorities. WE CLEARLY NOT LOUD ENOUGH. Ultimately, the Seminoles backed off. The young mans parents are convinced that the Bell boys know what happened to their son. The suit alleges the boys family conspired with former Lowndes County Sheriff Chris Prine and county school officials to cover up the death. So long as whomever they accuse stands upright and pushes back, eventually the false BGI claims run smack into the reality of no justifiable accuracy surrounding their cause. His death . Photographs included with the report include adjusted time stamps to make up for discrepancies between the schools multiple video surveillance systems. Local and state investigators had already determined Johnsons death was an accident. Deadline is a part of Penske Media Corporation. In the years since, others have been forced to feel pain of a different sort. A state autopsy ruled Johnsons death accidental, and a federal review of the case ended in 2016 when the Department of Justice announced it had not found sufficient evidence to support federal criminal charges.. However, Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk announced the re-opening of the case on Tuesday. But the problem for Parks and Crump is the same problem that plagues their general enterprise and business model. the Johnson family attorney, Chevene King, said. Send us a tip using our annonymous form. When will I get my Georgia tax rebate for 2023? The Bell brothers deny any wrongdoing. fuck america & fuck the state of georgia for taking FOUR YEARS to investigate beyond accidental pic.twitter.com/xrKNAUVSg2, mX. Kenneth and Jacquelyn Johnson stand next to a banner on their SUV showing their late son, Kendrick Johnson, on Dec. 13, 2013, in Valdosta, Ga. (Russ Bynum/ASSOCIATED PRESS). Nearly a decade after Kendrick Johnsons body was found in a high school gymnasium, investigators have announced a new probe into the Black teenagers mysterious death. of foul play, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. But the parents of Kendrick Johnson probably had no way to know this stuff, and given the publicity of the case two high-profile Black Grievance Industry advocates, Parks and Crump, most likely sounded like a good team to request assistance from. They alleged that Kendrick Johnson was encouraged to go to his High Schools old gym by a female student who was left unnamed. But to others, the theory explaining KJs alleged homicide, and how it was allegedly covered up by powerful local interests, is just as far-fetched. Was the film not appropriately promoted? The Bell family's American Dream has turned to a nightmare, one that's accompanied by daily violent threats, threats against those who've supported their sons, by libelous published reports suggesting their sons were involved in Kendrick Johnson's death, and by a U.S. Attorney whose actions represent the excesses and abuses of Federal . Close to shops and monuments you . Sign up forOxygen Insiderfor all the best true crime content. This film examines the level of racism within the American justice system through the lens of the Kendrick Johnson case. Myth #1: His organs were removed when he was found. They asked that both legal actions be tried in Lowndes County, where all the defendants live and the death occurred. A state autopsy ruled the 17-year-olds death a freak accident. Branden Bell, meanwhile, was participating in a wrestling tournament in Macon at the time. via his Instagram. Undeterred, parents Kenneth and Jackie Johnson filed a wrongful death lawsuit in 2015, contending that brothers Brian and Branden Bell, allegedly along with their friend Ryan Hall, killed KJ. The videos from the extensive number of cameras at LHS were saved to 6 different servers. County investigators ruled Johnsons death accidental, a case of positional asphyxia, claiming he got stuck while reaching for a shoe at the center of the gym mat. What Involvement Did a FBI Agent and His Sons Have in the Death of Kendrick Johnson? FSU alerted Bell of its decision last week, according to Lowndes High School coach Randy McPherson. "I want everyone to know the truth," Branden Bell told WSBTV in his first media interview. VALDOSTA, Ga. - Government agents this week executed search warrants at the home of two brothers accused in a civil suit of killing Kendrick Johnson, the . Their reasoning: so the state team could carry plausible deniability and protection from malicious prosecution claims. January 2013, for the professional race-baiting antagonists, was a time of consternation, trepidation and worry. U.S. Attorney Moore has disregarded not only the facts but the admonitions of respected community leaders, including Rev. When the current Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk decided to review the case in March of 2021, Kendrick was put back in the spotlight. And so I humbly offer this truth to you, with not so lofty a goal as changing minds, but in the hope that the truth will spread as fast and as far as lies. So immediately Parks and Crump used their old playbook and began to call for the Social Justice crowd to create an alternate version of events, evidence and even reality. Their fabricated construct of witness #8, the mysterious Dee Dee ear-witness to the Trayvon Martin shooting, was coming unraveled. He later plead guilty to filing a false report and admitted he made it up to impress a friend. If you choose to Reject all, we will not use cookies for these additional purposes. Autopsy photos that his mother petitioned to have released prove this. The other strategy involves working up a social media campaign to create anxiety against those who are blocking them from the financial reward sought as the origin of their endeavors. Kendrick Johnson's body was found upside down in a vertically stored gym mat at Lowndes High School in January of 2013. Government agents early Tuesday morning searched and seized property, including cell phones, computers, and other electronics, from the Jacksonville, Fla. area home of FBI agent Rick Bell, whose two sons went to school with Johnson. He was accused of offending a white woman in her familys grocery store while on vacation visiting family. It all sounds ridiculous, until you understand the history of how both Parks and Crump have gotten away with manufacturing claims out of thin air, and then enlisting their ideological compatriots in selling the wild and patently ridiculous. Johnson's parents claim the two Bell brothers "violently assaulted" Johnson at their father's command and that Johnson "suffered a fatal injury which led to his death." The victim Kendrick Johson was of black ethnicity, whereas the accused suspects, brothers Branden and Brian Bell, are white. The video claimed the older Bell brother, Branden, had reason to harm Johnson and was still on campus when Johnson was last seen on a school surveillance video. Branden Bell (BB1) was not at the school when Kendrick entered the gym and approached the mats. Suspicion centered on two brothers, sons of a former FBI agent, and a federal probe was opened. The Orlando Sentinel has more on the falsely accused Brian Bell STORY HERE (non-paywall version HERE), and no-one has followed the Kendrick Johnson case as closely as Re-NewsIt STORY HERE and EXTENSIVE HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS HERE. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Thank you for standing with our men and women in blue! This, despite there being absolutely no evidence of their involvement, AND airtight alibies including being hundreds of miles away at the time. That morning, a female student noticed a pair of feet inside a rolled-up wrestling mat in the schools old, secondary gymnasium. "It was so small to us, it was ridiculous.". The sheriff described the re-examination into Kendrick Johnsons death as afinal effort to bring some closure to the teens family. The $100 million suit, filed in January, alleges Brian and Branden Bell -- two brothers who were schoolmates of Johnson -- were encouraged by their father, FBI agent Rick Bell, to "violently . When you are outside the situation, fairly anonymous behind the screen the entertainment from such stories has an irresistible draw. He eventually suffocated in the narrow space. His ORGANS were STOLEN too. The lawsuit claimed the crime was covered up by Lowndes County Superintendent of Schools Wes Taylor and then-Sheriff Chris Prine, acting at the behest of the Bells father, former FBI agent Rick Bell. Investigators, who suspected hed become trapped after attempting to grab a pair of sneakers, ruled his deatha freak accident. Their attorneys said the raids likely dealt with investigations into witness tampering or obstruction of justice, not murder, and the Bells deny doing either. While Finding Kendrick Johnson doesnt have all the answers, I remember whats done in the dark will come to light. Brian Bell lost a football scholarship to Florida State University after he was named in the lawsuit.
