September 20, 2025 • 99 mins
Mountain Murders delivers the conclusion of the Kendrick Johnson case. We will discuss evidence, lawsuits, and where the mysterious case stands in 2025.
Intro music by Joe Buck Yourself
Hosts Heather and Dylan
www.patreon.com/mountainmurderspodcast
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mountain-murders--3281847/support.
Intro music by Joe Buck Yourself
Hosts Heather and Dylan
www.patreon.com/mountainmurderspodcast
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mountain-murders--3281847/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Dark Cast Network.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Welcome to the dark side of podcasting.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
California has the largest population in the United States and
the site of some of the most famous true crime
cases in history, but there's more than meets the eye
to the crime in California. Join Shaan, Jessica, and Charles
on the California True Crime Podcast as they cover crime
both infamous and overlooked from around our state while looking
(00:33):
at the deeper history that goes beyond beaches and movie stars.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
On his way. Devil is on his way. Devil is
on his way. Mother for the Devil gonna make you pay.
Fall to your knees. Devil is on his way. Fall
to your knees. DEVI gonna make you pay fall to
your knees.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Devil.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Hey, y'all, welcome back to Mountain Murderers. I'm Heather and
I'm Dylan.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Hey, Dylan, how are you.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
I'm a big old juicy boy.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Man. You just never know where the day is going
to take.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Dylan, Oh, man, I feel juicy for real?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
What does that even mean?
Speaker 1 (01:44):
I don't know. I'm just feeling sassy. Maybe it's sassy jubilant.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Yeah, okay, some of your mixing up. Jubilant with juicy.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
No, no, this is this is authentic.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
I'm gonna get you some of those retro the lord
like a tracksuit the juicy across the ass. Yes, I'm
gonna get you one of those.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Dude, those are you wear that? No?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Please do with a little cropped jacket.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
It would be some great pictures on our Instagram. Almost.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
I came my hair close still into buying one of
those a couple of months ago, really just for the nostalgia.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Did it say juicy?
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yeah, it was an authentic juicy Vlure baby blue the
track suit.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
That's the perfect color.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
I almost bought it so I could relive my twenties. Okay,
and remember when those Valure tracksuits were like the shit?
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Uh yeah, yeah, I had a couple. They say things
like juicy or princess, but.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Well mine didn't have any writing on the ass, but
it was just plain.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Oh it was getting red.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
They were so comfortable.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
To bring those back, we should because I think in
twenty twenty five, given everything has.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Happened, comfort is a priority.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Comfort is a priority. It seriously is.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
It's become my priority because.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Even when I have what I call regular clothes with
which have buttons and stuff, right, or zippers as soon
as I come home, pam right back into my comfy
athletic shorts, or nothing at all.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
I have abandoned pants that have zippers and buttons.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
I own like a pair of jeans and like one
pair of Jeenan shorts that kind of fit right, and
that's it. I don't know why, but maybe it's just
because I'm chunky. It's so confining to wear, you know, jeans.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
I just feel like my talent's being constrained when I
have to have this regular outfit on.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
I need writing motion, I need to be able to
you know, kick and stuff.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Yeah, you never know when you got to do a
combat role.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Well, I was gonna say, I never know when I
need to bust into song and dance like a musical number.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Right, Yeah, you always have jazz hands in your pocket.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Yes, I sure do. Okay, are you ready to get
into today's episode, Dylan. We promised we would drop part
two a little late with that, but sooner than later.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Right, Yes, let's get right in the first part I
thought was I was telling Heather for me. It was
one of those episodes that, Wow, I can't believe we've
been recording this long, so that means I'm actually, you know,
my brain's engaged. I'm not distracted, which I do fight
all the time. So let's get right back into part two.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Oh yeah, Oh, I want to mention I put out
a call for some listener stories ahead of Halloween, and
let me say, our listeners do not disappoint. Some of
those have started to flood the inbox and I am
so excited we're going to have a great listener story
Halloween episode.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
I cannot wait. I absolutely love listeners story.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Well, man, October just around the corner. I've been thinking
about decorating for Halloween. Yeah, but yesterday to find some decorations,
was a little disappointed with the offerings.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Well, you know, it's a little early, maybe, is it?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Though? Yeah, it's never too early.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
I feel professional today, Thank you professional.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
You've got your hair all slipped back.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Yeah, you know, yeah, I do like an adult. My
hair is growing out and it's getting past the uglies.
I think now it's starting to lay down, and it
makes me feel you said I look distinguished.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah, well you get the little gray right, the gray sides.
It's like a little sore fox.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
All right, So no, I can't see how quickly I
get distracted by my own beautiful hair.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
You do slushious.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Let's get into part two. I can't wait because I
learned so much in part one.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Well, I also, you know, I got to give a
shout out to someone whoever you were, that decided to
give me a play by play and a breakdown, timestamp
breakdown of the case and all the things that I
got in correctly in the first episode, which directly came
from news sources, so I'm not really sure how it
was incorrect, but they corrected me and gave me all
(05:51):
the information, And I just want to say, you really
seem to know a lot about this case. Maybe you
should start a podcast since the news media, you know,
the stories been out there incorrect.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Yeah, they got it.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
They get a first han account.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
I guess, yeah, I know. I mean, honestly, this could
be your next culpable. I mean seriously, yeah, it's because
you have an inside track, super helpful that no one
else has in all of media and journalism over the
years SINCEUS cases.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
But it wasn't the worst episode they ever heard on the.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Case, Dylan, and they said they would tune in for
part two, So thank you.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Yeah, so thanks for that. Maybe you can give us
a play by play breakdown of this episode.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
No, but in all seriousness, if you do have an
inside line of information that is not in the public,
please hit us up at Mount Murders Podcast at gmail
dot com because Heather would love to pick your brain.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Yeah, there we go. All right. When we left you
with part one, Dylan Kendrick's parents had taken those pictures
of him post mortem, and many of the relatives were
wearing T shirts with that image printed on them at rallies.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Now, okay, look, I got to stop your eye there
because you didn't mention this, and I thought that's what
you said the last episode. And people in the family
obviously gets to do what they want usually in any situation,
because it's their loved one, it's their feelings, their emotions.
But I find this a bit shocking. Honestly. It's one
(07:15):
thing to have a picture, you know, you know whatever,
prom picture of what you know, Hey, remember them keep
their face in the podlast we've.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Seen people wear t shirts that are like in loving
memory of right their relative, and typically they choose a
flattering photo.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Yes, and I'm sure they're trying to prove some kind
of a point here. But I've just right quick, I'll
say this seems a bit gullish to me, almost like
that's private. I mean, the state of your remains, in
my book, is a private matter.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Well, it just seems And again, it's their family and
they can do what they want, and I'm not in
their position, but I know that if it were my child,
that would not be the way I would want to
honor their memory. That's something I would not want the
public to see.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Yes, you know what I mean, out of concern for
their their privacy.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
I just think about you know, if they're alive, would
would they be like, yeah, this is cool, you should
put my fate my face on the shirt looking this way,
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
It seems a bit odd to me.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Well, there's a lot of things that seem a bit
odd to me, Dylan. As we go through this case,
we're going to have a really I think we're gonna
have a good discussion at the end about some of
the choices that the Johnson family makes.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
If it gets crazy, I can take my shirt off, Okay,
I'm just telling you. I don't.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
I'm not sure why you would do that, but Okay.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
That's one of the reasons I put a shirt on
this morning, was so I could rip it off at
some point if needed.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Oh, like a Springer moment.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Well, just like you know, some it's almost like an
exclamation point, right, I think.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
We also somebody jerks their shirt off down that.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
When you getting worked up. Okay, you know, so you'll
know when that happens.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
If it happens, well, I'll know, but our listeners fortunately
will will not.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Oh they're gonna know, they will not know.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Seeing such a graphic photo, of course, ignited a firestorm
of people demanding that this case be reopened.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
And I'm sure that that was a family's intention. Okay,
and it seems that it's working.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
And Dylan, to address questions you had in the first episode,
you know, why is the family crying racism? Kind of
off the bat you asked these questions, Well, you got
to consider Kendrick is a young black man, a young
black male student at a southern school, and given the
(09:44):
dark history and sense of the past, coupled with the
circumstances surrounding his death, the mysterious nature, and then of
course seeing that post mortem picture where he looks like
he's been beaten due to the lividity in the swelling,
just the positioning of the body right upside down in
this mat I mean, it's not pretty as we know.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
No, it's in a very peculiar, peculiar place. It was
found in a very strange place.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
It again makes the family feel some type of way.
And folks, you know, not involved in the case, but
who are being presented with the family side what the
family deems evidence, and they're saying, look at this, you
know it doesn't look good.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Okay, So I will say, which is what always happens
in these a lot of times, This is what happens
in these situations. Is it could be foul play, but
not necessarily racially motivated. And I would also say in
the South, which gets kind of a bad rap, a
(10:50):
bad rap in many ways I'm sure many of our
listeners are familiar with, I would argue that black and
white folks in the South have been figuring out how
to coexist longer than anywhere else in the country.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Well, I mean, I can't speak for black folks, right,
but just gauging from I mean, we have a very
large friend group, right that belonged to the African American community,
and we've spent a lot of time with them and
just sort of seeing how they navigate through society in
a small town. They I mean, it just seems like
(11:30):
most people in a small town. You grow up together,
you played ball together, your kids go to school together,
maybe your kids play ball together.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Whatever.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
And I've personally never witnessed anything nefarious. And I've not
had any of my friends say like, this has happened
and it's a horrific thing that happened to me, right,
And again, I'm not speaking for my friends, but I'm
just saying, like, you know, I feel like we have
had we've been kind of deeply rooted into this friend
(11:57):
group and have kind of witnessed just out and about
like I've never seen anything like that. And maybe we're
just living in a small town, or we were living
in a small town where that just wasn't common. Right,
But I do don't that people tend to think the
South is some type of way when it's really evolved
(12:18):
or it's not so much that way now.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
No, And it's that's true, but and this isn't a
doubt and this is from the perspective of a straight
white male, right, Right, and that's my perspective in some things.
And that's not to downplay the terrible, horrible things that
have happened in the past, right, but it's just that
they I think a lot of people don't realize how
much co mingling and mixture of white and black there
(12:45):
is actually in Southern culture, and that a lot of times.
And you're talking about an African American friend group in
a very small, predominantly white town.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Now you're talking and kind of being the maybe sometimes
the only white people at the cookout, right, Yes.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
So what I guess my point in the long winded
way was just that we're not at each other's throat.
And I do think as bad as people make it seem,
you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Well, and I'm just going based on my observations. And
again it's not my personal experience. I don't know what
people go through, but you know, you would assume your
friends would kind of share those experiences with you if
they had had negative experiences. And honestly, I mean, I
know there is racism out there, and people probably listen
to this and they're like, maybe you're naive or you
don't know, but my experience has been and living in
(13:36):
the South my entire life, and in Appalachia, in a
very small town, is that people love black people.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
You know what I'm saying. That's a great thay.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
You love the friendliness. I mean, they're just good people,
like just good country.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
People, oysterous fun. They're going to welcome you in. You're
gonna have a great time. You're gonna eat good.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Food at mama's table and she's gonna have a spread.
You're gonna get you some fishing grits, You're gonna get
some biscuits. It's just so welcoming. The music, the laughter,
the jokes back and forth, everybody's like having a good time.
I mean, it's just really warm and welcoming and chill.
Has been my experience, and I find that people tend
to be like, oh wow, you know, and they love
(14:22):
they love the community. I've never said I'm not speaking
from experience, you know.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
I've never sat around with a group of guys and
laughed harder and longer than I have in a group
of black guys and may being maybe the only one
or two white people, maybe I'm the only white person,
but just giving each other shit, carrying on, cracking jokes
back and forth. I mean, it's really is an experience
into into its own. It's very you can't experience it out.
(14:54):
I mean, it's just great.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
We've been out and again we're kind of on a
tangent here, but I guess I just want to share
our experience, our perspective having been in the South for
so many years, and just kind of offer that, like
it's not always people at each other's throats, but like,
I know, your buddy, we nickname him the Joker, right right, Okay,
(15:15):
so like we'll just call him the Joker, so the
jokers out. I've seen this man go into a bar
and I'm telling you, the entire bar is like over
surrounding him. Everybody loves him. He's the life of the party.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Yeah, everybody aka the Mayor.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
We also call him the Mayor. It's like, bro, why
don't you just run from Mayor because it's like everywhere
you go, goy fan base.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
So you know, I just think sometimes there's there's more
love out there than there is hate.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Right, So sorry about that sidebar, but I just think
it's I like to point out to people who aren't
in the South, and I know people all over the
world literally and all over the country listen to this,
and country folk get along a lot better than some
people think, you know what I mean, because.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
We're really not all that different. You know, poor's poor, right,
and down trodden's down trodden, and a lot of times
people in the South, you are in these poor rural
communities and everybody's just in the same boat.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Yeah, just trying to make.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
It yeah for real. But again, I mean, Valdosta is
is down in the heart of Georgia, and we all
know Georgia's had a very turbulent history.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Well it's true, So back.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
To this, and I mean I can understand. I guess
where people could see this story and their immediate go
to is like, oh my gosh, this is horrific, and
it reminds me of you know, there's been a breaking
kind of story happening and it's been all over social
media about a young black male who was a student
at a college in Mississippi who was found hanging and
(16:51):
it's been determined that there was no suspected foul play
and we're talking like the medical examiner as a black man,
and but of course people are saying he's been lynched, right,
this is a murder they're covering it up.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
I want to say a lot of the people in
authority position there in this case are black people, African Americans.
However you want to prefer to say it, but yes, obviously,
I mean, but I've.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Seen tons of people calling for, like, you know, some
kind of investigation. This isn't lynching, this is racism. This
is like the work of the clan.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Okay, right, quick from Mississippi, right, And honestly, a young
black man hanging from a tree.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
I mean that I see the optics.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
I see the optics, and I understand those feelings. But
from okay, let's do from a true crime, right quick,
from a true crime forensic perspective.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Well, that's what we're going to be doing with this
case as well.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
So what the investigators are looking at, what the corner
is looking at in the you know, the pre.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Invest the investigation on sides of a struggle, broken bones.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
If you are hanging someone against their will, I have
to imagine that there's going to be a ton of
defensive wounds, scrapes.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Imagine the hands you're probably grabbing.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
For the road, you're grabbing robs.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
You're gonna have injuries to your hands and fingers.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
You're scratching people, you're fighting literally for your life. I
have to imagine that there would be evidence and a
lot of it if that was the case. And that's
that's the way I really like to think about things
like that. And I hate to believe in the twenty
twenty five that there is enough you know, super racists
in control of an area like this that sounds like
(18:35):
it might be predominantly black. I don't think that the
racists would have that much put.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
I think it's a historically black college where this.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Young man was think, so, yeah, I just don't think
that enough racists would be in control of the levers
of the machine that they would need to just smooth
this over and less act like it was a suicide,
is what they're actually saying, right.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
And parallels between this story that is now making the
rounds right and Kendrick story. So let's get back to this, Dylan,
And like I said, well, like you said, we really
need to examine this from a true crime, from a
you know, standpoint of forensics and evidence and kind of
a reasonable or like more of a logical scientific point
(19:23):
of view.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Right, more objective point of.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
View, And so as a story kind of goes on,
I think you're going to see what I'm talking about. So,
with growing support and these questions surrounding Kendrick's death, his
family creates a Facebook tribute page, and it is there
that the family starts posting allegations against certain individuals who
they think are responsible for murdering their son.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
And again, they're well within their rights to do this
if that's what you feel.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Now, the Johnson circulated this post mortem photo of their
son with a caption that said, look what someone did
to our son.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Now.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
At first, the Johnsons do not name the boys they
that they think are responsible, but there is enough detail
in specifics posted that it's not hard to figure out
who they're pointing fingers out, especially in this small town.
And let's face it, Valdosta is not a large place,
(20:16):
so any sleuth really could piece together like what is
being suggested.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Right, and the first people to do that would obviously
be the locals who know what people look like who
you might be describing, and that information is going to
quickly get.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Out, right, So it didn't take long for a mom
mentality to kick in and people start harassing and threatening
these boys and their family. Now the more the family
speaks to the press, the allegations grow, and the Johnson's
point to the fact that it took six hours for
the Corner to be called to the scene. Kenneth also
said that he went to the crime lab and that
(20:52):
the cooler holding Kendrick's body was not cold at all,
but rather warm, even suggesting it was hot. And he
points that the corner and others at the lab were
attempting to destroy evidence to further cover up.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Okay, that's a very serious.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Allegation, very serious allegation. Also, his family alleged that the
clothing kJ had been wearing disappeared somewhere between the Georgia
Bureau of Investigation and the funeral home. Harrington Funeral Home
signed an inventory slip which stated they had received Kendrick's
personal items, which included clothing. So, having experienced having been
(21:34):
someone who releases decedents two funeral homes, I did this job.
There's a chain of custody and very specific paperwork that
goes along with the release of a body, and like
a protocol, right, you have this very standard operating procedure,
and one of those things is ensuring that a person's
personal items are handed over to the funeral home. It's
(21:57):
turned over to the funeral home. And even at time
we turn those items over to the family, Like if
the family shows up demanding I want their cell phone,
their clothes, their money, you sign it over to the family.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
So basically this is a documented chain of custody of sorts.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Right, and it's a very important process. So that's how
I know most agencies who are responsible, whether it be
a county, morgue, a hospital, the GBI, what have you.
I mean, this is very very important.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
It's not something taken off.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
You don't want this to come back on you, right.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
And it's also I think people feel it's important to
make sure that loved ones family get the belongings of
the deceas well.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
And on top of that, I mean, you don't really
have a lot of place to store these extra items, right,
I mean people don't want stuff. I mean, you know,
you don't want to pile of cell phones collecting over
in the corner.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
No, And I think sometimes people miss out they don't
think about the very h you can describe it as cold,
but it's dentures the logistical perspective and know.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
For all the things, right, I mean here's Grandma's dentures
in this bag. You're going to sign for those dentures.
I mean things that you might not even think that
you want. We're gonna hint to you, right.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Because you're really just keeping this stuff kind of moving
through the system.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Right. Well, the funeral home only, now, this is what
they say. They say they only received a pair of
broken headphones when they received this personal like inventory of items.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Okay, that's the only item they received.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
That's what the funeral home is stating. Now again, like
I mentioned this very specific chain of custody when releasing
a body and the personal effects to the family to
the funeral home. So let's be reasonable about this, Dyllan,
And like I come. You know, my brain is always
like I want steps and order and logic. That's just
(23:55):
how my brain works is to look at the big
picture of evidence and kind of reach a conclusion, right right,
So I have to go through the steps of this
from my own brain. So a cover up, as you
mentioned in the Mississippi the new story that has recently broken,
would need to not only include county employees but also
state agencies. We're talking what tens of maybe even up
(24:20):
to a hundred people.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Who knows maybe even yeah, elite. Let's say it's one
hundred people, which is almost an impossible conspiracy to pull off.
Even with one hundred people, you need a hundred people's
willingness to be in on this with you.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Right, So first of all, I always consider that when
I hear it's a cover up, it's a conspiracy. Right,
It's okay, Well, you're going to have all these players
willing to go along with the story and not have
a single person singing like a canary. And if you
know human nature, it's hard. People don't want to keep
them mouth shut about stuff.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
And it's not only the hundred people. It's also considering
the other one hundred people that those hundred people associate
or may speak to about.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
And we're not talking about just random people. These are professionals, sheriffs, police,
state agents, right, medical professionals. I mean, it's a it's
a vast group of people. Right. So with releasing a body,
there are these protocols and steps that must be taken.
So it is more likely that the state agency. Okay,
(25:21):
so think about it this way. Is the state agency
covering up this murder? Or is it more likely that
a funeral home that has what I would deem. You know,
civilian employees, especially a funeral transporter, who are sent to
pick up the body and bring it back to the
funeral home. That's usually like a part time person and
they're paid like maybe thirteen to fourteen dollars an hour
(25:43):
on average, So it's not somebody who's making a ton
of money and their job is just to pick up
and transport. Right, So you got this person making thirteen
fourteen dollars an hour. Who would be more likely to
be careless with kj's personal belonging.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Maybe the person who could be new to the job,
maybe the transporter.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
And given what we know about numerous funeral homes in
the country, these people are not always up to snuff.
