"There's not enough evidence to support federal criminal charges in the case of a teenager found dead inside a rolled-up gym mat at a Georgia high school, the U.S. Department of Justice announced on Monday/ The
decision comes after a lengthy review of circumstances surrounding the
death of 17-year-old Kendrick Johnson of Valdosta. The U.S. Attorney for
the Middle District of Georgia launched its investigation in in October
of 2013, reports CBS affiliate WCTV. Local
and state authorities had ruled that the teenager's death Jan. 10,
2013, was a freak accident. They concluded that Johnson got stuck upside
down in the middle of a rolled up mat and was unable to breathe. Johnson's parents insisted someone must have killed their son and have pushed to reopen the investigation..........Classmates at
Lowndes High School found his body on Jan. 11, 2013, inside one of the
rolled-up gym mats propped upright against a wall next to the gymnasium
bleachers......... Sheriff's
investigators for Lowndes County closed the case four months after
Johnson turned up dead. They concluded he died in a freak accident while
reaching for a gym shoe inside one of the mats. A state medical
examiner ruled the cause of death was "positional asphyxia," meaning the
teenager got stuck upside down in a position that left him unable to
breathe. Johnson's parents and their supporters refused to let the
case be put to rest. They got a judge's order to exhume the body last
summer so a second autopsy could be performed. The private pathologist
hired by Johnson's family reported finding hemorrhaging beneath the skin
of Kendrick's jaw and neck and concluded he suffered a fatal blow near
his carotid artery that appeared to be "non-accidental." Johnson's
family said the review by the private pathologist also revealed that
most of his internal organs were missing and the body cavity was filled
with newspaper, Crimesider reported. Sheriff's
detectives who investigated the death insisted they found nothing to
suggest foul play. But the 522-page case file revealed enough stumbles
and loose ends to fuel conspiracy theories. Though Lowndes High
School has dozens of surveillance camera monitoring its doors and
hallways, including four cameras in the gym where Johnson was found
dead, none of them recorded the events leading to his death.
Investigators suspect the gym mats were too far away to trigger any of
the motion-activated cameras, which filmed Johnson strolling into the
gym but nothing else. Attorneys for Johnson's parents suggested footage
released to the family and the media may have been altered.The
case file notes that the county coroner wasn't called to the scene until
six hours after Johnson's body was found. Under Georgia law he should
have been notified immediately. The coroner criticized sheriff's
investigators for the delay, but agreed with their conclusion that
Johnson's death was accidental."
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/kendrick-johnson-no-federal-criminal-charges-in-georgia-teens-gym-mat-death/