Second Investigation Into Georgia Teen Kendrick Johnson’s Death Closed, Sheriff Says It Was ‘Weird Accident’

A second investigation into the widely questioned death of Kendrick Johnson, a Georgia high school student who was found dead inside a rolled-up gym mat in 2013, has been closed.

On Thursday, CNN and others confirmed the latest regarding the case that has remained in and out of headlines for nearly a decade, with Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk stating that the 17-year-old’s death marked a “weird accident.” 

According to Paulk, who was not serving in the capacity of sheriff when Johnson died, he read “every page” of documents turned over to his office by the Justice Department (who closed their own investigation in 2016) and determined that there was “nothing to substantiate a homicide.”

Complex has reached out to the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office for additional comment and will update this post accordingly.

Last March, Paulk confirmed the reopening of the investigation into Johnson’s death after receiving those aforementioned documents roughly two years after initially requesting them. In their statement shared in 2016, the DOJ said their investigation had found “insufficient evidence” to support the filing of federal criminal charges.

“The Department of Justice, in particular the lawyers and investigators who have worked tirelessly on this investigation, express their most sincere condolences to Kendrick Johnson’s parents, family, and friends,” then-Acting United States Attorney Carole Rendon said at the time. “We cannot imagine the pain of their loss, or the depths of their sorrow.  We regret that we were unable to provide them with more definitive answers about Kendrick’s tragic death.”

In the years since Johnson’s death, the family has continually raised questions about the handling of the investigations. Notably, a May 2013 autopsy report concluded that Johnson died from positional asphyxia, ruling the death an accident. Meanwhile, another autopsy—this conducted at the family’s request—determined the cause of death to have been blunt force trauma to the right side of the neck.

Kenneth Johnson, Kendrick’s father, responded to the latest developments in comments given to reporters on Thursday.

“This is a sheriff’s department known to cover up things,” he said in a press conference during which he also mentioned Willie J. Williams, who was arrested on a traffic violation in 1998 and housed at the Lowndes County Jail before later being found unconscious and ultimately pronounced dead at the South Georgia Medical Center.

In separate comments to CNN, Kenneth said the family has “not had faith” in county officials, adding that they “knew what the outcome would be from the very beginning.”