How many stories have we heard circulating in the news,
even you know this year, about shady practices at funeral homes.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Yeah, there's been more than one story, right, So I.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Keep that in mind because I like to be a
fair person. Now, how many stories have come out about
these bodies being mishandled, families being given like cremaines that
don't belong to their loved ones. I mean, there are
a lot of shady funeral businesses out there.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Well, and I think some of it is just incompetence. Yeah,
because again people, I think I always have to remind
myself of this. You having worked in this industry, and
some of the things that some of the veteran people
would tell you is that you think, now, I truly
thought that a body was handled with reverence all along
(27:11):
the way.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Will you try? But not as much as you.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Can, I'm saying, But it's also just you. It comes
down to a logistics and you do have to move
this body and you might not always have five or
six people, but not the reverence. And I'm not saying
this as a slight to anybody, but it really is.
It becomes a business at a point of handling these
(27:35):
remains getting the right thing done. But it's not I
think what the average person thinks. It's not how it works.
It's just not.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
It's not pretty work.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
It's not pretty and.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Sometimes and there are times when it it's just like
I said, it's not pretty work.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
It's physical. You have remains decomposing very quickly a different way.
They don't have coolers everywhere that the body goes and
stays for some amounts of time. Everything's not refrigerated. They
don't keep it in this perfect state of you know,
fighting off decomposition. It just doesn't work like I really
(28:11):
truly thought it did.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Well. If you're picking up a body in Tennessee and
driving it to Florida to transport, you know, or to
South Carolina from Tennessee, cars don't come with coolers.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
But no, no, I didn't realize that. I thought there
would be a vehicle made for that, you know what
I mean. But that's not how well.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
They're being transported in the vans.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
Mini vans you.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
Know, hearses don't come with coolers.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
I mean cargo vans.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Yeah, right, right right, I mean these are not refrigerated vehicles.
So I think there's a lot out there that maybe
just like the lay person does not know. So if
these clothes were given to the transporter when the person
picked up the body, and then they're saying, hey, I'm
dropping this body off, and there were no personal items
(28:58):
with this body, even though they signed for the personal items,
I point the finger at the transporter, like the funeral
home employee, right, because it's their responsibility to make sure
not only does this decedent arrive, but their items arrive
as well. And if the funeral home says, hey, we
didn't get anything, we didn't get any clothing, then that
shows me that this middleman, this transporter did something careless
(29:21):
with the clothing, either intentionally or just out of incompetency
or laziness, or maybe just not understanding the importance of
bringing these items in.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
Well, like you said, oftentimes these people are part time.
It seems to be a lot, maybe a lot of
turnover at that position in the chain of personnel in
a funeral home. They could just be new, They might
not have realized, they may have missed something and not really.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Just forgotten or forgotten. Oh yeah, this got lodged under
the car the seat of the van, and I didn't
see it and just forgot about it. And then six
months later you find something random under their like.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Oh shit, you don't know who that went with.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Well, the Johnson's allege the missing clothing probably contained evidence
which could prove a homicide. By destroying the clothing, this
further proves a cover up. And remember, there was an
emergency medical technician an EMT that had noted a bruise
on kj's job, but the autopsy report didn't make any
mention of this. So again, this is just me being
(30:25):
the reasonable person that I am that likes to look
at everything from you know, a logical standpoint. Do you
trust an EMT who has eight months to maybe two
years of training or do you trust the pathologist who
is a medical doctor who's been doing this job for
a number of years.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
And probably did upwards of ten years of college work
and internship to get their certification.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Right, we pathologists perform autopsies every day and know exactly
what to look for. We're going to trust a report
made by an MT who doesn't really have training and
examining body tissues, organs, fluids, et cetera to determine the
cause of death. I mean, an MT's job is providing
immediate care and transporting patients to medical facilities, and the
condition of kj's body, especially the head and face after
(31:17):
being upside down for nearly a day, is probably going
to look funky, right, So the MT might think that
jall E's bruised, but in reality it could just be
where like maybe blood had settled and it was dark
right or looked like it could be swollen, and.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
The pathologists would be way more qualified to make that determination.
I'm just saying, well, I'm saying their expertise is in
what happens to the body after death, right, am I? Right?
Speaker 2 (31:46):
So again, could this be a large scale cover up
by multiple agencies with many different people involved? I mean sure,
does that seem far fetched to me? It does? Or do?
I trust in the work of professionals who do their
jobs every day without complaints. So you have a pathologist
who's been doing this for ten, twenty years, whatever, eight
(32:09):
years five. I don't know how long this pathologist had
been in this work or had been in this line
of work. But you got this person who does this
job every day and they don't continuously have these kind
of complaints. And then here's this family saying this is
a mass cover up. You didn't do your job correctly. Now,
the family shared photos with a retired FBI agent who
has kind of turned into like a private detective. His
(32:33):
name was Harold Koppa's he sided with the family. Copus
also pointed out that no one had bagged the sneakers
that didn't have blood on them, and that those were
not put into evidence, which further proves that there's some
type of cover up here. Now, the Johnson family hires
an attorney and in May of twenty thirteen, they get
an exhamation order to dig up Kj's remains for a
(32:55):
second autopsy. The autopsy was private. It was paid for
by the Johnsons and money raised by their supporters. They
got doctor William Anderson, a Florida pathologist, to perform this autopsy. Now,
when his report is released, it was a bombshell. Anderson
said there was evidence of blunt force trauma to the
(33:15):
right neck soft tissues which were consistent with homicide. He
thought the injury was inflicted by another person and that
Kj's case should be reopened as a homicide. Okay, so
with his second autopsy, the Johnson's beliefs are validated. The
new report seems to open up more questions about what
has happened to their son. The report suggests someone hit Kendrick,
(33:39):
then rolled him up in the mat and shoved or
shoved him into the mat. So not only did this
person attack Kendrick, but law enforcement, the school, the corner,
and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation were all involved in
covering it up.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
Okay, well, then, okay, that's a pretty big conspiracy.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
That's a big conspiracy in October of twenty thirteen. The
report also stated that Kendrick's remains had been stuffed with
newspapers before he had been prepared for the funeral. Kendrick's
internal organs were nowhere to be found. Now, this is gruesome,
but you're gonna have to listen to this to understand.
Those organs were typically placed. Now, when you have an autopsy,
(34:21):
they cut you open from chest down, like your abdominal
cavity is typically sliced open, spread, spread open like. You
can typically remove the top and seed, like all the
internal organs, right, So they typically take those organs out,
they examine them, and they're placed in some sort of
sealed plastic bag and usually inserted inside the decedent's body,
(34:45):
usually back in the abdominal cavity, and then they're delivered
back to the funeral home, who then goes through the
process of embalming and preparing the body cosmetically fixing the remains. Right,
So the funeral home should have noticed when they picked
up this body that they were missing organs. And again
(35:07):
I am blaming the funeral home for this.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
So the organs are missing as well.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
Yes, okay, Now, a Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokesperson described
the protocol to CNN. After Kendrick's initial autopsy, the organs
were sealed in a bag and placed inside the body.
The body is then placed in a body bag for pickup,
and if the funeral home receives a body without the organs,
they should contact the GBI to inquire why. Well. The
(35:35):
Harrington Funeral Home says they did this and were told
that the organs were quote destroyed by natural processes, which
suggests decomposition.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
I guess okay that I mean that seems like you've
seen in your short career in this industry some fairly uh,
I guess, kind of tough or I don't know how
to describe it, people that have been through some significant trauma. Yeah,
(36:08):
advanced states of decomposition. Yeah, So do you think that
would be quit twenty four hours? Around twenty four hours,
do you think that the organs would be in that
state from a layperson's perspective, Well.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
It's hard to say, depending on how long it took
to do the autopsy. How you know how long? I
don't know. I don't know. I'm not skilled enough.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
Well, you know, I'm still.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
Studying this stuff, but I don't know. Okay, I can't
give you an honest answer on that now. Okay, so
that part is questionable, right, but let's discuss the newspapers. So,
typically a body during the mortuary process, when you're preparing
a body for funeral, the body is typically and I
(36:55):
say the body, it's typically that abdominal cavity is stuffed
with cotton or sawdust. And I've even heard that some
funeral homes might use cat litter, oh to fill that cavity.
It's actually pretty common to put some type of material
to fill the void of where the you know, the
missing organs are.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
So they're not looking all sunk down and weird if
you're ca Yeah, so the clothes are actually hiding way
more than maybe people ever imagine.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Well, if there's been an autopsy performed, absolutely okay, yeah, Now,
as a funeral director or an embalmer, many materials are
used to fill these wounds holes. If you have a
bullet hole, any kind of open wound, I mean there's
stuffing cotton in there, wax, different materials to just still
(37:49):
a you know, to try to fix these wounds, right,
to prepare so that they can have an open casket.
There's special mortuary makeup, you know, that's used to create
or recreate your loved one's features, that type of thing.
So regardless of who did what, there are no organs
available to re examine during the second autopsy. So again
(38:13):
we don't know who dropped the ball. If the organs
didn't come to the funeral home, or the funeral home
you know, didn't get I mean, we don't know now.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
Short of toxicology, a simple for that purpose, I would
wonder how much information you could you could truly get
from the organs after they'd been removed bagged, you know, handled,
But maybe you can, maybe just maybe you could see
some types of trauma on the organs or something. May
(38:46):
might be able to figure that out. But to me,
I will I have to wonder how much information you
could truly get from a bag of organs after they've
been removed, short of again simple for like toxicology reporters test.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
However, these organs were X rayed like in, photographed and
made into slides, so they did have the slides available
to review of Kendrick's organs. Harrington Funeral Home provided the
Johnsons with a no cost service like they volunteered to
take care of this funeral. It is possible that someone
(39:24):
within the funeral home discarded the items or didn't follow
the chain of custody. Again, I mean, that's a possibility.
Maybe they didn't consider the clothing or the organs were important.
I mean, I'm just trying to play Devil's advocate here,
and at the end of the day, we don't know
the truth. We have both parties making these conflicting statements
about who did what, and unfortunately, human mistakes happen, and
(39:47):
it isn't always malicious or intentional. You know, we're not perfect.
None of us are perfect.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
But at the same time, if someone had some kind
of motivation, it could be militia. I mean, that's just
it's some one these situations where you'll truly never.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
Know, right. Another questionable issue with this case, and I
understand why the family has doubts, is the security footage
from Lends High School. Now, I'm not sure if all
of the cameras had motion sensors, but many of them did,
and due to this, the cameras kind of click on
and record only when there is activity, like, for example,
when someone enters the gymnasium.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
Okay, so the entrance to the gymnasium's going to always
be caught on camera, yes, whoever's entering.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Right, Okay, as long as there is movement in front
of the camera, it records. So Also, it has been
pointed out that these cameras didn't seem to sync up
with each other and that kind of made the timestamps wonky.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
So they haven't been calibrated as far as the time
that they're they're individual. That's odd.
Speaker 2 (40:52):
Well, the cameras are part of a professional system. I mean,
it's not like the school ordered these cameras from Amazon
for like ten dollars and install them, you know what
I mean.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
No, but if they have if they have separate internal
clocks and the clocks get off, that's just the nature
of clocks.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
Well, depending on how long these cameras have been in use, right.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
And if they're not calibrated and synced up as part
of some kind of service plan or you know, over time,
then that is going to that can happen. And that
doesn't mean someone's changing anything. That's just the nature of electronics.
Speaker 2 (41:26):
What these schools can barely afford to provide paper towels.
Speaker 1 (41:31):
Right in textbooks, which I don't understand.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
So I don't know if they're going to have this
top knoch security system that's calibrated and you know, upgraded
like every couple of months, right, well maintained.
Speaker 1 (41:44):
What I don't I never understood, And just a quick sidebar,
And this is the issue of tying funding to local
property taxes. These are how you end up with these
uh schools and poorer areas being under fund and under
resource compared to schools in nicer, you know, more affluent
areas because you're your moneies are based on If they're
(42:08):
tied to property values and property taxes that are brought
in off those values, it's going to create a natural
imbalance between the richer area and the poorer area.
Speaker 2 (42:18):
But even so, cameras can be glitchy, right, I mean,
we know that electronics can be glitchy, and especially over
the course of some years. So I'm not sure how
long this particular security system have been installed at this
school with these cameras, But if it's been a decade
or more, yeah, I mean, then they're probably not the
(42:42):
best four K you know, top of the line technology.
We see a lot of this camera footage on the
news when there's a school shooting or something, and oftentimes
it's grainy, it's kind of crappy, and you're like, how
in twenty twenty five do you have this shitty camera footage?
But that's what happens well a.
Speaker 1 (43:02):
System of any size. I think people often don't realize
the cost involved in upgrading. Right. I was in a
billion dollar paper mill and we were still running XP
was our operating system. I mean, do you remember when
the XP was out gosh, and then we upgraded it
was literally to whatever was XP pro that was after XP.
(43:24):
But when we upgraded it was in the you know,
the twenty teens, and so I'm like, why didn't you
upgrade to the most moder and just like, you know,
ten systems past that. But it comes down to cost
and the incompatibility of the rest of the system with
that operating system. So you have to sometimes still use
antiquated Oh, it's just cost and problems as far as
(43:48):
internally interacting with each other's systems.
Speaker 2 (43:51):
Look, I worked at a job in twenty eleven and
I still had a Netscape as an Internet browser on
my computer. Nice and it barely could connect to the internet.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
Yeah, sure, okay, but no there are there are complications
that sometimes I think people don't think about, right, you
don't know, why don't you just do this? Well, it
won't work with this system or that system didn't.
Speaker 2 (44:13):
Yeah, okay, all right, so again cameras, timestamps, calm wonkey. Now,
the GBI requested the camera footage, and from my understanding,
there were thirty six cameras filming on campus on January
tenth and into January eleventh. That's a lot of hours
of footage. So for a day that totals thirty six
cameras twenty four hours of footage. That's eight hundred and
(44:35):
sixty four hours. And if you're coming through two days
of footage, that's over nineteen hours of survey nineteen hundred
hours of surveillance footage, right right, that's a.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
Lot to look through just in the two days.
Speaker 2 (44:47):
Yes, people have made claims that there is missing footage,
but if law enforcement asked for that footage and some
of it was missing, then that's an issue with the school, right.
Speaker 1 (45:00):
Yeah, well that would be that would be the ones
who control the footage.
Speaker 2 (45:05):
Right right. So this leads to a legal request and
a judge ordered that some of that footage be released,
but the problem lies within the time stamps. Again, some
still shots were taken from the footage released by the
Sheriff's office that shows time stamps, but the actual video
footage had no time stamps. With our security cameras, you know,
(45:27):
there's a time stamp on the screen when I'm viewing it,
and when I go back to the cloud, it's time
stamped on the video.
Speaker 1 (45:35):
Right right, Yeah, it's like a you figure it goes with.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
It, But that's twenty twenty five camera technology. Yeah, we
were talking twenty thirteen. So I'm wondering if the footage
wants downloaded to a server or a drive, like wherever
this is downloaded, doesn't maybe remove the time stamp, the
time stamp from the video, Like maybe it just shows
up on the screen while it's being recorded, but maybe
(46:00):
not necessarily on the video itself. Like I'm not really
sure about that. I'm just speculating, right.
Speaker 1 (46:05):
I have no idea how that works.
Speaker 2 (46:07):
And then I'm wondering about the photos that were released,
like was that somehow taken from the video or was
it like someone took a picture of it from the
screen and then you get the time stamp.
Speaker 1 (46:19):
You know what I mean, yeah, no, I see what
you're saying.
Speaker 2 (46:22):
It's kind of hard for me. I'm not super tech savvy,
so it's kind of hard for me to break it down.
So I'm hoping that I'm not like confusing people.
Speaker 1 (46:30):
No, maybe someone else can explain that better. But I
do find it odd because I feel like the time
stance a an important part of security footage, right, and I
feel like it would be embedded in intercurate.
Speaker 2 (46:42):
I would think, yeah.
Speaker 1 (46:44):
In all at all steps.
Speaker 2 (46:45):
But yeah, and there are videos of people that seemingly
kind of appear and then disappear from shots. Then they
sort of like they'll appear, they'll disappear, and then they
sort of magically appear again. It's like this is some
kind of glitch. But others say it shows that the
video video footage was edited intentionally.
Speaker 1 (47:03):
I mean, you can talk about frames per second and
its motion censor. Yeah, who knows. It can be delays.
Speaker 2 (47:10):
And from what I learned with research, CNN was very
interested in this case dealing and they sent out a
you know, foyer request and press forward with a suit
to get this video footage. So once they obtain the
video footage, they hire a professional forensic analyst to sort
through I think three hundred hours of video.
Speaker 1 (47:32):
So this being a tax funded public institution, therefore, you
should be able to access the information freedom of Information
Freedom of Information Act.
Speaker 2 (47:41):
Now, the analyst did find some discrepancies in the footage,
like blurriness or what might be described as kind of
like shakiness, like the glitch you know, when a glitch happens.
There were also missing time stamps, but the analyst said
it was most likely due to poorly functioning motion sensors.
It could also be unfocused or blurry because the cameras
(48:04):
themselves were older. There could be dirty lenses. And this
is coming from someone who went to photography school and
was a photojournalist. I know a little bit about cameras,
and I can tell you that dust is a major
problem for camera lenses. So dust on cameras can cost
what they call soft like softness or.
Speaker 1 (48:26):
Flares right right reflecting the lights.
Speaker 2 (48:29):
Yeah, it can reduce contrast. The zoom and focus mechanisms
can get messed up if the dust is like more
than normal. But you know, most photographers and videographers they're
using this equipment all the time, so they go to
great lengths to make sure their lenses are properly maintained
and cleaned. No one was cleaning these lenses. I'm just
saying no.
Speaker 1 (48:50):
And they're likely up high order to reach, which is
where typically all cameras are placed, especially around a bunch
of rambunctious students. You don't want them to be able
to access.
Speaker 2 (49:00):
That's how damn dusty your house is. No, I mean
I earlier pointed out our ceiling fan, and we're you know,
I clean a lot, like I'm pretty much a clean freak, right,
but our ceiling fans get dusty as hell. Even when
you wipe them down. You'll look back up there in
like two months and there's dust is back on the
damn ceiling fan.
Speaker 3 (49:17):
Right.
Speaker 2 (49:18):
So you think about a security camera in a school
that's in a hallway whare door opens and closes constantly,
and you're getting that dust in and out, And that
camera's been up there for eight years. Now, do you
think anybody wipes that camera down or dust it?
Speaker 1 (49:32):
No? Likely not?
Speaker 2 (49:34):
Yeah, right, So I'm just pointing to that fact. Now,
the analysts could not determine if the files had been
tampered with, So with people appearing and disappearing, we don't
know if that is somebody has edited this footage, but
it also could be some kind of malfunction, a glitch,
or again it could be something more sinister. It was
(49:54):
determined there was about an hour of missing footage from
all four cameras that I seem to be like in
this gymnasium area. But I don't know if they mean
like an hour total is missing from the you know,
like one camera, like someone has taken the camera and
they've taken the footage and you.
Speaker 1 (50:14):
Know, right, just codd it.
Speaker 2 (50:16):
Yes, but it kind of seems like it's missing from
all four cameras, Like twenty five minutes might be missing
from this one camera one. Camera two might have like
fifteen minutes of missing footage. Camera three has like, you know,
five minutes of missing footage. Do you see what I'm saying?
Speaker 1 (50:34):
Yeah, that's very odd.
Speaker 2 (50:36):
Then that sounds like maybe the system is outdated or
needs some kind of maintenance.
Speaker 1 (50:39):
Well you mean, well yeah, because I mean I don't
understand if if you're carving out a chunk of time,
you're gonna have to get that same chunk of time
from every camera, right or right? I guess maybe only
some of the camera angles, picked up whatever. But yeah,
I mean that just that does sound like a system
that's not all efficiently.
Speaker 2 (51:01):
Look, anytime you take some evidence, anything, a story, you
can find a way to sway it one way or another, right,
like a persuasive argument.
Speaker 1 (51:14):
Well yeah, unless it's perfect, I mean, which doesn't exist.
Speaker 2 (51:19):
Right. Okay, So back to our story. The Johnson's did
not view this footage in the days after Kendrick's death,
and it would have been available to them, but from
my understanding is like they didn't ask to see any
of this video footage.
Speaker 1 (51:33):
I'm kind of surprised on that it would be one
of my first thoughts.
Speaker 2 (51:37):
By twenty fourteen, this case is really heating up, Dylan,
the Johnson's and their attorney are putting a lot of
pressure on law enforcement, the justice system. And that's when
the family starts naming people they believe are responsible for
Kendrick's death. So now we're not just making like allegations,
kind of anonymous allegations of what we know it was
(51:57):
a student who did this, but now they're actually pointing
fingers and they name brothers Brian and Brandon bell.
Speaker 1 (52:06):
I remember when this happened.
Speaker 2 (52:07):
Okay, So the Johnsons have their own theory. The Bell brothers,
they believe, had a female, Laura Kendrick, to the gym,
where they proceeded to kill him and stuff his body
into this mat. They also claim that the Bell's father
was involved in a massive cover up. And you might
ask like, well, why is the father brought into these allegations. Well, Dylan,
(52:30):
he was an FBI agent.
Speaker 1 (52:31):
Oh well, now is there video evidence of him coming
into the gym. I know that the angles kind of
suck in this gym, which again, this is not it's
a school, it's not prison, it's not high security.
Speaker 2 (52:47):
There's no video evidence of this.
Speaker 1 (52:49):
So but the entrance is covered, right, so there should be.
Speaker 2 (52:54):
Dylan, I just need you to hold tight.
Speaker 1 (52:56):
Where's that part of the missing footage?
Speaker 2 (52:58):
Hold on tight to your seat, but buckle up, buckle up.
Speaker 1 (53:02):
There should be video of those two brothers going into
the gym and the girl hear me out.
Speaker 2 (53:08):
Okay, I got tea for you, bud. So the Johnson's
and their attorneys file this lawsuit and they named like
thirty defendants that they claim were involved or complicit. They
also sued Lowndes High School in twenty fourteen, along with
the superintendent for wrongful death of their son. And in
this lawsuit, the Johnson's allege there was a long history
of Kendrick being targeted by quote, a white student. There
(53:31):
was some kind of dispute between one of the Bell
brothers and Kendrick. But some sources have actually said that
one of the Bell brothers and Kendrick were kind of buddies.
Speaker 1 (53:43):
Okay, Okay.
Speaker 2 (53:44):
Now the Johnson's deny this, and they say they have
never heard their son saying that the Bell brothers his friend.
Like never. The Johnson's imply that this incident with this
white student happened just before Kendrick's death. Dylan, it was
actually eighteen months earlier, in twenty eleven. So do you
(54:06):
remember I told you at the beginning of the episode
that there was a conflict on a school bus, right, Okay,
So that happened eighteen months before Kendrick's death. That was
in twenty eleven. The boys were freshmen and they were
playing on the football team together. This is the Bell brothers,
I believe, Bryant. I think Brendan might be the younger
(54:28):
or the older one.
Speaker 1 (54:29):
I think they were on the football team with Kendrick. Yeah,
I thought Kendrick wasn't an athlete according.
Speaker 2 (54:34):
To our Oh well, at the time, he wasn't playing
a sport according to our person who really knows this
case inside and out right. So the boys were freshmen
and playing on the football team together. This was the
thing I described in the beginning where they were riding
home on the school bus post game, Brian and Kendrick
were jokingly kind of trading barbs, and from what I understand,
it was your mama jokes.
Speaker 1 (54:55):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (54:56):
Now, I don't know one hundred percent if that's true,
because I've seen a lot of other things on Reddit
boards that suggest it was something else, like kind of crazy. Well,
I hope it was your mom and body peat on somebody.
I don't know, but I saw a source that it
was like, you know, they're kind of going back and forth.
Speaker 1 (55:11):
They're cracking on each other.
Speaker 2 (55:12):
Yes, which is not uncommon among friends. I crack on
you all the time.
Speaker 1 (55:18):
It's fun.
Speaker 2 (55:20):
We're back and forth with each other.
Speaker 1 (55:22):
Sometimes you're given each other hell.
Speaker 2 (55:23):
Like you know when I tell you all day that
you smell.
Speaker 1 (55:26):
Like poop, Well, now you take it too far, don't
you do it to the point where I'm like, do
I smell like poop.
Speaker 2 (55:32):
What the hell, dude, I'm gonna make a T shirt
that's like, have you guesslighted your husband today? Now, I
don't know if someone took it too far or whatever,
but these two ended up in a fight, which can happen.
And we've also heard it was over a girl that
this was over a girl that supposedly Kendrick was seeing. Okay,
(55:53):
so I don't know if, like they started joking, it
went too far then something with the girlfriend came out.
I mean again, it's kind of the the sources are
saying different things.
Speaker 1 (56:03):
Now, I've seen grown men get in their feelings when
you're just cracking on each other like this, So that
certainly could happen amongst young people.
Speaker 2 (56:10):
Right, And I've seen that happen. I mean, people start
messing around and then it kind of escalates and gets
out of hand, and then you somebody gets mad and
pissed off and then it turns into a fight. Now
I've seen this with like siblings, for example.
Speaker 1 (56:22):
Yeah, but be like, that's why your mama don't like
you because you ugly, And I'd be like, now my
mom is your mama too?
Speaker 2 (56:28):
Okay, So there are these two teams on this bus
when the fight breaks out, and I'm thinking it's probably
like the jv and the varsity team. That makes more.
That's like what makes sense to me. Right, So when
they arrive back at the high school, Brian, along with
his older brother who's a junior, also played football. So
they get back to the school, this fight's been broken up.
(56:50):
Things at this point have just kind of settled down whatever.
The Bell brothers are picked up by their parents and
taken home. Right, well, kJ was taken home by the
school officer. Kennethan Johnson says, quote white kids get to
go home with their parents and the black kid is
put into a police car.
Speaker 1 (57:08):
Well, I do wonder why there was a difference there.
Now I have an answer for you. Was there anybody
there to pick Kendrick up?
Speaker 2 (57:15):
Hold on? Obviously, if both students are involved, they should
be treated the same way, right, of course, I mean absolutely, so,
like Kendrick shouldn't be the only kid targeted or punished
for this fight. You're both involved, Yes, both have accountability here,
So I understand why the Johnsons would have issue with that.
But here's the thing, Dylan. When Kennethan Johnson tells the story.
(57:39):
He makes it seem as if this like just happened,
like right before Kendrick died, and that he's you know,
I mean, he's telling the truth.
Speaker 1 (57:51):
So he's actually pointing to this event but acting like
it happened right before his.
Speaker 2 (57:56):
Son elevenths before, which is misleading.
Speaker 1 (58:00):
Eleven months is a long way.
Speaker 2 (58:01):
When you're misleading with facts, then you sway people to
I mean again, you can misconstrue information and paint a
picture one way or another, like you can swing like
how people It's all in how you present the facts
to people.
Speaker 1 (58:15):
Right. No, if I heard a story, Hey, this happened
eleven months ago, and then something happened to him, I'm
be like, huh. Now, if I heard a story that
this just happened, this altercation between students and then one
is found deceased inside of a map, that will hold
on a second. You certainly need to talk to them
other students, right.
Speaker 2 (58:34):
And it's kind of laid out in this lawsuit like
it just happened, but in fact, it happened eighteen months earlier,
and he is telling the truth. I mean, kJ was
brought home by a school resource officer who works at
the school, and it wasn't like the police recalled and
kJ was targeted. I mean, this is a school employee, right, Like,
this is a person who's at the school at the time.
(58:54):
Like if Kenneth says, quote, I was waiting at the
school to pick up my child and they denied me access,
then that's one thing, right, Yeah, But it's another for
the school to arrange your ride for kJ, possibly given
the circumstances, right, I mean, he's heated, and they're kind
of just like, hey, Bud, let's get you home. You know. Also,
(59:15):
the school resource officer comes out and says to reporters,
I considered myself a friend of the Johnson family. And
guess what, Dylan, you were right. No one was waiting
at the school to pick up kJ. Okay, So the
Bell brothers leave, kJ is still there, and this resource officer,
who considers himself a friend of the family, asks kJ, hey,
(59:37):
do you need a ride? I see that your parents
aren't here and you're just standing here waiting around.
Speaker 1 (59:42):
And it sounds like he accepted the ride.
Speaker 2 (59:45):
Yeah, it was not a punishment, It was not in custody.
It was simply to help out a kid that he
knew needed a ride.
Speaker 1 (59:52):
Home, which is the job of a resource officer. Their
number one job in my book, when I've seen good
resource officers is to get to know the kids.
Speaker 2 (01:00:03):
Right absolutely.
Speaker 1 (01:00:05):
I mean we say all we see his videos of
them going these assholes, these maniacs, roughing kids up and
you know, throwing them around, and shit, those are people
who should not be in that position. They shouldn't be
in any law enforcement position. Honestly.
Speaker 2 (01:00:19):
Now, I've seen the resource officer at my daughter's school
going around like fist bumping.
Speaker 1 (01:00:23):
Yeah, yeah, they talked to him. That's what I typically
have seen is they all know the resource officer's name.
He stops and speak, he knows their names, he knows
your kid's name.
Speaker 2 (01:00:34):
And I've actually, working as a reporter, saw a case
where some some things happened to a group of students
and it was a it was off campus. It was
like at a party or whatever. Something kind of bad
went down, and when the students came back to school,
one of the attendees of this party felt comfortable enough
(01:00:55):
to trust this officer to know that's who she could
go to to tell what had happened case, and it
built that trust to open like a big case that.
Speaker 1 (01:01:03):
I covered, right, And that's the trust me.
Speaker 2 (01:01:07):
Again, Like you said, I mean, and it sounds like
this is a decent officer, right, Like he knows this
kid he's offering him a ride, doesn't want him, he
you know, standing out after dark alone.
Speaker 1 (01:01:19):
Well, it could have nothing to do with the altercation
on the buzz. It could just be, hey, you want
to ride.
Speaker 2 (01:01:26):
Here's my issue with the Johnson family, Dylan, And I mean,
who am I, right, I'm just some random person. But
I'll preface this by saying, I know they are grieving
the loss of their son and that has got to be.
Speaker 1 (01:01:41):
The most pain unimaginable.
Speaker 2 (01:01:44):
But they are taking facts and kind of bending them
to fit a narrative. And maybe that's the way they're
viewing it, kind of through this lens of having a
very broken heart.
Speaker 1 (01:01:56):
Right.
Speaker 2 (01:01:57):
But some of this stuff isn't really adding up, So
it makes me question the true motives here. Is it
about getting to the bottom of their son's death or
is it more about like pushing forward with a lawsuit
Because they're asking for lots of money, like one hundred
million dollars.
Speaker 1 (01:02:16):
Okay, that's that's a crazy number. And I do know
why people throw crazy numbers out like that.
Speaker 2 (01:02:22):
I mean, that's a lot of money. And I'm just
wondering if one hundred million dollars is enough to ease
the pain of suffering of losing your child.
Speaker 1 (01:02:29):
Well, I A, I wonder where you come up with
a number like one hundred million dollars. And obviously, I
think that people sue for these insane amounts because you
hope for a settlement outside of court to make it
all go away at a much lower number. But if
you set the number so high, hey, five millions a
(01:02:52):
lot better than one hundred million, right, one million's way
better than one hundred million.
Speaker 2 (01:02:57):
Now, once these boys once their names flying around, the
sheriff comes out and announces that Brandon and Brian Bell
weren't suspects at all. So Brandon Bell wasn't even on
school grounds at the time of Kendrick's death. Okay, he
was gone with the wrestling team. There are twenty five
(01:03:18):
members on the team. I'd say that's a pretty solid alibia.
Speaker 1 (01:03:20):
I was accounted for by coaches and others.
Speaker 2 (01:03:23):
Students, twenty five team members, twenty four team members, and.
Speaker 1 (01:03:26):
Other people wherever they went and wrestled at a whole
other school.
Speaker 2 (01:03:30):
Okay, so twenty five, you know, twenty four team members
because he's you know, he's one of them. So that
makes twenty four team members a coach who are like, okay,
we saw him. He was at a tournament that day.
Brian Bell had a fourth period class during the time
that they are placing like this is around the time
(01:03:51):
we think Kendrick died because.
Speaker 1 (01:03:53):
They saw him going to the gym and never come out.
Speaker 2 (01:03:55):
Yes, he was in a fourth period class during this
time in which twenty students and teacher place him in
the classroom and they do not report that he left
any time during this class. Now, this seems impossible that
either Bell brother could enter or exit the gym at
the time of Kendrick's death. Because of these alibis, Sheriff
Pride never considered them suspects. Yet the Johnson's refuted this
(01:04:18):
evidence and continued pushing this narrative that the Bell brothers
killed their son. They even made a video that circulated
accusing the Bell brothers and it made the rounds on
social media. The Johnsons insisted the brothers had refused to
cooperate with authorities, and they said the wrestling bus had
not left campus until four pm. Well, there's an explanation
(01:04:41):
for that, Dylan. There had been a request filled out
in advance for this tournament, probably like months in advance,
like when the wrestling team gets their schedule, right, you know,
so you have to go fill out a slip to
reserve a bus.
Speaker 1 (01:04:58):
You need a bus, you need to be fueled, they
need to know where it's gone.
Speaker 2 (01:05:02):
This tournament slip that was filled out like weeks or
months before the tournament stated they needed to borrow this
bus at four pm. Okay on the slip, But the
school's attorney showed a log stating that the wrestling bus
had left campus between eleven thirty two am and twelve
oh two pm. This was during a first lunch period.
(01:05:23):
Is when the bus left, and the bus traveled one
hundred and fifty miles. Cell Phone records indicate the coach
and the team were in Cordell, Georgia at one fifty
three pm.
Speaker 1 (01:05:35):
Okay, so the bus was gone. The bus was gone,
even though the one question.
Speaker 2 (01:05:41):
For four the one Brandon Bell was gone while the
other Bell brother was in class. I'm sorry, but it
seems really far fetched to me. There is clear evidence
here that exonerates the Bell Brothers completely, right.
Speaker 1 (01:05:58):
Well, yeah, and the the camera just happened to catch
Kendrick going into the gym by himself, not saying he
couldn't have been texted by somebody to come to the gym.
But those other people never went in or out of
the gym.
Speaker 2 (01:06:10):
At that time, not according to witnesses.
Speaker 1 (01:06:15):
Not according to witnesses, and what video evidence we do have, right, Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:06:20):
But the Johnsons are still insisting that the Bell Brothers
are responsible for murdering their son. And again it's this
massive cover up involving potentially hundreds of people, including twenty
fourteen members, a coach, everybody at this tournament, and a school,
the twenty kids in the classroom, the teacher. Yes, Kendrick
(01:06:40):
was taking a weight training class, so he did have
a reason to be in the gym. So this idea
of like a siren kind of luring him to his
death doesn't exactly fit, because it's not like he had
no reason to go to the gym, Like if he
had no reason to go to the gym, like he's.
Speaker 1 (01:06:58):
In another period, should be leaving and going to another class,
but instead he goes to the gym that would leads.
That would make more sense.
Speaker 2 (01:07:07):
I might believe it if I was like, well, why
would he be going to the gym, or like if
you told me he was he was in the wood shop,
but he does not take a wood shop class, Like
why would he be in the wood shop? Right, So,
but he had a.
Speaker 1 (01:07:21):
Weight training class and he needed.
Speaker 2 (01:07:23):
To change, he needed to probably go get these shoes.
These shoes whatever.
Speaker 1 (01:07:27):
That was known to be shared with someone else, And
students were known to store various items around in or
around these mats. Yes, but I guess they may be
in on it to other.
Speaker 2 (01:07:40):
And also there is no footage of any female student
going into the gym ahead of Kendrick or or like
right after him.
Speaker 1 (01:07:49):
Or the bell either bell brother No, because the one
was not even on the premises and the other one
was accounted for in class.
Speaker 2 (01:07:56):
Yes. The Johnson's also followed a complaint it's the funeral
home operator. The State of Georgia found that the funeral
home did not use quote best practices. There was other
material more suitable to fill Kj's body in place of
those newspapers, but the state found no wrongdoing at this
funeral home. The funeral home did not lose its license
(01:08:19):
or anything like that. But the Johnson's did follow lawsuit
against the funeral home, and I did not find any
information about where that went.
Speaker 1 (01:08:27):
What are they sewing them for.
Speaker 2 (01:08:32):
The newspapers?
Speaker 1 (01:08:33):
Oh? Maybe the organ I mean, I'm not okay, okay,
I'm just they seem litigious. This family seems to be
suing everyone inside, and I honestly don't know how. I
don't know, I don't understand.
Speaker 2 (01:08:51):
I guess people handle grief differently, and that could be
part of it. Ebony magazine published an article in twenty
fourteen kind of like without naming the two brothers as
the murderers, but they named they were like, Hey, these
two students were involved and were suspects in this murder.
Speaker 1 (01:09:12):
They were not suspects, right, Well, we know the sheriff
has said they were never suspects.
Speaker 2 (01:09:18):
But this Ebony magazine publishes an article saying there are
two students who are suspects, and they don't name the
Bell brothers, but again, they give enough information and description
that it was pretty easy to conclude who these students were,
especially given the fact the family Johnson's have posted their
names and information on social media.
Speaker 1 (01:09:39):
Okay, I don't understand why they would do that. That
seems like that does not the basic rules of journalism.
That doesn't seem to be fair or legitimate on their part.
See this is what I'm talking about right here.
Speaker 2 (01:09:55):
Well, you as a journalist must vet to.
Speaker 1 (01:09:59):
A reason degree.
Speaker 2 (01:10:00):
You have to vet your sources and the information they're
providing and make sure that you're not publishing lies.
Speaker 1 (01:10:09):
Now, I know that you also have your compelled to
protect your sources, but I do find it funny that
many stories across the spectrum on many different things nowadays,
especially very important issues in our country, are anonymous sources.
Speaker 2 (01:10:28):
We have to prove in order to like sue a
publication like that there it was mallet, that was like
there was malice.
Speaker 1 (01:10:36):
Right.
Speaker 2 (01:10:36):
There's a movie, it's old Paul Newman movie called Without Malice.
I highly recommend folks watch that. It's a pretty interesting movie.
But yeah, when you go to sue like a newspaper
or something, or a publication, I mean, you know, it
can be kind of difficult because you have to prove
some element of malice, sometimes.
Speaker 1 (01:10:54):
Not only in competence, but malice.
Speaker 2 (01:10:58):
Well, a five million dollar lawsuit was on by the
family of these boys, meaning the Bell brothers, the Bell family,
who say they were not considered suspects ever, and that
they had been harassed since the release of these articles.
They had been targeted and harassed, like the whole family, Mom, Dad,
the boys. So in twenty fifteen, a lawsuit has filed
(01:11:20):
against thirty eight people, and in November of that year,
the DOJ files a motion in the civil case they
want to stay this lawsuit. A federal investigation had been
launched into Kendrick's case, and this evidence presented in the
lawsuit they say could hamper their federal investigation. Oh okay,
So the Johnson's end up dropping this suit, and in
(01:11:42):
turn they were sued for eight hundred thousand dollars in
attorney fees and one million dollars in defamation charges or
damages from who from all the people who were.
Speaker 1 (01:11:52):
Who all the people they had sued.
Speaker 2 (01:11:54):
Yeah, and like the Bell family. And Okay, from what
I understand, that may not be. I mean, from what
I understand, sometimes when I'm researching newspaper articles give you
some info but not all the info. But from my understanding,
it's either like the it was some people named in
the lawsuit, and I think it was like the Bell family. Now,
(01:12:14):
after a federal investigation, the Department of Justice announced they
would not be filing any criminal charges in Kendrick's case.
They stated, now, this is the Department of Justice. This
is the federal government. This isn't the state government, county government,
or talking to Feds stated there was insufficient evidence beyond
a reasonable doubt that someone or a group of people
(01:12:36):
violated Kj's civil rights or committed any crime against kJ
aka homicide.
Speaker 1 (01:12:44):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:12:45):
A judge named Richard Porter ordered the Johnson family to
pay you know, legal fees of the defendants and also
accused them of fabricating evidence to support their claims. They
end up having to pay two hundred and ninety two
thousand dollars in the fees. Damn the Johnson family.
Speaker 1 (01:13:02):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:13:03):
Then the Johnson's requested their son's body being zoomed a
second time for a third autopsy in twenty eighteen. They
want another autopsy, another doctor. Okay. So in twenty twenty one,
a new sheriff, Ashley paulk is you know, usually in
(01:13:24):
the South. I don't know how it works in other places,
but you vote a sheriff in.
Speaker 1 (01:13:29):
Yeah. The schriff Yeah, it's a voted to him by
the local.
Speaker 2 (01:13:33):
Yes, the sheriff is usually elected, and so a new
sheriff comes to town. You know, we like when a
new sheriff comes to town, right, right, Ashley paulk Ashley Park
offers five hundred thousand dollars for anyone bringing any information
that will lead to the conviction of Kendrick Johnson's like murder.
(01:13:54):
Whoever did this, you bring them to me, we convict them.
I'm gonna give you five hundred thousand dollars. And it's
my understanding this was like Paulk's personal money.
Speaker 1 (01:14:03):
This was not.
Speaker 2 (01:14:06):
Counting money. He's saying, I'm going to give you this
out of my personal account if you can prove somewhat
he murdered Kendrick Johnson. Wow, he reopens the case. He
looks into this case for thirteen months before closing it
again in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1 (01:14:25):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:14:26):
Sheriff Paul concluded there was no cover up, no homicide,
and that it was simply a bizarre accident. He also
stated that the Bell brothers are not suspects.
Speaker 1 (01:14:38):
Again, so this is the third investigation. You had original investigation,
you had an investigation by the federal government in the
Department of Justice, and now you have a new sheriff
reopening the case, investigating for over a year. And I
know the reason he did the incoming sheriff is because
it's obviously still a very big deal in that area, right,
(01:15:02):
Still tensions, people still talk about it, which I think
was a very noble thing way of him to go
about it. I'll put up my own money though. The
obviously if someone did do something horrible to Kendrick, we
want to bring them to justice. And then now he's
closed this third investigation and basically the same findings as
(01:15:23):
the original two investigations. Yes, follow other local authorities and
the federal government. Yes, Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:15:33):
Brian Bell, a three star linebacker, was offered a football
scholarship to Florida State in twenty fifteen, So we're kind
of back tracking a little bit here. When the Johnsons
filed their lawsuit naming him and their son's wrongful death,
the scholarship was rescinded.
Speaker 1 (01:15:49):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (01:15:49):
Now, during the federal investigation, the brothers did receive letters
letting them know they were the targets of a grand
jury investigation. But as the case loomed over, this young man,
he lost an opportunity to play football at Florida State,
but he did go on to play football at another college.
Speaker 1 (01:16:05):
Okay, but he was a three star recruit getting to
go to Florida State. But you can see which is
big state.
Speaker 2 (01:16:13):
Well he had it sounds like he had multiple colleges
recruiting him and offering him a ride or whatever. Florida
State happened to be in one of those and they
rescinded this scholarship simply because this case was like looming
over him. So I think you have to look at
that and see that he's not a suspect. He's been
cleared by the sheriff and then he'll later be cleared
(01:16:34):
by the Feds.
Speaker 1 (01:16:36):
And how this.
Speaker 2 (01:16:39):
Accusation deeply impacted his life, right, and it seems like
it's a false accusation.
Speaker 1 (01:16:48):
But that impact is still there.
Speaker 2 (01:16:49):
But the power of lies, and I mean because simply,
I mean, if you accuse somebody of something they didn't do,
that's that's a lie.
Speaker 1 (01:16:58):
Right.
Speaker 2 (01:16:58):
Well, yeah, I mean I find that.
Speaker 1 (01:17:03):
Wrong.
Speaker 2 (01:17:04):
Sad for this young man.
Speaker 1 (01:17:05):
Well, it's wrong, and it's that's not the type of
opportunity you get to have again.
Speaker 2 (01:17:10):
And I have to say, I heard I listened to
a couple of other podcasts covering this case, and there
was a podcast that's quite big actually, and they were
like celebrating that he lost his scholarship, like good, good,
really yeah, And I just was like, okay, to be strange, So.
Speaker 1 (01:17:30):
Don't they have to be looking at the same pot
of information that you are for the most part.
Speaker 2 (01:17:36):
Well, that's the thing doing is that sometimes I think
people look at information and maybe process it differently.
Speaker 1 (01:17:44):
Well, And I gotta say it's one of the things
I do think that you bring to the table and
I do love about your stories is I think you
dig very deep, even when it's not a super super
deep dive. I think you your your workflow, you go
about things in a certain way, and you don't just
listen to another pod.
Speaker 2 (01:18:03):
And why easy to react emotionally to this case because
I will say, when I first heard of this death
and it was making the rounds and it became a
huge news story. CE and N's covering it, it's national news,
it's all over social media, my first instinct was what
(01:18:25):
the hell is going on in Georgia?
Speaker 1 (01:18:26):
That was my first thought.
Speaker 2 (01:18:27):
As well, right, And I had a very emotional reaction,
just like I had a very emotional reaction when I
watched officers leaning on George Floyd and when I saw
officers putting Freddie Gray in a choke hold. Yeah, I
had a very visceral emotional reaction to that, just like
(01:18:49):
I had a visceral emotional reaction to seeing somebody put
a bullet through Charlie Kirk's neck. Right. I mean, it's
just my humanity, my soul. When I see something like
that and it seems there's violent, it's wrong whatever. I mean,
it hurts me and my soul, and I get emotional.
And I think a lot of people get really emotional
(01:19:09):
and let their emotions take over and then believe what
they're being told. And they're reacting emotionally, but they're not
putting the emotions aside to look at the facts and
the evidence. And so I think that's where you get
this people still saying this was a homicide. Look at
(01:19:29):
the evidence it says it was, even though we have
discussed these boys were not suspects, they've been cleared, they
had alibis.
Speaker 1 (01:19:40):
Well, we literally live in an age of information, or
an age of the way information is disseminated. When people
will argue with you about a headline they saw. Okay,
now this has happened to me more than once. They
will argue with you about and they're just going on,
they we saw the headline. Oh my god, this is
(01:20:02):
my point of view. You know, you're so wrong. You
can literally open click on that headline and actually open
the article and read the article, and the information buried
in the article will actually discredit the very headline that
the article has at the top. I mean, and I
(01:20:23):
just it blows me away that you formed this, this
strong opinion of a strong emotional opinion off of the
headline and you didn't even read the fucking article. Dude,
you didn't even read the article.
Speaker 2 (01:20:38):
Media literacy is absent in this country. We really need
to teach media literacy to people.
Speaker 1 (01:20:46):
Well we needed well, like you've shown me, a simple
cross reference from multiple sources on things oftentimes will let
you know very quickly whether or not that that has
some aris.
Speaker 2 (01:20:59):
See again, I think that's where you have to distinct,
you know, make a distinction between your emotional reaction and
your logic right right, and be reasonable, and sometimes you
have to put your emotions aside, your knee jerk reaction
aside and actually look into what's happening. The evidence has
been present, I mean honestly nowadays, and I know we're
(01:21:20):
on a tangent here, and we've probably been on a
tangent a little bit during this episode. But I could
show somebody a shirt and say, look, the shirt is red,
and somebody out there is going to argue with me
that know that shirt is not red, right right? I mean,
you can present facts, but somebody's going to argue that
(01:21:41):
it's still not the truth, just like or that that's
still it's still not true.
Speaker 1 (01:21:46):
If you saw that image, which thank goodness, I didn't
see that image of this poor young.
Speaker 2 (01:21:50):
Man, it's horrific.
Speaker 1 (01:21:53):
If you see that image, you're going, what the fuck?
Oh my god? Who did this? Today?
Speaker 2 (01:21:58):
As a as a as a citizen, how I felt
when I first knew about this case.
Speaker 1 (01:22:04):
But when you if you know anything, and you see
how the remains were found, where they were found, the
state they were in, the time they were there. What
happens after death when you start thinking about all those things.
Death is what's so sad about it is how And
(01:22:25):
I think this is what really we struggle with as
a society, especially here in America. I think many other
places in the world they have a better understanding and
honestly a better relationship with death than we do in
this country. It reminds us very quickly that we are
just It brings into biological facts well, that we all
(01:22:47):
the mortality. As soon as you die, things start happening.
A lot of stuff starts happening in your body, and
there's no way around it. And everybody's different, right, It
happens at different rates, in different ways for different reasons.
And I think a lot of people don't really don't
think about that in a situation like that, when we're
already in a almost a racially charged climate because of
(01:23:10):
all the things, some of it true, some of it not,
that have happened in this country in the last ten
years especially, And I think that people are bad to
jump to an emotional conclusion like you were pointing out,
and I think that's dangerous, especially nowadays.
Speaker 2 (01:23:25):
And look, I'm a conspiracy theorist, Yeah so were you?
Speaker 1 (01:23:28):
All right?
Speaker 2 (01:23:29):
We always like we want the truth right, right, and
sometimes your narrative is not that does not sound like nope.
But we've become a society that we just we want
It's like we want to believe everything is a lie
or conspiracy or propaganda or a cover upright, Like, sometimes
(01:23:51):
it just is what it is. Is what it is, exactly.
Speaker 1 (01:23:54):
Yes, And this is sad. Interrupt you, No, you're fine.
This young man's head and think about it.
Speaker 2 (01:24:02):
Well, see, at the end of the day, that's the
part we're missing from. I think all of this is
Kendrick was a per I mean, he was a human being.
He had hopes and dreams and feelings. He loved people.
He you know, he wanted to play football professional. I mean,
he had these dreams and everything, and his life has
been snuffed out. And in all of this it seems
(01:24:24):
like he's being lost.
Speaker 1 (01:24:27):
Yeah, because he was a handsome young man. Yeah, you know,
had the world in front of him. And I think
about if it wasn't this horrible beating and murder, which
would be fucking terrible, and that anyone who would even
think about that should be held accountable. I think, what
if it was what they say it is a tragic accident.
(01:24:49):
I think about him slipping falling into this top confined
space and having minutes at least of thinking about after
first struggling how he can.
Speaker 2 (01:25:02):
Kind of come to the coming to the rest, can't.
Speaker 1 (01:25:05):
Get out the predicament, the weird predicament he's in righting
that no one can hear him, no one's going to
come help him, and just slowly fading out from whatever
physiological thing that's happening to him, exphysiation or whatever. And
that really makes me sad thinking about that poor young
man having time to have those thoughts, and that rips.
Speaker 2 (01:25:29):
My heart out there. It is Dylan, Okay, so we
have a little more to get through here. In twenty seventeen,
a sworn deposition testimony given by Kenneth Johnson. Now this
is a sworn testimony. He admits he has no evidence
to back up any of the claims that he had
made in the lawsuit. Okay, so he does not have
(01:25:51):
any evidence to back up any of these claims. I
mean he's admitting this.
Speaker 1 (01:25:57):
Well, that's a problem.
Speaker 2 (01:25:59):
A witness came forward in August of twenty eighteen. On
August sixth of twenty eighteen, a twenty seven year old
man named Ryan Anthony domech Hernandez signed an affid David
stating he had been at Brandon Bell's Jacksonville apartment in
April of twenty sixteen. During this time, Brandon made a
(01:26:23):
confession that he had killed Kendrick Johnson. Brandon, Brian, Now
this is this is the confession according to this.
Speaker 1 (01:26:33):
This sky Okay, Ryan.
Speaker 2 (01:26:36):
Anthony domic Hernandez. The confession is this Brian Brandon and
a friend of theirs named Ryan Hall had argued with
kJ in the school's gym during a roid rage. Brian
hit Kendrick with a dumbbell in the neck, which explains
(01:26:56):
the blunt force trauma. Then their father, Rick Bell, contacted
the sheriff's office in corner to keep it quiet. Ryan
Hall was silenced and an unnamed FBI agent helped alter
the surveillance footage. Kj's organs were removed to hide the
time of death, and the autopsy was falsified. Now that's
(01:27:18):
supposedly what was in this confession. But none of these
claims were backed up with any kind of hard evidence.
Den Now, Brandon Bell, here, here's what we do know.
Brandon Bell was not living in Jacksonville, Florida in April
of twenty sixteen. Okay, he was a student at Valdosta
State University and living in Valdosta Georgia at the time.
(01:27:40):
Domat Hernandez was arrested by Valdosta police in August of
twenty eighteen, so around the same time he's got this
confession is also you know, he's gets in trouble. The
Johnsons took to social media to say that he was
being jailed on bogus charges in an effort to silence
his statements. Yet the police reports tell a different story.
(01:28:03):
A woman reported that Domeate Hernandez came to her bathroom
window while she was in the bathroom at her home
on Eager Road and punched through the glass in an
attempt to enter the home. Later, do met Hernandez walked
into an emergency room wearing no shirt. He had a
bloody right hand and a belt wrapped around his right
(01:28:27):
forearm like a tourniquet to stop the bleeding. He tried
to register at the emergency room as a John Doe,
but uh, there was already like a bee on the
lookouts because of course the woman had reported this trespassing incident.
Speaker 1 (01:28:43):
Right, they're going to see the blood. This guy might
need medical attention.
Speaker 2 (01:28:46):
Oh yeah, you know, usually there's a cop at the
emergency room or security, right, so anyway, this guy, he's
picked up on this trespassing incident, and he also had
a criminal record. I mean he's got multiple run into
law enforcement.
Speaker 1 (01:29:05):
Well, Heather, all that could be at the part of
the cover up.
Speaker 2 (01:29:08):
I mean it could be.
Speaker 1 (01:29:09):
Look, and I do see that. You know the Bill
Brother's dad was FBI retired or active or.
Speaker 2 (01:29:17):
Do I believe he was active at the time.
Speaker 1 (01:29:19):
Okay, And so that right there is there. This is
how the cover ups being done. Right. You have someone
who's connected to an agency that is very powerful. Okay, Okay,
I get that. But my problem is what you said
(01:29:39):
earlier about the size and the scope of this cover up.
And you're not going to run across one person who's like,
fuck you, I'm not doing that. That's unethical, that's wrong,
and you're putting my whole career on the line, my
freedom on the line if this comes out. I'm not
going to be part of your cover up. I'm going
to tell someone else above you or outside of you
(01:30:02):
about this. We're I'm not going to be part of that.
And all this group of people and all these different
levels of government, levels of authority. You didn't run across
one person who's like no, there's no way I'm going
to be part of that. You're assuming from.
Speaker 2 (01:30:19):
The bottom up county, from state to federal.
Speaker 1 (01:30:24):
You're assuming that all these people are willing to be
a part of this. And I'm sorry, I don't think
I could get find ten people that would be willing
to do that. I know of that willing to do that.
And I'm sorry, an active FBI agent, you're probably not.
Speaker 2 (01:30:40):
Even gonna get your wife to help people to cover up.
Speaker 1 (01:30:42):
Does not have the power to exert the kind of
influence and threats it would take to do this. Man,
It's just not possible. I'm sorry, it's not It's ridiculous.
It really is. I mean it is.
Speaker 2 (01:31:03):
Finding Kendrick Johnson was a documentary released in twenty twenty one,
and the documentary asserts that Kendrick's death was no accident
and claims to show new evidence proving he was murdered.
I've not watched this documentary, but the Bell family filed
a libel lawsuit against Jason Pollock, the director. The Johnson's
filed another lawsuit. They want the death certificate amended from accidental,
(01:31:28):
saying like that he did not die of an accident,
so they want that taken off the death certificate, okay,
because they say that it's been scientifically disproven that it
was not an accident.
Speaker 1 (01:31:41):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (01:31:42):
In this lawsuit, they claim that doctor Maryanne Craft the
pathologists quote, butchered their son to cover up evidence of
blunt force trauma. And they are seeking a total of
twelve million dollars. Now, a lower court judge ruled to
dismiss it, but the US Supreme Court of Appeals Eleventh
District said the verdict should be reviewed. In the original lawsuit,
(01:32:04):
that Johnson's filed a complaint asking that the judge Lee
Martin may be recused from the case due to bias
and prejudice. May denied the motion and dismiss the suit.
So the federal court says she was right not to
accuse herself because there was no proof of abuse. But
they will be given another chance to argue their lawsuit.
(01:32:27):
I mean, the saga is just never ending, Dylan, and
at this point, just let the young man rest in peace.
Yeah right, I mean, this legal action is not honoring
his memory at all. And now looking back twelve years later,
these lawsuits, these claims, we have Dad admitting in a deposition,
(01:32:52):
I don't have any evidence. This is just how I feel, right,
I just I mean, at that point, it's like, Okay,
well I just made this stuff up. So even I
just feel like the family looks it just looks greedy
at this point, like you're just trying to get some
money out of it, like you're using you're trying to
exploit your son's death. And maybe that sounds harsh, and
I'm sure there's somebody out there who is very strongly
(01:33:15):
disagreeing with me and probably thinks I'm terrible for saying that.
And you know, I'm not trying to be I'm not
trying to offend anybody. But this is just me looking
at these years of multiple lawsuits demanding you know, these
very large sums of money, and at the end of
the day, money's not going to bring your son back,
(01:33:36):
and I don't see how that's going to really help
your grief.
Speaker 1 (01:33:40):
No, And I don't know if they think these large
sums of money will help get their point across or
help getting someone into action. But I mean, it's been
investigated multiple times. It's been investigated from you know, the
lowest authority to the highest authority. You have a new
sheriff coming in was he part of the cover up?
I mean, he took a more than a year long
look at reopen the his own money, offered his own
(01:34:02):
money for you know, but I guess you can do
that if you're part of the cover I mean, it's
just at.
Speaker 2 (01:34:07):
Some point and what point does it end?
Speaker 1 (01:34:09):
At one point do you feel like this my son's gone.
It's terrible, We've lost him. And I'm not saying just
let a murderer get away. Well, as a family, what
point do you think maybe just maybe this truly was
a tragic accident. I mean, well, it just seems.
Speaker 2 (01:34:34):
To want to get their hands on some money, and
they're foiling multiple lawsuits against multiple different people they're trying.
You know, if it's not the funeral home, we can't
get it from the funeral home. We can then we
can get it from the sheriff's.
Speaker 1 (01:34:47):
Office or the Bell family.
Speaker 2 (01:34:49):
I mean, it's at what point does it end? And
also you keep on keeping on knowing damn well, there's
no evidence to back up anything that you're saying.
Speaker 1 (01:34:58):
So even what if what you're saying true there's no evidence,
show some evidence. Well, yeah, that you you have to
have evidence.
Speaker 2 (01:35:06):
I mean, you cannot just go around saying something happened
when it didn't or and there's no evidence to back
it up that way, and then just filing lawsuit after
lawsuit that keeps getting thrown out of court.
Speaker 1 (01:35:16):
And I have to say, because.
Speaker 2 (01:35:18):
You're producing I mean, we've seen they produce some false
evidence according to the judge they pay money to for
attorney fees. I mean, at what point do we just
let Kendrick's memory, we let him arrest in peace, and
we just honor his memory and recognize that this is
(01:35:41):
very likely a freak accident, right And the only thing
I guess they could even call evidence is their.
Speaker 1 (01:35:50):
Private autops he's paid for by them or their supporters
or both or whatever. And I honestly I have issue.
Oftentimes when people have an exhumation, hired expert witness, hire
an expert witness, it always typically tends to break to
and support whatever they think happened. And this is a
(01:36:13):
person that you're paying directly, So that's not strong that's
not strong evidence in all my opinion, and that's the
only thing that seemed to go their way during all
everything that you described, So yeah, I agree with you.
Just let the poor the young man let him rest,
remember the good times. And I know you'll never fill
(01:36:35):
that hole in your heart. I just know that you can't.
Speaker 2 (01:36:40):
And well, one hundred million dollars might look I know
I'm being an asshole.
Speaker 1 (01:36:47):
Well I know because I could tell while you were
researching this over the course of the last couple of
weeks that it was a kind of pissing you off.
Speaker 2 (01:36:55):
Well, my opinion changed. I'm going to be honest. When
I first started this case, I really thought like, Okay,
we're going to see racism, we were going to see.
Speaker 1 (01:37:05):
A cover Like yeah, that was our expectation.
Speaker 2 (01:37:08):
Extreme emotional reaction from the beginning, that this was shady
as fuck, right, But I can't say that now. And
again I don't know. I know I have listeners out there.
I've had people say like, oh, I'm excited to do it.
You know, I want to hear your perspective. I'm excited
that you are doing this case. I really think something
(01:37:29):
us is up with this, And everybody's entitled to think
that way, feel that way, or whatever, But just based
on the clear evidence, the kind of the large scale
that it would have to take to cover up, I
just don't believe that it was a homicide.
Speaker 1 (01:37:48):
I don't either, now, I truly don't. I think it
was a freak, terrible, freak accident. All right, Heather, thank
you for this two parter and thanks for what you doing.
What you do with a story like this. I think
you do a good job of taking a lot of information,
(01:38:08):
bringing it to the listeners, bringing it to me, and
really I appreciate what you do. Well.
Speaker 2 (01:38:14):
This has really impacted a lot of people, you know,
and when you make false allegations like that, I mean,
just think about these young men and let's say they're
not involved at all. I mean, there are people out
there who still think they had something to do with
Kendrick's steth.
Speaker 1 (01:38:29):
For all their life, they will think.
Speaker 2 (01:38:31):
That now they have a stigma and they have been
you know, ostracized, they have been harassed, they've lost opportunities.
It will forever be attached to their name, and that
just seems really unfair. If you're truly innocent.
Speaker 1 (01:38:46):
It's horrible. It's a terrible thing, all right.
Speaker 2 (01:38:51):
All right, So if you have a spooky story for us,
or just want to give us some feedback, you can
always email us at Mountain Merspodcast at gmail dot com.
And don't forget to check out our website www dot
Mountain murderspodcast dot com and check out our merch store.
You know, spooky season is upon us. Maybe you want
to get a cute T shirt, you want to get
a little hat, or maybe you just need some new
(01:39:13):
stickers for your laptop, your car.
Speaker 1 (01:39:15):
You've gotten so many designs over there. I got a
couple of spooky T shirts on the way for myself
and I can't wait till they get here and see
if they fit my big ass.
Speaker 2 (01:39:25):
Well, I don't know if you're gonna wear a T
shirt on your big ass, but yeah, maybe you're wearing
your T shirts incorrectly.
Speaker 1 (01:39:31):
Dylan, Oh, that explains a lot.
Speaker 2 (01:39:32):
Yeah. No, your arms go through the sleeves, not your legs. Okay,
that's why it looks like a diaper.
Speaker 1 (01:39:38):
Nice all right, Bye Dylan, Bye,
Dark Cast Network.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Welcome to the dark side of podcasting.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
California has the largest population in the United States and
the site of some of the most famous true crime
cases in history, but there's more than meets the eye
to the crime in California. Join Shaan, Jessica, and Charles
on the California True Crime Podcast as they cover crime
both infamous and overlooked from around our state while looking
(00:33):
at the deeper history that goes beyond beaches and movie stars.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
On his way. Devil is on his way. Devil is
on his way. Mother for the Devil gonna make you pay.
Fall to your knees. Devil is on his way. Fall
to your knees. DEVI gonna make you pay fall to
your knees.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Devil.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Hey, y'all, welcome back to Mountain Murderers. I'm Heather and
I'm Dylan.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Hey, Dylan, how are you.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
I'm a big old juicy boy.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Man. You just never know where the day is going
to take.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Dylan, Oh, man, I feel juicy for real?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
What does that even mean?
Speaker 1 (01:44):
I don't know. I'm just feeling sassy. Maybe it's sassy jubilant.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Yeah, okay, some of your mixing up. Jubilant with juicy.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
No, no, this is this is authentic.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
I'm gonna get you some of those retro the lord
like a tracksuit the juicy across the ass. Yes, I'm
gonna get you one of those.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Dude, those are you wear that? No?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Please do with a little cropped jacket.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
It would be some great pictures on our Instagram. Almost.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
I came my hair close still into buying one of
those a couple of months ago, really just for the nostalgia.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Did it say juicy?
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yeah, it was an authentic juicy Vlure baby blue the
track suit.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
That's the perfect color.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
I almost bought it so I could relive my twenties. Okay,
and remember when those Valure tracksuits were like the shit?
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Uh yeah, yeah, I had a couple. They say things
like juicy or princess, but.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Well mine didn't have any writing on the ass, but
it was just plain.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Oh it was getting red.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
They were so comfortable.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
To bring those back, we should because I think in
twenty twenty five, given everything has.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Happened, comfort is a priority.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Comfort is a priority. It seriously is.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
It's become my priority because.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Even when I have what I call regular clothes with
which have buttons and stuff, right, or zippers as soon
as I come home, pam right back into my comfy
athletic shorts, or nothing at all.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
I have abandoned pants that have zippers and buttons.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
I own like a pair of jeans and like one
pair of Jeenan shorts that kind of fit right, and
that's it. I don't know why, but maybe it's just
because I'm chunky. It's so confining to wear, you know, jeans.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
I just feel like my talent's being constrained when I
have to have this regular outfit on.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
I need writing motion, I need to be able to
you know, kick and stuff.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Yeah, you never know when you got to do a
combat role.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Well, I was gonna say, I never know when I
need to bust into song and dance like a musical number.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Right, Yeah, you always have jazz hands in your pocket.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Yes, I sure do. Okay, are you ready to get
into today's episode, Dylan. We promised we would drop part
two a little late with that, but sooner than later.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Right, Yes, let's get right in the first part I
thought was I was telling Heather for me. It was
one of those episodes that, Wow, I can't believe we've
been recording this long, so that means I'm actually, you know,
my brain's engaged. I'm not distracted, which I do fight
all the time. So let's get right back into part two.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Oh yeah, Oh, I want to mention I put out
a call for some listener stories ahead of Halloween, and
let me say, our listeners do not disappoint. Some of
those have started to flood the inbox and I am
so excited we're going to have a great listener story
Halloween episode.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
I cannot wait. I absolutely love listeners story.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Well, man, October just around the corner. I've been thinking
about decorating for Halloween. Yeah, but yesterday to find some decorations,
was a little disappointed with the offerings.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Well, you know, it's a little early, maybe, is it?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Though? Yeah, it's never too early.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
I feel professional today, Thank you professional.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
You've got your hair all slipped back.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Yeah, you know, yeah, I do like an adult. My
hair is growing out and it's getting past the uglies.
I think now it's starting to lay down, and it
makes me feel you said I look distinguished.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah, well you get the little gray right, the gray sides.
It's like a little sore fox.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
All right, So no, I can't see how quickly I
get distracted by my own beautiful hair.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
You do slushious.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Let's get into part two. I can't wait because I
learned so much in part one.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Well, I also, you know, I got to give a
shout out to someone whoever you were, that decided to
give me a play by play and a breakdown, timestamp
breakdown of the case and all the things that I
got in correctly in the first episode, which directly came
from news sources, so I'm not really sure how it
was incorrect, but they corrected me and gave me all
(05:51):
the information, And I just want to say, you really
seem to know a lot about this case. Maybe you
should start a podcast since the news media, you know,
the stories been out there incorrect.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Yeah, they got it.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
They get a first han account.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
I guess, yeah, I know. I mean, honestly, this could
be your next culpable. I mean seriously, yeah, it's because
you have an inside track, super helpful that no one
else has in all of media and journalism over the
years SINCEUS cases.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
But it wasn't the worst episode they ever heard on the.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Case, Dylan, and they said they would tune in for
part two, So thank you.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Yeah, so thanks for that. Maybe you can give us
a play by play breakdown of this episode.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
No, but in all seriousness, if you do have an
inside line of information that is not in the public,
please hit us up at Mount Murders Podcast at gmail
dot com because Heather would love to pick your brain.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Yeah, there we go. All right. When we left you
with part one, Dylan Kendrick's parents had taken those pictures
of him post mortem, and many of the relatives were
wearing T shirts with that image printed on them at rallies.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Now, okay, look, I got to stop your eye there
because you didn't mention this, and I thought that's what
you said the last episode. And people in the family
obviously gets to do what they want usually in any situation,
because it's their loved one, it's their feelings, their emotions.
But I find this a bit shocking. Honestly. It's one
(07:15):
thing to have a picture, you know, you know whatever,
prom picture of what you know, Hey, remember them keep
their face in the podlast we've.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Seen people wear t shirts that are like in loving
memory of right their relative, and typically they choose a
flattering photo.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Yes, and I'm sure they're trying to prove some kind
of a point here. But I've just right quick, I'll
say this seems a bit gullish to me, almost like
that's private. I mean, the state of your remains, in
my book, is a private matter.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Well, it just seems And again, it's their family and
they can do what they want, and I'm not in
their position, but I know that if it were my child,
that would not be the way I would want to
honor their memory. That's something I would not want the
public to see.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Yes, you know what I mean, out of concern for
their their privacy.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
I just think about you know, if they're alive, would
would they be like, yeah, this is cool, you should
put my fate my face on the shirt looking this way,
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
It seems a bit odd to me.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Well, there's a lot of things that seem a bit
odd to me, Dylan. As we go through this case,
we're going to have a really I think we're gonna
have a good discussion at the end about some of
the choices that the Johnson family makes.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
If it gets crazy, I can take my shirt off, Okay,
I'm just telling you. I don't.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
I'm not sure why you would do that, but Okay.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
That's one of the reasons I put a shirt on
this morning, was so I could rip it off at
some point if needed.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Oh, like a Springer moment.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Well, just like you know, some it's almost like an
exclamation point, right, I think.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
We also somebody jerks their shirt off down that.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
When you getting worked up. Okay, you know, so you'll
know when that happens.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
If it happens, well, I'll know, but our listeners fortunately
will will not.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Oh they're gonna know, they will not know.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Seeing such a graphic photo, of course, ignited a firestorm
of people demanding that this case be reopened.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
And I'm sure that that was a family's intention. Okay,
and it seems that it's working.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
And Dylan, to address questions you had in the first episode,
you know, why is the family crying racism? Kind of
off the bat you asked these questions, Well, you got
to consider Kendrick is a young black man, a young
black male student at a southern school, and given the
(09:44):
dark history and sense of the past, coupled with the
circumstances surrounding his death, the mysterious nature, and then of
course seeing that post mortem picture where he looks like
he's been beaten due to the lividity in the swelling,
just the positioning of the body right upside down in
this mat I mean, it's not pretty as we know.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
No, it's in a very peculiar, peculiar place. It was
found in a very strange place.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
It again makes the family feel some type of way.
And folks, you know, not involved in the case, but
who are being presented with the family side what the
family deems evidence, and they're saying, look at this, you
know it doesn't look good.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Okay, So I will say, which is what always happens
in these a lot of times, This is what happens
in these situations. Is it could be foul play, but
not necessarily racially motivated. And I would also say in
the South, which gets kind of a bad rap, a
(10:50):
bad rap in many ways I'm sure many of our
listeners are familiar with, I would argue that black and
white folks in the South have been figuring out how
to coexist longer than anywhere else in the country.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Well, I mean, I can't speak for black folks, right,
but just gauging from I mean, we have a very
large friend group, right that belonged to the African American community,
and we've spent a lot of time with them and
just sort of seeing how they navigate through society in
a small town. They I mean, it just seems like
(11:30):
most people in a small town. You grow up together,
you played ball together, your kids go to school together,
maybe your kids play ball together.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Whatever.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
And I've personally never witnessed anything nefarious. And I've not
had any of my friends say like, this has happened
and it's a horrific thing that happened to me, right,
And again, I'm not speaking for my friends, but I'm
just saying, like, you know, I feel like we have
had we've been kind of deeply rooted into this friend
(11:57):
group and have kind of witnessed just out and about
like I've never seen anything like that. And maybe we're
just living in a small town, or we were living
in a small town where that just wasn't common. Right,
But I do don't that people tend to think the
South is some type of way when it's really evolved
(12:18):
or it's not so much that way now.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
No, And it's that's true, but and this isn't a
doubt and this is from the perspective of a straight
white male, right, Right, and that's my perspective in some things.
And that's not to downplay the terrible, horrible things that
have happened in the past, right, but it's just that
they I think a lot of people don't realize how
much co mingling and mixture of white and black there
(12:45):
is actually in Southern culture, and that a lot of times.
And you're talking about an African American friend group in
a very small, predominantly white town.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Now you're talking and kind of being the maybe sometimes
the only white people at the cookout, right, Yes.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
So what I guess my point in the long winded
way was just that we're not at each other's throat.
And I do think as bad as people make it seem,
you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Well, and I'm just going based on my observations. And
again it's not my personal experience. I don't know what
people go through, but you know, you would assume your
friends would kind of share those experiences with you if
they had had negative experiences. And honestly, I mean, I
know there is racism out there, and people probably listen
to this and they're like, maybe you're naive or you
don't know, but my experience has been and living in
(13:36):
the South my entire life, and in Appalachia, in a
very small town, is that people love black people.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
You know what I'm saying. That's a great thay.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
You love the friendliness. I mean, they're just good people,
like just good country.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
People, oysterous fun. They're going to welcome you in. You're
gonna have a great time. You're gonna eat good.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Food at mama's table and she's gonna have a spread.
You're gonna get you some fishing grits, You're gonna get
some biscuits. It's just so welcoming. The music, the laughter,
the jokes back and forth, everybody's like having a good time.
I mean, it's just really warm and welcoming and chill.
Has been my experience, and I find that people tend
to be like, oh wow, you know, and they love
(14:22):
they love the community. I've never said I'm not speaking
from experience, you know.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
I've never sat around with a group of guys and
laughed harder and longer than I have in a group
of black guys and may being maybe the only one
or two white people, maybe I'm the only white person,
but just giving each other shit, carrying on, cracking jokes
back and forth. I mean, it's really is an experience
into into its own. It's very you can't experience it out.
(14:54):
I mean, it's just great.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
We've been out and again we're kind of on a
tangent here, but I guess I just want to share
our experience, our perspective having been in the South for
so many years, and just kind of offer that, like
it's not always people at each other's throats, but like,
I know, your buddy, we nickname him the Joker, right right, Okay,
(15:15):
so like we'll just call him the Joker, so the
jokers out. I've seen this man go into a bar
and I'm telling you, the entire bar is like over
surrounding him. Everybody loves him. He's the life of the party.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Yeah, everybody aka the Mayor.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
We also call him the Mayor. It's like, bro, why
don't you just run from Mayor because it's like everywhere
you go, goy fan base.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
So you know, I just think sometimes there's there's more
love out there than there is hate.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Right, So sorry about that sidebar, but I just think
it's I like to point out to people who aren't
in the South, and I know people all over the
world literally and all over the country listen to this,
and country folk get along a lot better than some
people think, you know what I mean, because.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
We're really not all that different. You know, poor's poor, right,
and down trodden's down trodden, and a lot of times
people in the South, you are in these poor rural
communities and everybody's just in the same boat.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Yeah, just trying to make.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
It yeah for real. But again, I mean, Valdosta is
is down in the heart of Georgia, and we all
know Georgia's had a very turbulent history.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Well it's true, So back.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
To this, and I mean I can understand. I guess
where people could see this story and their immediate go
to is like, oh my gosh, this is horrific, and
it reminds me of you know, there's been a breaking
kind of story happening and it's been all over social
media about a young black male who was a student
at a college in Mississippi who was found hanging and
(16:51):
it's been determined that there was no suspected foul play
and we're talking like the medical examiner as a black man,
and but of course people are saying he's been lynched, right,
this is a murder they're covering it up.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
I want to say a lot of the people in
authority position there in this case are black people, African Americans.
However you want to prefer to say it, but yes, obviously,
I mean, but I've.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Seen tons of people calling for, like, you know, some
kind of investigation. This isn't lynching, this is racism. This
is like the work of the clan.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Okay, right, quick from Mississippi, right, And honestly, a young
black man hanging from a tree.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
I mean that I see the optics.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
I see the optics, and I understand those feelings. But
from okay, let's do from a true crime, right quick,
from a true crime forensic perspective.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Well, that's what we're going to be doing with this
case as well.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
So what the investigators are looking at, what the corner
is looking at in the you know, the pre.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Invest the investigation on sides of a struggle, broken bones.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
If you are hanging someone against their will, I have
to imagine that there's going to be a ton of
defensive wounds, scrapes.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Imagine the hands you're probably grabbing.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
For the road, you're grabbing robs.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
You're gonna have injuries to your hands and fingers.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
You're scratching people, you're fighting literally for your life. I
have to imagine that there would be evidence and a
lot of it if that was the case. And that's
that's the way I really like to think about things
like that. And I hate to believe in the twenty
twenty five that there is enough you know, super racists
in control of an area like this that sounds like
(18:35):
it might be predominantly black. I don't think that the
racists would have that much put.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
I think it's a historically black college where this.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Young man was think, so, yeah, I just don't think
that enough racists would be in control of the levers
of the machine that they would need to just smooth
this over and less act like it was a suicide,
is what they're actually saying, right.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
And parallels between this story that is now making the
rounds right and Kendrick story. So let's get back to this, Dylan,
And like I said, well, like you said, we really
need to examine this from a true crime, from a
you know, standpoint of forensics and evidence and kind of
a reasonable or like more of a logical scientific point
(19:23):
of view.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Right, more objective point of.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
View, And so as a story kind of goes on,
I think you're going to see what I'm talking about. So,
with growing support and these questions surrounding Kendrick's death, his
family creates a Facebook tribute page, and it is there
that the family starts posting allegations against certain individuals who
they think are responsible for murdering their son.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
And again, they're well within their rights to do this
if that's what you feel.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Now, the Johnson circulated this post mortem photo of their
son with a caption that said, look what someone did
to our son.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Now.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
At first, the Johnsons do not name the boys they
that they think are responsible, but there is enough detail
in specifics posted that it's not hard to figure out
who they're pointing fingers out, especially in this small town.
And let's face it, Valdosta is not a large place,
(20:16):
so any sleuth really could piece together like what is
being suggested.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Right, and the first people to do that would obviously
be the locals who know what people look like who
you might be describing, and that information is going to
quickly get.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Out, right, So it didn't take long for a mom
mentality to kick in and people start harassing and threatening
these boys and their family. Now the more the family
speaks to the press, the allegations grow, and the Johnson's
point to the fact that it took six hours for
the Corner to be called to the scene. Kenneth also
said that he went to the crime lab and that
(20:52):
the cooler holding Kendrick's body was not cold at all,
but rather warm, even suggesting it was hot. And he
points that the corner and others at the lab were
attempting to destroy evidence to further cover up.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Okay, that's a very serious.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Allegation, very serious allegation. Also, his family alleged that the
clothing kJ had been wearing disappeared somewhere between the Georgia
Bureau of Investigation and the funeral home. Harrington Funeral Home
signed an inventory slip which stated they had received Kendrick's
personal items, which included clothing. So, having experienced having been
(21:34):
someone who releases decedents two funeral homes, I did this job.
There's a chain of custody and very specific paperwork that
goes along with the release of a body, and like
a protocol, right, you have this very standard operating procedure,
and one of those things is ensuring that a person's
personal items are handed over to the funeral home. It's
(21:57):
turned over to the funeral home. And even at time
we turn those items over to the family, Like if
the family shows up demanding I want their cell phone,
their clothes, their money, you sign it over to the family.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
So basically this is a documented chain of custody of sorts.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Right, and it's a very important process. So that's how
I know most agencies who are responsible, whether it be
a county, morgue, a hospital, the GBI, what have you.
I mean, this is very very important.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
It's not something taken off.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
You don't want this to come back on you, right.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
And it's also I think people feel it's important to
make sure that loved ones family get the belongings of
the deceas well.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
And on top of that, I mean, you don't really
have a lot of place to store these extra items, right,
I mean people don't want stuff. I mean, you know,
you don't want to pile of cell phones collecting over
in the corner.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
No, And I think sometimes people miss out they don't
think about the very h you can describe it as cold,
but it's dentures the logistical perspective and know.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
For all the things, right, I mean here's Grandma's dentures
in this bag. You're going to sign for those dentures.
I mean things that you might not even think that
you want. We're gonna hint to you, right.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Because you're really just keeping this stuff kind of moving
through the system.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Right. Well, the funeral home only, now, this is what
they say. They say they only received a pair of
broken headphones when they received this personal like inventory of items.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Okay, that's the only item they received.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
That's what the funeral home is stating. Now again, like
I mentioned this very specific chain of custody when releasing
a body and the personal effects to the family to
the funeral home. So let's be reasonable about this, Dyllan,
And like I come. You know, my brain is always
like I want steps and order and logic. That's just
(23:55):
how my brain works is to look at the big
picture of evidence and kind of reach a conclusion, right right,
So I have to go through the steps of this
from my own brain. So a cover up, as you
mentioned in the Mississippi the new story that has recently broken,
would need to not only include county employees but also
state agencies. We're talking what tens of maybe even up
(24:20):
to a hundred people.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Who knows maybe even yeah, elite. Let's say it's one
hundred people, which is almost an impossible conspiracy to pull off.
Even with one hundred people, you need a hundred people's
willingness to be in on this with you.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Right, So first of all, I always consider that when
I hear it's a cover up, it's a conspiracy. Right,
It's okay, Well, you're going to have all these players
willing to go along with the story and not have
a single person singing like a canary. And if you
know human nature, it's hard. People don't want to keep
them mouth shut about stuff.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
And it's not only the hundred people. It's also considering
the other one hundred people that those hundred people associate
or may speak to about.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
And we're not talking about just random people. These are professionals, sheriffs, police,
state agents, right, medical professionals. I mean, it's a it's
a vast group of people. Right. So with releasing a body,
there are these protocols and steps that must be taken.
So it is more likely that the state agency. Okay,
(25:21):
so think about it this way. Is the state agency
covering up this murder? Or is it more likely that
a funeral home that has what I would deem. You know,
civilian employees, especially a funeral transporter, who are sent to
pick up the body and bring it back to the
funeral home. That's usually like a part time person and
they're paid like maybe thirteen to fourteen dollars an hour
(25:43):
on average, So it's not somebody who's making a ton
of money and their job is just to pick up
and transport. Right, So you got this person making thirteen
fourteen dollars an hour. Who would be more likely to
be careless with kj's personal belonging.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Maybe the person who could be new to the job,
maybe the transporter.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
And given what we know about numerous funeral homes in
the country, these people are not always up to snuff.
How many stories have we heard circulating in the news,
even you know this year, about shady practices at funeral homes.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Yeah, there's been more than one story, right, So I.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Keep that in mind because I like to be a
fair person. Now, how many stories have come out about
these bodies being mishandled, families being given like cremaines that
don't belong to their loved ones. I mean, there are
a lot of shady funeral businesses out there.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Well, and I think some of it is just incompetence. Yeah,
because again people, I think I always have to remind
myself of this. You having worked in this industry, and
some of the things that some of the veteran people
would tell you is that you think, now, I truly
thought that a body was handled with reverence all along
(27:11):
the way.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Will you try? But not as much as you.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Can, I'm saying, But it's also just you. It comes
down to a logistics and you do have to move
this body and you might not always have five or
six people, but not the reverence. And I'm not saying
this as a slight to anybody, but it really is.
It becomes a business at a point of handling these
(27:35):
remains getting the right thing done. But it's not I
think what the average person thinks. It's not how it works.
It's just not.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
It's not pretty work.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
It's not pretty and.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Sometimes and there are times when it it's just like
I said, it's not pretty work.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
It's physical. You have remains decomposing very quickly a different way.
They don't have coolers everywhere that the body goes and
stays for some amounts of time. Everything's not refrigerated. They
don't keep it in this perfect state of you know,
fighting off decomposition. It just doesn't work like I really
(28:11):
truly thought it did.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Well. If you're picking up a body in Tennessee and
driving it to Florida to transport, you know, or to
South Carolina from Tennessee, cars don't come with coolers.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
But no, no, I didn't realize that. I thought there
would be a vehicle made for that, you know what
I mean. But that's not how well.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
They're being transported in the vans.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
Mini vans you.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
Know, hearses don't come with coolers.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
I mean cargo vans.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Yeah, right, right right, I mean these are not refrigerated vehicles.
So I think there's a lot out there that maybe
just like the lay person does not know. So if
these clothes were given to the transporter when the person
picked up the body, and then they're saying, hey, I'm
dropping this body off, and there were no personal items
(28:58):
with this body, even though they signed for the personal items,
I point the finger at the transporter, like the funeral
home employee, right, because it's their responsibility to make sure
not only does this decedent arrive, but their items arrive
as well. And if the funeral home says, hey, we
didn't get anything, we didn't get any clothing, then that
shows me that this middleman, this transporter did something careless
(29:21):
with the clothing, either intentionally or just out of incompetency
or laziness, or maybe just not understanding the importance of
bringing these items in.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
Well, like you said, oftentimes these people are part time.
It seems to be a lot, maybe a lot of
turnover at that position in the chain of personnel in
a funeral home. They could just be new, They might
not have realized, they may have missed something and not really.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Just forgotten or forgotten. Oh yeah, this got lodged under
the car the seat of the van, and I didn't
see it and just forgot about it. And then six
months later you find something random under their like.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Oh shit, you don't know who that went with.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Well, the Johnson's allege the missing clothing probably contained evidence
which could prove a homicide. By destroying the clothing, this
further proves a cover up. And remember, there was an
emergency medical technician an EMT that had noted a bruise
on kj's job, but the autopsy report didn't make any
mention of this. So again, this is just me being
(30:25):
the reasonable person that I am that likes to look
at everything from you know, a logical standpoint. Do you
trust an EMT who has eight months to maybe two
years of training or do you trust the pathologist who
is a medical doctor who's been doing this job for
a number of years.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
And probably did upwards of ten years of college work
and internship to get their certification.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Right, we pathologists perform autopsies every day and know exactly
what to look for. We're going to trust a report
made by an MT who doesn't really have training and
examining body tissues, organs, fluids, et cetera to determine the
cause of death. I mean, an MT's job is providing
immediate care and transporting patients to medical facilities, and the
condition of kj's body, especially the head and face after
(31:17):
being upside down for nearly a day, is probably going
to look funky, right, So the MT might think that
jall E's bruised, but in reality it could just be
where like maybe blood had settled and it was dark
right or looked like it could be swollen, and.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
The pathologists would be way more qualified to make that determination.
I'm just saying, well, I'm saying their expertise is in
what happens to the body after death, right, am I? Right?
Speaker 2 (31:46):
So again, could this be a large scale cover up
by multiple agencies with many different people involved? I mean sure,
does that seem far fetched to me? It does? Or do?
I trust in the work of professionals who do their
jobs every day without complaints. So you have a pathologist
who's been doing this for ten, twenty years, whatever, eight
(32:09):
years five. I don't know how long this pathologist had
been in this work or had been in this line
of work. But you got this person who does this
job every day and they don't continuously have these kind
of complaints. And then here's this family saying this is
a mass cover up. You didn't do your job correctly. Now,
the family shared photos with a retired FBI agent who
has kind of turned into like a private detective. His
(32:33):
name was Harold Koppa's he sided with the family. Copus
also pointed out that no one had bagged the sneakers
that didn't have blood on them, and that those were
not put into evidence, which further proves that there's some
type of cover up here. Now, the Johnson family hires
an attorney and in May of twenty thirteen, they get
an exhamation order to dig up Kj's remains for a
(32:55):
second autopsy. The autopsy was private. It was paid for
by the Johnsons and money raised by their supporters. They
got doctor William Anderson, a Florida pathologist, to perform this autopsy. Now,
when his report is released, it was a bombshell. Anderson
said there was evidence of blunt force trauma to the
(33:15):
right neck soft tissues which were consistent with homicide. He
thought the injury was inflicted by another person and that
Kj's case should be reopened as a homicide. Okay, so
with his second autopsy, the Johnson's beliefs are validated. The
new report seems to open up more questions about what
has happened to their son. The report suggests someone hit Kendrick,
(33:39):
then rolled him up in the mat and shoved or
shoved him into the mat. So not only did this
person attack Kendrick, but law enforcement, the school, the corner,
and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation were all involved in
covering it up.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
Okay, well, then, okay, that's a pretty big conspiracy.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
That's a big conspiracy in October of twenty thirteen. The
report also stated that Kendrick's remains had been stuffed with
newspapers before he had been prepared for the funeral. Kendrick's
internal organs were nowhere to be found. Now, this is gruesome,
but you're gonna have to listen to this to understand.
Those organs were typically placed. Now, when you have an autopsy,
(34:21):
they cut you open from chest down, like your abdominal
cavity is typically sliced open, spread, spread open like. You
can typically remove the top and seed, like all the
internal organs, right, So they typically take those organs out,
they examine them, and they're placed in some sort of
sealed plastic bag and usually inserted inside the decedent's body,
(34:45):
usually back in the abdominal cavity, and then they're delivered
back to the funeral home, who then goes through the
process of embalming and preparing the body cosmetically fixing the remains. Right,
So the funeral home should have noticed when they picked
up this body that they were missing organs. And again
(35:07):
I am blaming the funeral home for this.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
So the organs are missing as well.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
Yes, okay, Now, a Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokesperson described
the protocol to CNN. After Kendrick's initial autopsy, the organs
were sealed in a bag and placed inside the body.
The body is then placed in a body bag for pickup,
and if the funeral home receives a body without the organs,
they should contact the GBI to inquire why. Well. The
(35:35):
Harrington Funeral Home says they did this and were told
that the organs were quote destroyed by natural processes, which
suggests decomposition.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
I guess okay that I mean that seems like you've
seen in your short career in this industry some fairly uh,
I guess, kind of tough or I don't know how
to describe it, people that have been through some significant trauma. Yeah,
(36:08):
advanced states of decomposition. Yeah, So do you think that
would be quit twenty four hours? Around twenty four hours,
do you think that the organs would be in that
state from a layperson's perspective, Well.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
It's hard to say, depending on how long it took
to do the autopsy. How you know how long? I
don't know. I don't know. I'm not skilled enough.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
Well, you know, I'm still.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
Studying this stuff, but I don't know. Okay, I can't
give you an honest answer on that now. Okay, so
that part is questionable, right, but let's discuss the newspapers. So,
typically a body during the mortuary process, when you're preparing
a body for funeral, the body is typically and I
(36:55):
say the body, it's typically that abdominal cavity is stuffed
with cotton or sawdust. And I've even heard that some
funeral homes might use cat litter, oh to fill that cavity.
It's actually pretty common to put some type of material
to fill the void of where the you know, the
missing organs are.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
So they're not looking all sunk down and weird if
you're ca Yeah, so the clothes are actually hiding way
more than maybe people ever imagine.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Well, if there's been an autopsy performed, absolutely okay, yeah, Now,
as a funeral director or an embalmer, many materials are
used to fill these wounds holes. If you have a
bullet hole, any kind of open wound, I mean there's
stuffing cotton in there, wax, different materials to just still
(37:49):
a you know, to try to fix these wounds, right,
to prepare so that they can have an open casket.
There's special mortuary makeup, you know, that's used to create
or recreate your loved one's features, that type of thing.
So regardless of who did what, there are no organs
available to re examine during the second autopsy. So again
(38:13):
we don't know who dropped the ball. If the organs
didn't come to the funeral home, or the funeral home
you know, didn't get I mean, we don't know now.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
Short of toxicology, a simple for that purpose, I would
wonder how much information you could you could truly get
from the organs after they'd been removed bagged, you know, handled,
But maybe you can, maybe just maybe you could see
some types of trauma on the organs or something. May
(38:46):
might be able to figure that out. But to me,
I will I have to wonder how much information you
could truly get from a bag of organs after they've
been removed, short of again simple for like toxicology reporters test.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
However, these organs were X rayed like in, photographed and
made into slides, so they did have the slides available
to review of Kendrick's organs. Harrington Funeral Home provided the
Johnsons with a no cost service like they volunteered to
take care of this funeral. It is possible that someone
(39:24):
within the funeral home discarded the items or didn't follow
the chain of custody. Again, I mean, that's a possibility.
Maybe they didn't consider the clothing or the organs were important.
I mean, I'm just trying to play Devil's advocate here,
and at the end of the day, we don't know
the truth. We have both parties making these conflicting statements
about who did what, and unfortunately, human mistakes happen, and
(39:47):
it isn't always malicious or intentional. You know, we're not perfect.
None of us are perfect.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
But at the same time, if someone had some kind
of motivation, it could be militia. I mean, that's just
it's some one these situations where you'll truly never.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
Know, right. Another questionable issue with this case, and I
understand why the family has doubts, is the security footage
from Lends High School. Now, I'm not sure if all
of the cameras had motion sensors, but many of them did,
and due to this, the cameras kind of click on
and record only when there is activity, like, for example,
when someone enters the gymnasium.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
Okay, so the entrance to the gymnasium's going to always
be caught on camera, yes, whoever's entering.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Right, Okay, as long as there is movement in front
of the camera, it records. So Also, it has been
pointed out that these cameras didn't seem to sync up
with each other and that kind of made the timestamps wonky.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
So they haven't been calibrated as far as the time
that they're they're individual. That's odd.
Speaker 2 (40:52):
Well, the cameras are part of a professional system. I mean,
it's not like the school ordered these cameras from Amazon
for like ten dollars and install them, you know what
I mean.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
No, but if they have if they have separate internal
clocks and the clocks get off, that's just the nature
of clocks.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
Well, depending on how long these cameras have been in use, right.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
And if they're not calibrated and synced up as part
of some kind of service plan or you know, over time,
then that is going to that can happen. And that
doesn't mean someone's changing anything. That's just the nature of electronics.
Speaker 2 (41:26):
What these schools can barely afford to provide paper towels.
Speaker 1 (41:31):
Right in textbooks, which I don't understand.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
So I don't know if they're going to have this
top knoch security system that's calibrated and you know, upgraded
like every couple of months, right, well maintained.
Speaker 1 (41:44):
What I don't I never understood, And just a quick sidebar,
And this is the issue of tying funding to local
property taxes. These are how you end up with these
uh schools and poorer areas being under fund and under
resource compared to schools in nicer, you know, more affluent
areas because you're your moneies are based on If they're
(42:08):
tied to property values and property taxes that are brought
in off those values, it's going to create a natural
imbalance between the richer area and the poorer area.
Speaker 2 (42:18):
But even so, cameras can be glitchy, right, I mean,
we know that electronics can be glitchy, and especially over
the course of some years. So I'm not sure how
long this particular security system have been installed at this
school with these cameras, But if it's been a decade
or more, yeah, I mean, then they're probably not the
(42:42):
best four K you know, top of the line technology.
We see a lot of this camera footage on the
news when there's a school shooting or something, and oftentimes
it's grainy, it's kind of crappy, and you're like, how
in twenty twenty five do you have this shitty camera footage?
But that's what happens well a.
Speaker 1 (43:02):
System of any size. I think people often don't realize
the cost involved in upgrading. Right. I was in a
billion dollar paper mill and we were still running XP
was our operating system. I mean, do you remember when
the XP was out gosh, and then we upgraded it
was literally to whatever was XP pro that was after XP.
(43:24):
But when we upgraded it was in the you know,
the twenty teens, and so I'm like, why didn't you
upgrade to the most moder and just like, you know,
ten systems past that. But it comes down to cost
and the incompatibility of the rest of the system with
that operating system. So you have to sometimes still use
antiquated Oh, it's just cost and problems as far as
(43:48):
internally interacting with each other's systems.
Speaker 2 (43:51):
Look, I worked at a job in twenty eleven and
I still had a Netscape as an Internet browser on
my computer. Nice and it barely could connect to the internet.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
Yeah, sure, okay, but no there are there are complications
that sometimes I think people don't think about, right, you
don't know, why don't you just do this? Well, it
won't work with this system or that system didn't.
Speaker 2 (44:13):
Yeah, okay, all right, so again cameras, timestamps, calm wonkey. Now,
the GBI requested the camera footage, and from my understanding,
there were thirty six cameras filming on campus on January
tenth and into January eleventh. That's a lot of hours
of footage. So for a day that totals thirty six
cameras twenty four hours of footage. That's eight hundred and
(44:35):
sixty four hours. And if you're coming through two days
of footage, that's over nineteen hours of survey nineteen hundred
hours of surveillance footage, right right, that's a.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
Lot to look through just in the two days.
Speaker 2 (44:47):
Yes, people have made claims that there is missing footage,
but if law enforcement asked for that footage and some
of it was missing, then that's an issue with the school, right.
Speaker 1 (45:00):
Yeah, well that would be that would be the ones
who control the footage.
Speaker 2 (45:05):
Right right. So this leads to a legal request and
a judge ordered that some of that footage be released,
but the problem lies within the time stamps. Again, some
still shots were taken from the footage released by the
Sheriff's office that shows time stamps, but the actual video
footage had no time stamps. With our security cameras, you know,
(45:27):
there's a time stamp on the screen when I'm viewing it,
and when I go back to the cloud, it's time
stamped on the video.
Speaker 1 (45:35):
Right right, Yeah, it's like a you figure it goes with.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
It, But that's twenty twenty five camera technology. Yeah, we
were talking twenty thirteen. So I'm wondering if the footage
wants downloaded to a server or a drive, like wherever
this is downloaded, doesn't maybe remove the time stamp, the
time stamp from the video, Like maybe it just shows
up on the screen while it's being recorded, but maybe
(46:00):
not necessarily on the video itself. Like I'm not really
sure about that. I'm just speculating, right.
Speaker 1 (46:05):
I have no idea how that works.
Speaker 2 (46:07):
And then I'm wondering about the photos that were released,
like was that somehow taken from the video or was
it like someone took a picture of it from the
screen and then you get the time stamp.
Speaker 1 (46:19):
You know what I mean, yeah, no, I see what
you're saying.
Speaker 2 (46:22):
It's kind of hard for me. I'm not super tech savvy,
so it's kind of hard for me to break it down.
So I'm hoping that I'm not like confusing people.
Speaker 1 (46:30):
No, maybe someone else can explain that better. But I
do find it odd because I feel like the time
stance a an important part of security footage, right, and I
feel like it would be embedded in intercurate.
Speaker 2 (46:42):
I would think, yeah.
Speaker 1 (46:44):
In all at all steps.
Speaker 2 (46:45):
But yeah, and there are videos of people that seemingly
kind of appear and then disappear from shots. Then they
sort of like they'll appear, they'll disappear, and then they
sort of magically appear again. It's like this is some
kind of glitch. But others say it shows that the
video video footage was edited intentionally.
Speaker 1 (47:03):
I mean, you can talk about frames per second and
its motion censor. Yeah, who knows. It can be delays.
Speaker 2 (47:10):
And from what I learned with research, CNN was very
interested in this case dealing and they sent out a
you know, foyer request and press forward with a suit
to get this video footage. So once they obtain the
video footage, they hire a professional forensic analyst to sort
through I think three hundred hours of video.
Speaker 1 (47:32):
So this being a tax funded public institution, therefore, you
should be able to access the information freedom of Information
Freedom of Information Act.
Speaker 2 (47:41):
Now, the analyst did find some discrepancies in the footage,
like blurriness or what might be described as kind of
like shakiness, like the glitch you know, when a glitch happens.
There were also missing time stamps, but the analyst said
it was most likely due to poorly functioning motion sensors.
It could also be unfocused or blurry because the cameras
(48:04):
themselves were older. There could be dirty lenses. And this
is coming from someone who went to photography school and
was a photojournalist. I know a little bit about cameras,
and I can tell you that dust is a major
problem for camera lenses. So dust on cameras can cost
what they call soft like softness or.
Speaker 1 (48:26):
Flares right right reflecting the lights.
Speaker 2 (48:29):
Yeah, it can reduce contrast. The zoom and focus mechanisms
can get messed up if the dust is like more
than normal. But you know, most photographers and videographers they're
using this equipment all the time, so they go to
great lengths to make sure their lenses are properly maintained
and cleaned. No one was cleaning these lenses. I'm just
saying no.
Speaker 1 (48:50):
And they're likely up high order to reach, which is
where typically all cameras are placed, especially around a bunch
of rambunctious students. You don't want them to be able
to access.
Speaker 2 (49:00):
That's how damn dusty your house is. No, I mean
I earlier pointed out our ceiling fan, and we're you know,
I clean a lot, like I'm pretty much a clean freak, right,
but our ceiling fans get dusty as hell. Even when
you wipe them down. You'll look back up there in
like two months and there's dust is back on the
damn ceiling fan.
Speaker 3 (49:17):
Right.
Speaker 2 (49:18):
So you think about a security camera in a school
that's in a hallway whare door opens and closes constantly,
and you're getting that dust in and out, And that
camera's been up there for eight years. Now, do you
think anybody wipes that camera down or dust it?
Speaker 1 (49:32):
No? Likely not?
Speaker 2 (49:34):
Yeah, right, So I'm just pointing to that fact. Now,
the analysts could not determine if the files had been
tampered with, So with people appearing and disappearing, we don't
know if that is somebody has edited this footage, but
it also could be some kind of malfunction, a glitch,
or again it could be something more sinister. It was
(49:54):
determined there was about an hour of missing footage from
all four cameras that I seem to be like in
this gymnasium area. But I don't know if they mean
like an hour total is missing from the you know,
like one camera, like someone has taken the camera and
they've taken the footage and you.
Speaker 1 (50:14):
Know, right, just codd it.
Speaker 2 (50:16):
Yes, but it kind of seems like it's missing from
all four cameras, Like twenty five minutes might be missing
from this one camera one. Camera two might have like
fifteen minutes of missing footage. Camera three has like, you know,
five minutes of missing footage. Do you see what I'm saying?
Speaker 1 (50:34):
Yeah, that's very odd.
Speaker 2 (50:36):
Then that sounds like maybe the system is outdated or
needs some kind of maintenance.
Speaker 1 (50:39):
Well you mean, well yeah, because I mean I don't
understand if if you're carving out a chunk of time,
you're gonna have to get that same chunk of time
from every camera, right or right? I guess maybe only
some of the camera angles, picked up whatever. But yeah,
I mean that just that does sound like a system
that's not all efficiently.
Speaker 2 (51:01):
Look, anytime you take some evidence, anything, a story, you
can find a way to sway it one way or another, right,
like a persuasive argument.
Speaker 1 (51:14):
Well yeah, unless it's perfect, I mean, which doesn't exist.
Speaker 2 (51:19):
Right. Okay, So back to our story. The Johnson's did
not view this footage in the days after Kendrick's death,
and it would have been available to them, but from
my understanding is like they didn't ask to see any
of this video footage.
Speaker 1 (51:33):
I'm kind of surprised on that it would be one
of my first thoughts.
Speaker 2 (51:37):
By twenty fourteen, this case is really heating up, Dylan,
the Johnson's and their attorney are putting a lot of
pressure on law enforcement, the justice system. And that's when
the family starts naming people they believe are responsible for
Kendrick's death. So now we're not just making like allegations,
kind of anonymous allegations of what we know it was
(51:57):
a student who did this, but now they're actually pointing
fingers and they name brothers Brian and Brandon bell.
Speaker 1 (52:06):
I remember when this happened.
Speaker 2 (52:07):
Okay, So the Johnsons have their own theory. The Bell brothers,
they believe, had a female, Laura Kendrick, to the gym,
where they proceeded to kill him and stuff his body
into this mat. They also claim that the Bell's father
was involved in a massive cover up. And you might
ask like, well, why is the father brought into these allegations. Well, Dylan,
(52:30):
he was an FBI agent.
Speaker 1 (52:31):
Oh well, now is there video evidence of him coming
into the gym. I know that the angles kind of
suck in this gym, which again, this is not it's
a school, it's not prison, it's not high security.
Speaker 2 (52:47):
There's no video evidence of this.
Speaker 1 (52:49):
So but the entrance is covered, right, so there should be.
Speaker 2 (52:54):
Dylan, I just need you to hold tight.
Speaker 1 (52:56):
Where's that part of the missing footage?
Speaker 2 (52:58):
Hold on tight to your seat, but buckle up, buckle up.
Speaker 1 (53:02):
There should be video of those two brothers going into
the gym and the girl hear me out.
Speaker 2 (53:08):
Okay, I got tea for you, bud. So the Johnson's
and their attorneys file this lawsuit and they named like
thirty defendants that they claim were involved or complicit. They
also sued Lowndes High School in twenty fourteen, along with
the superintendent for wrongful death of their son. And in
this lawsuit, the Johnson's allege there was a long history
of Kendrick being targeted by quote, a white student. There
(53:31):
was some kind of dispute between one of the Bell
brothers and Kendrick. But some sources have actually said that
one of the Bell brothers and Kendrick were kind of buddies.
Speaker 1 (53:43):
Okay, Okay.
Speaker 2 (53:44):
Now the Johnson's deny this, and they say they have
never heard their son saying that the Bell brothers his friend.
Like never. The Johnson's imply that this incident with this
white student happened just before Kendrick's death. Dylan, it was
actually eighteen months earlier, in twenty eleven. So do you
(54:06):
remember I told you at the beginning of the episode
that there was a conflict on a school bus, right, Okay,
So that happened eighteen months before Kendrick's death. That was
in twenty eleven. The boys were freshmen and they were
playing on the football team together. This is the Bell brothers,
I believe, Bryant. I think Brendan might be the younger
(54:28):
or the older one.
Speaker 1 (54:29):
I think they were on the football team with Kendrick. Yeah,
I thought Kendrick wasn't an athlete according.
Speaker 2 (54:34):
To our Oh well, at the time, he wasn't playing
a sport according to our person who really knows this
case inside and out right. So the boys were freshmen
and playing on the football team together. This was the
thing I described in the beginning where they were riding
home on the school bus post game, Brian and Kendrick
were jokingly kind of trading barbs, and from what I understand,
it was your mama jokes.
Speaker 1 (54:55):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (54:56):
Now, I don't know one hundred percent if that's true,
because I've seen a lot of other things on Reddit
boards that suggest it was something else, like kind of crazy. Well,
I hope it was your mom and body peat on somebody.
I don't know, but I saw a source that it
was like, you know, they're kind of going back and forth.
Speaker 1 (55:11):
They're cracking on each other.
Speaker 2 (55:12):
Yes, which is not uncommon among friends. I crack on
you all the time.
Speaker 1 (55:18):
It's fun.
Speaker 2 (55:20):
We're back and forth with each other.
Speaker 1 (55:22):
Sometimes you're given each other hell.
Speaker 2 (55:23):
Like you know when I tell you all day that
you smell.
Speaker 1 (55:26):
Like poop, Well, now you take it too far, don't
you do it to the point where I'm like, do
I smell like poop.
Speaker 2 (55:32):
What the hell, dude, I'm gonna make a T shirt
that's like, have you guesslighted your husband today? Now, I
don't know if someone took it too far or whatever,
but these two ended up in a fight, which can happen.
And we've also heard it was over a girl that
this was over a girl that supposedly Kendrick was seeing. Okay,
(55:53):
so I don't know if, like they started joking, it
went too far then something with the girlfriend came out.
I mean again, it's kind of the the sources are
saying different things.
Speaker 1 (56:03):
Now, I've seen grown men get in their feelings when
you're just cracking on each other like this, So that
certainly could happen amongst young people.
Speaker 2 (56:10):
Right, And I've seen that happen. I mean, people start
messing around and then it kind of escalates and gets
out of hand, and then you somebody gets mad and
pissed off and then it turns into a fight. Now
I've seen this with like siblings, for example.
Speaker 1 (56:22):
Yeah, but be like, that's why your mama don't like
you because you ugly, And I'd be like, now my
mom is your mama too?
Speaker 2 (56:28):
Okay, So there are these two teams on this bus
when the fight breaks out, and I'm thinking it's probably
like the jv and the varsity team. That makes more.
That's like what makes sense to me. Right, So when
they arrive back at the high school, Brian, along with
his older brother who's a junior, also played football. So
they get back to the school, this fight's been broken up.
(56:50):
Things at this point have just kind of settled down whatever.
The Bell brothers are picked up by their parents and
taken home. Right, well, kJ was taken home by the
school officer. Kennethan Johnson says, quote white kids get to
go home with their parents and the black kid is
put into a police car.
Speaker 1 (57:08):
Well, I do wonder why there was a difference there.
Now I have an answer for you. Was there anybody
there to pick Kendrick up?
Speaker 2 (57:15):
Hold on? Obviously, if both students are involved, they should
be treated the same way, right, of course, I mean absolutely, so,
like Kendrick shouldn't be the only kid targeted or punished
for this fight. You're both involved, Yes, both have accountability here,
So I understand why the Johnsons would have issue with that.
But here's the thing, Dylan. When Kennethan Johnson tells the story.
(57:39):
He makes it seem as if this like just happened,
like right before Kendrick died, and that he's you know,
I mean, he's telling the truth.
Speaker 1 (57:51):
So he's actually pointing to this event but acting like
it happened right before his.
Speaker 2 (57:56):
Son elevenths before, which is misleading.
Speaker 1 (58:00):
Eleven months is a long way.
Speaker 2 (58:01):
When you're misleading with facts, then you sway people to
I mean again, you can misconstrue information and paint a
picture one way or another, like you can swing like
how people It's all in how you present the facts
to people.
Speaker 1 (58:15):
Right. No, if I heard a story, Hey, this happened
eleven months ago, and then something happened to him, I'm
be like, huh. Now, if I heard a story that
this just happened, this altercation between students and then one
is found deceased inside of a map, that will hold
on a second. You certainly need to talk to them
other students, right.
Speaker 2 (58:34):
And it's kind of laid out in this lawsuit like
it just happened, but in fact, it happened eighteen months earlier,
and he is telling the truth. I mean, kJ was
brought home by a school resource officer who works at
the school, and it wasn't like the police recalled and
kJ was targeted. I mean, this is a school employee, right, Like,
this is a person who's at the school at the time.
(58:54):
Like if Kenneth says, quote, I was waiting at the
school to pick up my child and they denied me access,
then that's one thing, right, Yeah, But it's another for
the school to arrange your ride for kJ, possibly given
the circumstances, right, I mean, he's heated, and they're kind
of just like, hey, Bud, let's get you home. You know. Also,
(59:15):
the school resource officer comes out and says to reporters,
I considered myself a friend of the Johnson family. And
guess what, Dylan, you were right. No one was waiting
at the school to pick up kJ. Okay, So the
Bell brothers leave, kJ is still there, and this resource officer,
who considers himself a friend of the family, asks kJ, hey,
(59:37):
do you need a ride? I see that your parents
aren't here and you're just standing here waiting around.
Speaker 1 (59:42):
And it sounds like he accepted the ride.
Speaker 2 (59:45):
Yeah, it was not a punishment, It was not in custody.
It was simply to help out a kid that he
knew needed a ride.
Speaker 1 (59:52):
Home, which is the job of a resource officer. Their
number one job in my book, when I've seen good
resource officers is to get to know the kids.
Speaker 2 (01:00:03):
Right absolutely.
Speaker 1 (01:00:05):
I mean we say all we see his videos of
them going these assholes, these maniacs, roughing kids up and
you know, throwing them around, and shit, those are people
who should not be in that position. They shouldn't be
in any law enforcement position. Honestly.
Speaker 2 (01:00:19):
Now, I've seen the resource officer at my daughter's school
going around like fist bumping.
Speaker 1 (01:00:23):
Yeah, yeah, they talked to him. That's what I typically
have seen is they all know the resource officer's name.
He stops and speak, he knows their names, he knows
your kid's name.
Speaker 2 (01:00:34):
And I've actually, working as a reporter, saw a case
where some some things happened to a group of students
and it was a it was off campus. It was
like at a party or whatever. Something kind of bad
went down, and when the students came back to school,
one of the attendees of this party felt comfortable enough
(01:00:55):
to trust this officer to know that's who she could
go to to tell what had happened case, and it
built that trust to open like a big case that.
Speaker 1 (01:01:03):
I covered, right, And that's the trust me.
Speaker 2 (01:01:07):
Again, Like you said, I mean, and it sounds like
this is a decent officer, right, Like he knows this
kid he's offering him a ride, doesn't want him, he
you know, standing out after dark alone.
Speaker 1 (01:01:19):
Well, it could have nothing to do with the altercation
on the buzz. It could just be, hey, you want
to ride.
Speaker 2 (01:01:26):
Here's my issue with the Johnson family, Dylan, And I mean,
who am I, right, I'm just some random person. But
I'll preface this by saying, I know they are grieving
the loss of their son and that has got to be.
Speaker 1 (01:01:41):
The most pain unimaginable.
Speaker 2 (01:01:44):
But they are taking facts and kind of bending them
to fit a narrative. And maybe that's the way they're
viewing it, kind of through this lens of having a
very broken heart.
Speaker 1 (01:01:56):
Right.
Speaker 2 (01:01:57):
But some of this stuff isn't really adding up, So
it makes me question the true motives here. Is it
about getting to the bottom of their son's death or
is it more about like pushing forward with a lawsuit
Because they're asking for lots of money, like one hundred
million dollars.
Speaker 1 (01:02:16):
Okay, that's that's a crazy number. And I do know
why people throw crazy numbers out like that.
Speaker 2 (01:02:22):
I mean, that's a lot of money. And I'm just
wondering if one hundred million dollars is enough to ease
the pain of suffering of losing your child.
Speaker 1 (01:02:29):
Well, I A, I wonder where you come up with
a number like one hundred million dollars. And obviously, I
think that people sue for these insane amounts because you
hope for a settlement outside of court to make it
all go away at a much lower number. But if
you set the number so high, hey, five millions a
(01:02:52):
lot better than one hundred million, right, one million's way
better than one hundred million.
Speaker 2 (01:02:57):
Now, once these boys once their names flying around, the
sheriff comes out and announces that Brandon and Brian Bell
weren't suspects at all. So Brandon Bell wasn't even on
school grounds at the time of Kendrick's death. Okay, he
was gone with the wrestling team. There are twenty five
(01:03:18):
members on the team. I'd say that's a pretty solid alibia.
Speaker 1 (01:03:20):
I was accounted for by coaches and others.
Speaker 2 (01:03:23):
Students, twenty five team members, twenty four team members, and.
Speaker 1 (01:03:26):
Other people wherever they went and wrestled at a whole
other school.
Speaker 2 (01:03:30):
Okay, so twenty five, you know, twenty four team members
because he's you know, he's one of them. So that
makes twenty four team members a coach who are like, okay,
we saw him. He was at a tournament that day.
Brian Bell had a fourth period class during the time
that they are placing like this is around the time
(01:03:51):
we think Kendrick died because.
Speaker 1 (01:03:53):
They saw him going to the gym and never come out.
Speaker 2 (01:03:55):
Yes, he was in a fourth period class during this
time in which twenty students and teacher place him in
the classroom and they do not report that he left
any time during this class. Now, this seems impossible that
either Bell brother could enter or exit the gym at
the time of Kendrick's death. Because of these alibis, Sheriff
Pride never considered them suspects. Yet the Johnson's refuted this
(01:04:18):
evidence and continued pushing this narrative that the Bell brothers
killed their son. They even made a video that circulated
accusing the Bell brothers and it made the rounds on
social media. The Johnsons insisted the brothers had refused to
cooperate with authorities, and they said the wrestling bus had
not left campus until four pm. Well, there's an explanation
(01:04:41):
for that, Dylan. There had been a request filled out
in advance for this tournament, probably like months in advance,
like when the wrestling team gets their schedule, right, you know,
so you have to go fill out a slip to
reserve a bus.
Speaker 1 (01:04:58):
You need a bus, you need to be fueled, they
need to know where it's gone.
Speaker 2 (01:05:02):
This tournament slip that was filled out like weeks or
months before the tournament stated they needed to borrow this
bus at four pm. Okay on the slip, But the
school's attorney showed a log stating that the wrestling bus
had left campus between eleven thirty two am and twelve
oh two pm. This was during a first lunch period.
(01:05:23):
Is when the bus left, and the bus traveled one
hundred and fifty miles. Cell Phone records indicate the coach
and the team were in Cordell, Georgia at one fifty
three pm.
Speaker 1 (01:05:35):
Okay, so the bus was gone. The bus was gone,
even though the one question.
Speaker 2 (01:05:41):
For four the one Brandon Bell was gone while the
other Bell brother was in class. I'm sorry, but it
seems really far fetched to me. There is clear evidence
here that exonerates the Bell Brothers completely, right.
Speaker 1 (01:05:58):
Well, yeah, and the the camera just happened to catch
Kendrick going into the gym by himself, not saying he
couldn't have been texted by somebody to come to the gym.
But those other people never went in or out of
the gym.
Speaker 2 (01:06:10):
At that time, not according to witnesses.
Speaker 1 (01:06:15):
Not according to witnesses, and what video evidence we do have, right, Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:06:20):
But the Johnsons are still insisting that the Bell Brothers
are responsible for murdering their son. And again it's this
massive cover up involving potentially hundreds of people, including twenty
fourteen members, a coach, everybody at this tournament, and a school,
the twenty kids in the classroom, the teacher. Yes, Kendrick
(01:06:40):
was taking a weight training class, so he did have
a reason to be in the gym. So this idea
of like a siren kind of luring him to his
death doesn't exactly fit, because it's not like he had
no reason to go to the gym, Like if he
had no reason to go to the gym, like he's.
Speaker 1 (01:06:58):
In another period, should be leaving and going to another class,
but instead he goes to the gym that would leads.
That would make more sense.
Speaker 2 (01:07:07):
I might believe it if I was like, well, why
would he be going to the gym, or like if
you told me he was he was in the wood shop,
but he does not take a wood shop class, Like
why would he be in the wood shop? Right, So,
but he had a.
Speaker 1 (01:07:21):
Weight training class and he needed.
Speaker 2 (01:07:23):
To change, he needed to probably go get these shoes.
These shoes whatever.
Speaker 1 (01:07:27):
That was known to be shared with someone else, And
students were known to store various items around in or
around these mats. Yes, but I guess they may be
in on it to other.
Speaker 2 (01:07:40):
And also there is no footage of any female student
going into the gym ahead of Kendrick or or like
right after him.
Speaker 1 (01:07:49):
Or the bell either bell brother No, because the one
was not even on the premises and the other one
was accounted for in class.
Speaker 2 (01:07:56):
Yes. The Johnson's also followed a complaint it's the funeral
home operator. The State of Georgia found that the funeral
home did not use quote best practices. There was other
material more suitable to fill Kj's body in place of
those newspapers, but the state found no wrongdoing at this
funeral home. The funeral home did not lose its license
(01:08:19):
or anything like that. But the Johnson's did follow lawsuit
against the funeral home, and I did not find any
information about where that went.
Speaker 1 (01:08:27):
What are they sewing them for.
Speaker 2 (01:08:32):
The newspapers?
Speaker 1 (01:08:33):
Oh? Maybe the organ I mean, I'm not okay, okay,
I'm just they seem litigious. This family seems to be
suing everyone inside, and I honestly don't know how. I
don't know, I don't understand.
Speaker 2 (01:08:51):
I guess people handle grief differently, and that could be
part of it. Ebony magazine published an article in twenty
fourteen kind of like without naming the two brothers as
the murderers, but they named they were like, Hey, these
two students were involved and were suspects in this murder.
Speaker 1 (01:09:12):
They were not suspects, right, Well, we know the sheriff
has said they were never suspects.
Speaker 2 (01:09:18):
But this Ebony magazine publishes an article saying there are
two students who are suspects, and they don't name the
Bell brothers, but again, they give enough information and description
that it was pretty easy to conclude who these students were,
especially given the fact the family Johnson's have posted their
names and information on social media.
Speaker 1 (01:09:39):
Okay, I don't understand why they would do that. That
seems like that does not the basic rules of journalism.
That doesn't seem to be fair or legitimate on their part.
See this is what I'm talking about right here.
Speaker 2 (01:09:55):
Well, you as a journalist must vet to.
Speaker 1 (01:09:59):
A reason degree.
Speaker 2 (01:10:00):
You have to vet your sources and the information they're
providing and make sure that you're not publishing lies.
Speaker 1 (01:10:09):
Now, I know that you also have your compelled to
protect your sources, but I do find it funny that
many stories across the spectrum on many different things nowadays,
especially very important issues in our country, are anonymous sources.
Speaker 2 (01:10:28):
We have to prove in order to like sue a
publication like that there it was mallet, that was like
there was malice.
Speaker 1 (01:10:36):
Right.
Speaker 2 (01:10:36):
There's a movie, it's old Paul Newman movie called Without Malice.
I highly recommend folks watch that. It's a pretty interesting movie.
But yeah, when you go to sue like a newspaper
or something, or a publication, I mean, you know, it
can be kind of difficult because you have to prove
some element of malice, sometimes.
Speaker 1 (01:10:54):
Not only in competence, but malice.
Speaker 2 (01:10:58):
Well, a five million dollar lawsuit was on by the
family of these boys, meaning the Bell brothers, the Bell family,
who say they were not considered suspects ever, and that
they had been harassed since the release of these articles.
They had been targeted and harassed, like the whole family, Mom, Dad,
the boys. So in twenty fifteen, a lawsuit has filed
(01:11:20):
against thirty eight people, and in November of that year,
the DOJ files a motion in the civil case they
want to stay this lawsuit. A federal investigation had been
launched into Kendrick's case, and this evidence presented in the
lawsuit they say could hamper their federal investigation. Oh okay,
So the Johnson's end up dropping this suit, and in
(01:11:42):
turn they were sued for eight hundred thousand dollars in
attorney fees and one million dollars in defamation charges or
damages from who from all the people who were.
Speaker 1 (01:11:52):
Who all the people they had sued.
Speaker 2 (01:11:54):
Yeah, and like the Bell family. And Okay, from what
I understand, that may not be. I mean, from what
I understand, sometimes when I'm researching newspaper articles give you
some info but not all the info. But from my understanding,
it's either like the it was some people named in
the lawsuit, and I think it was like the Bell family. Now,
(01:12:14):
after a federal investigation, the Department of Justice announced they
would not be filing any criminal charges in Kendrick's case.
They stated, now, this is the Department of Justice. This
is the federal government. This isn't the state government, county government,
or talking to Feds stated there was insufficient evidence beyond
a reasonable doubt that someone or a group of people
(01:12:36):
violated Kj's civil rights or committed any crime against kJ
aka homicide.
Speaker 1 (01:12:44):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:12:45):
A judge named Richard Porter ordered the Johnson family to
pay you know, legal fees of the defendants and also
accused them of fabricating evidence to support their claims. They
end up having to pay two hundred and ninety two
thousand dollars in the fees. Damn the Johnson family.
Speaker 1 (01:13:02):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:13:03):
Then the Johnson's requested their son's body being zoomed a
second time for a third autopsy in twenty eighteen. They
want another autopsy, another doctor. Okay. So in twenty twenty one,
a new sheriff, Ashley paulk is you know, usually in
(01:13:24):
the South. I don't know how it works in other places,
but you vote a sheriff in.
Speaker 1 (01:13:29):
Yeah. The schriff Yeah, it's a voted to him by
the local.
Speaker 2 (01:13:33):
Yes, the sheriff is usually elected, and so a new
sheriff comes to town. You know, we like when a
new sheriff comes to town, right, right, Ashley paulk Ashley Park
offers five hundred thousand dollars for anyone bringing any information
that will lead to the conviction of Kendrick Johnson's like murder.
(01:13:54):
Whoever did this, you bring them to me, we convict them.
I'm gonna give you five hundred thousand dollars. And it's
my understanding this was like Paulk's personal money.
Speaker 1 (01:14:03):
This was not.
Speaker 2 (01:14:06):
Counting money. He's saying, I'm going to give you this
out of my personal account if you can prove somewhat
he murdered Kendrick Johnson. Wow, he reopens the case. He
looks into this case for thirteen months before closing it
again in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1 (01:14:25):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:14:26):
Sheriff Paul concluded there was no cover up, no homicide,
and that it was simply a bizarre accident. He also
stated that the Bell brothers are not suspects.
Speaker 1 (01:14:38):
Again, so this is the third investigation. You had original investigation,
you had an investigation by the federal government in the
Department of Justice, and now you have a new sheriff
reopening the case, investigating for over a year. And I
know the reason he did the incoming sheriff is because
it's obviously still a very big deal in that area, right,
(01:15:02):
Still tensions, people still talk about it, which I think
was a very noble thing way of him to go
about it. I'll put up my own money though. The
obviously if someone did do something horrible to Kendrick, we
want to bring them to justice. And then now he's
closed this third investigation and basically the same findings as
(01:15:23):
the original two investigations. Yes, follow other local authorities and
the federal government. Yes, Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:15:33):
Brian Bell, a three star linebacker, was offered a football
scholarship to Florida State in twenty fifteen, So we're kind
of back tracking a little bit here. When the Johnsons
filed their lawsuit naming him and their son's wrongful death,
the scholarship was rescinded.
Speaker 1 (01:15:49):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (01:15:49):
Now, during the federal investigation, the brothers did receive letters
letting them know they were the targets of a grand
jury investigation. But as the case loomed over, this young man,
he lost an opportunity to play football at Florida State,
but he did go on to play football at another college.
Speaker 1 (01:16:05):
Okay, but he was a three star recruit getting to
go to Florida State. But you can see which is
big state.
Speaker 2 (01:16:13):
Well he had it sounds like he had multiple colleges
recruiting him and offering him a ride or whatever. Florida
State happened to be in one of those and they
rescinded this scholarship simply because this case was like looming
over him. So I think you have to look at
that and see that he's not a suspect. He's been
cleared by the sheriff and then he'll later be cleared
(01:16:34):
by the Feds.
Speaker 1 (01:16:36):
And how this.
Speaker 2 (01:16:39):
Accusation deeply impacted his life, right, and it seems like
it's a false accusation.
Speaker 1 (01:16:48):
But that impact is still there.
Speaker 2 (01:16:49):
But the power of lies, and I mean because simply,
I mean, if you accuse somebody of something they didn't do,
that's that's a lie.
Speaker 1 (01:16:58):
Right.
Speaker 2 (01:16:58):
Well, yeah, I mean I find that.
Speaker 1 (01:17:03):
Wrong.
Speaker 2 (01:17:04):
Sad for this young man.
Speaker 1 (01:17:05):
Well, it's wrong, and it's that's not the type of
opportunity you get to have again.
Speaker 2 (01:17:10):
And I have to say, I heard I listened to
a couple of other podcasts covering this case, and there
was a podcast that's quite big actually, and they were
like celebrating that he lost his scholarship, like good, good,
really yeah, And I just was like, okay, to be strange, So.
Speaker 1 (01:17:30):
Don't they have to be looking at the same pot
of information that you are for the most part.
Speaker 2 (01:17:36):
Well, that's the thing doing is that sometimes I think
people look at information and maybe process it differently.
Speaker 1 (01:17:44):
Well, And I gotta say it's one of the things
I do think that you bring to the table and
I do love about your stories is I think you
dig very deep, even when it's not a super super
deep dive. I think you your your workflow, you go
about things in a certain way, and you don't just
listen to another pod.
Speaker 2 (01:18:03):
And why easy to react emotionally to this case because
I will say, when I first heard of this death
and it was making the rounds and it became a
huge news story. CE and N's covering it, it's national news,
it's all over social media, my first instinct was what
(01:18:25):
the hell is going on in Georgia?
Speaker 1 (01:18:26):
That was my first thought.
Speaker 2 (01:18:27):
As well, right, And I had a very emotional reaction,
just like I had a very emotional reaction when I
watched officers leaning on George Floyd and when I saw
officers putting Freddie Gray in a choke hold. Yeah, I
had a very visceral emotional reaction to that, just like
(01:18:49):
I had a visceral emotional reaction to seeing somebody put
a bullet through Charlie Kirk's neck. Right. I mean, it's
just my humanity, my soul. When I see something like
that and it seems there's violent, it's wrong whatever. I mean,
it hurts me and my soul, and I get emotional.
And I think a lot of people get really emotional
(01:19:09):
and let their emotions take over and then believe what
they're being told. And they're reacting emotionally, but they're not
putting the emotions aside to look at the facts and
the evidence. And so I think that's where you get
this people still saying this was a homicide. Look at
(01:19:29):
the evidence it says it was, even though we have
discussed these boys were not suspects, they've been cleared, they
had alibis.
Speaker 1 (01:19:40):
Well, we literally live in an age of information, or
an age of the way information is disseminated. When people
will argue with you about a headline they saw. Okay,
now this has happened to me more than once. They
will argue with you about and they're just going on,
they we saw the headline. Oh my god, this is
(01:20:02):
my point of view. You know, you're so wrong. You
can literally open click on that headline and actually open
the article and read the article, and the information buried
in the article will actually discredit the very headline that
the article has at the top. I mean, and I
(01:20:23):
just it blows me away that you formed this, this
strong opinion of a strong emotional opinion off of the
headline and you didn't even read the fucking article. Dude,
you didn't even read the article.
Speaker 2 (01:20:38):
Media literacy is absent in this country. We really need
to teach media literacy to people.
Speaker 1 (01:20:46):
Well we needed well, like you've shown me, a simple
cross reference from multiple sources on things oftentimes will let
you know very quickly whether or not that that has
some aris.
Speaker 2 (01:20:59):
See again, I think that's where you have to distinct,
you know, make a distinction between your emotional reaction and
your logic right right, and be reasonable, and sometimes you
have to put your emotions aside, your knee jerk reaction
aside and actually look into what's happening. The evidence has
been present, I mean honestly nowadays, and I know we're
(01:21:20):
on a tangent here, and we've probably been on a
tangent a little bit during this episode. But I could
show somebody a shirt and say, look, the shirt is red,
and somebody out there is going to argue with me
that know that shirt is not red, right right? I mean,
you can present facts, but somebody's going to argue that
(01:21:41):
it's still not the truth, just like or that that's
still it's still not true.
Speaker 1 (01:21:46):
If you saw that image, which thank goodness, I didn't
see that image of this poor young.
Speaker 2 (01:21:50):
Man, it's horrific.
Speaker 1 (01:21:53):
If you see that image, you're going, what the fuck?
Oh my god? Who did this? Today?
Speaker 2 (01:21:58):
As a as a as a citizen, how I felt
when I first knew about this case.
Speaker 1 (01:22:04):
But when you if you know anything, and you see
how the remains were found, where they were found, the
state they were in, the time they were there. What
happens after death when you start thinking about all those things.
Death is what's so sad about it is how And
(01:22:25):
I think this is what really we struggle with as
a society, especially here in America. I think many other
places in the world they have a better understanding and
honestly a better relationship with death than we do in
this country. It reminds us very quickly that we are
just It brings into biological facts well, that we all
(01:22:47):
the mortality. As soon as you die, things start happening.
A lot of stuff starts happening in your body, and
there's no way around it. And everybody's different, right, It
happens at different rates, in different ways for different reasons.
And I think a lot of people don't really don't
think about that in a situation like that, when we're
already in a almost a racially charged climate because of
(01:23:10):
all the things, some of it true, some of it not,
that have happened in this country in the last ten
years especially, And I think that people are bad to
jump to an emotional conclusion like you were pointing out,
and I think that's dangerous, especially nowadays.
Speaker 2 (01:23:25):
And look, I'm a conspiracy theorist, Yeah so were you?
Speaker 1 (01:23:28):
All right?
Speaker 2 (01:23:29):
We always like we want the truth right, right, and
sometimes your narrative is not that does not sound like nope.
But we've become a society that we just we want
It's like we want to believe everything is a lie
or conspiracy or propaganda or a cover upright, Like, sometimes
(01:23:51):
it just is what it is. Is what it is, exactly.
Speaker 1 (01:23:54):
Yes, And this is sad. Interrupt you, No, you're fine.
This young man's head and think about it.
Speaker 2 (01:24:02):
Well, see, at the end of the day, that's the
part we're missing from. I think all of this is
Kendrick was a per I mean, he was a human being.
He had hopes and dreams and feelings. He loved people.
He you know, he wanted to play football professional. I mean,
he had these dreams and everything, and his life has
been snuffed out. And in all of this it seems
(01:24:24):
like he's being lost.
Speaker 1 (01:24:27):
Yeah, because he was a handsome young man. Yeah, you know,
had the world in front of him. And I think
about if it wasn't this horrible beating and murder, which
would be fucking terrible, and that anyone who would even
think about that should be held accountable. I think, what
if it was what they say it is a tragic accident.
(01:24:49):
I think about him slipping falling into this top confined
space and having minutes at least of thinking about after
first struggling how he can.
Speaker 2 (01:25:02):
Kind of come to the coming to the rest, can't.
Speaker 1 (01:25:05):
Get out the predicament, the weird predicament he's in righting
that no one can hear him, no one's going to
come help him, and just slowly fading out from whatever
physiological thing that's happening to him, exphysiation or whatever. And
that really makes me sad thinking about that poor young
man having time to have those thoughts, and that rips.
Speaker 2 (01:25:29):
My heart out there. It is Dylan, Okay, so we
have a little more to get through here. In twenty seventeen,
a sworn deposition testimony given by Kenneth Johnson. Now this
is a sworn testimony. He admits he has no evidence
to back up any of the claims that he had
made in the lawsuit. Okay, so he does not have
(01:25:51):
any evidence to back up any of these claims. I
mean he's admitting this.
Speaker 1 (01:25:57):
Well, that's a problem.
Speaker 2 (01:25:59):
A witness came forward in August of twenty eighteen. On
August sixth of twenty eighteen, a twenty seven year old
man named Ryan Anthony domech Hernandez signed an affid David
stating he had been at Brandon Bell's Jacksonville apartment in
April of twenty sixteen. During this time, Brandon made a
(01:26:23):
confession that he had killed Kendrick Johnson. Brandon, Brian, Now
this is this is the confession according to this.
Speaker 1 (01:26:33):
This sky Okay, Ryan.
Speaker 2 (01:26:36):
Anthony domic Hernandez. The confession is this Brian Brandon and
a friend of theirs named Ryan Hall had argued with
kJ in the school's gym during a roid rage. Brian
hit Kendrick with a dumbbell in the neck, which explains
(01:26:56):
the blunt force trauma. Then their father, Rick Bell, contacted
the sheriff's office in corner to keep it quiet. Ryan
Hall was silenced and an unnamed FBI agent helped alter
the surveillance footage. Kj's organs were removed to hide the
time of death, and the autopsy was falsified. Now that's
(01:27:18):
supposedly what was in this confession. But none of these
claims were backed up with any kind of hard evidence.
Den Now, Brandon Bell, here, here's what we do know.
Brandon Bell was not living in Jacksonville, Florida in April
of twenty sixteen. Okay, he was a student at Valdosta
State University and living in Valdosta Georgia at the time.
(01:27:40):
Domat Hernandez was arrested by Valdosta police in August of
twenty eighteen, so around the same time he's got this
confession is also you know, he's gets in trouble. The
Johnsons took to social media to say that he was
being jailed on bogus charges in an effort to silence
his statements. Yet the police reports tell a different story.
(01:28:03):
A woman reported that Domeate Hernandez came to her bathroom
window while she was in the bathroom at her home
on Eager Road and punched through the glass in an
attempt to enter the home. Later, do met Hernandez walked
into an emergency room wearing no shirt. He had a
bloody right hand and a belt wrapped around his right
(01:28:27):
forearm like a tourniquet to stop the bleeding. He tried
to register at the emergency room as a John Doe,
but uh, there was already like a bee on the
lookouts because of course the woman had reported this trespassing incident.
Speaker 1 (01:28:43):
Right, they're going to see the blood. This guy might
need medical attention.
Speaker 2 (01:28:46):
Oh yeah, you know, usually there's a cop at the
emergency room or security, right, so anyway, this guy, he's
picked up on this trespassing incident, and he also had
a criminal record. I mean he's got multiple run into
law enforcement.
Speaker 1 (01:29:05):
Well, Heather, all that could be at the part of
the cover up.
Speaker 2 (01:29:08):
I mean it could be.
Speaker 1 (01:29:09):
Look, and I do see that. You know the Bill
Brother's dad was FBI retired or active or.
Speaker 2 (01:29:17):
Do I believe he was active at the time.
Speaker 1 (01:29:19):
Okay, And so that right there is there. This is
how the cover ups being done. Right. You have someone
who's connected to an agency that is very powerful. Okay, Okay,
I get that. But my problem is what you said
(01:29:39):
earlier about the size and the scope of this cover up.
And you're not going to run across one person who's like,
fuck you, I'm not doing that. That's unethical, that's wrong,
and you're putting my whole career on the line, my
freedom on the line if this comes out. I'm not
going to be part of your cover up. I'm going
to tell someone else above you or outside of you
(01:30:02):
about this. We're I'm not going to be part of that.
And all this group of people and all these different
levels of government, levels of authority. You didn't run across
one person who's like no, there's no way I'm going
to be part of that. You're assuming from.
Speaker 2 (01:30:19):
The bottom up county, from state to federal.
Speaker 1 (01:30:24):
You're assuming that all these people are willing to be
a part of this. And I'm sorry, I don't think
I could get find ten people that would be willing
to do that. I know of that willing to do that.
And I'm sorry, an active FBI agent, you're probably not.
Speaker 2 (01:30:40):
Even gonna get your wife to help people to cover up.
Speaker 1 (01:30:42):
Does not have the power to exert the kind of
influence and threats it would take to do this. Man,
It's just not possible. I'm sorry, it's not It's ridiculous.
It really is. I mean it is.
Speaker 2 (01:31:03):
Finding Kendrick Johnson was a documentary released in twenty twenty one,
and the documentary asserts that Kendrick's death was no accident
and claims to show new evidence proving he was murdered.
I've not watched this documentary, but the Bell family filed
a libel lawsuit against Jason Pollock, the director. The Johnson's
filed another lawsuit. They want the death certificate amended from accidental,
(01:31:28):
saying like that he did not die of an accident,
so they want that taken off the death certificate, okay,
because they say that it's been scientifically disproven that it
was not an accident.
Speaker 1 (01:31:41):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (01:31:42):
In this lawsuit, they claim that doctor Maryanne Craft the
pathologists quote, butchered their son to cover up evidence of
blunt force trauma. And they are seeking a total of
twelve million dollars. Now, a lower court judge ruled to
dismiss it, but the US Supreme Court of Appeals Eleventh
District said the verdict should be reviewed. In the original lawsuit,
(01:32:04):
that Johnson's filed a complaint asking that the judge Lee
Martin may be recused from the case due to bias
and prejudice. May denied the motion and dismiss the suit.
So the federal court says she was right not to
accuse herself because there was no proof of abuse. But
they will be given another chance to argue their lawsuit.
(01:32:27):
I mean, the saga is just never ending, Dylan, and
at this point, just let the young man rest in peace.
Yeah right, I mean, this legal action is not honoring
his memory at all. And now looking back twelve years later,
these lawsuits, these claims, we have Dad admitting in a deposition,
(01:32:52):
I don't have any evidence. This is just how I feel, right,
I just I mean, at that point, it's like, Okay,
well I just made this stuff up. So even I
just feel like the family looks it just looks greedy
at this point, like you're just trying to get some
money out of it, like you're using you're trying to
exploit your son's death. And maybe that sounds harsh, and
I'm sure there's somebody out there who is very strongly
(01:33:15):
disagreeing with me and probably thinks I'm terrible for saying that.
And you know, I'm not trying to be I'm not
trying to offend anybody. But this is just me looking
at these years of multiple lawsuits demanding you know, these
very large sums of money, and at the end of
the day, money's not going to bring your son back,
(01:33:36):
and I don't see how that's going to really help
your grief.
Speaker 1 (01:33:40):
No, And I don't know if they think these large
sums of money will help get their point across or
help getting someone into action. But I mean, it's been
investigated multiple times. It's been investigated from you know, the
lowest authority to the highest authority. You have a new
sheriff coming in was he part of the cover up?
I mean, he took a more than a year long
look at reopen the his own money, offered his own
(01:34:02):
money for you know, but I guess you can do
that if you're part of the cover I mean, it's
just at.
Speaker 2 (01:34:07):
Some point and what point does it end?
Speaker 1 (01:34:09):
At one point do you feel like this my son's gone.
It's terrible, We've lost him. And I'm not saying just
let a murderer get away. Well, as a family, what
point do you think maybe just maybe this truly was
a tragic accident. I mean, well, it just seems.
Speaker 2 (01:34:34):
To want to get their hands on some money, and
they're foiling multiple lawsuits against multiple different people they're trying.
You know, if it's not the funeral home, we can't
get it from the funeral home. We can then we
can get it from the sheriff's.
Speaker 1 (01:34:47):
Office or the Bell family.
Speaker 2 (01:34:49):
I mean, it's at what point does it end? And
also you keep on keeping on knowing damn well, there's
no evidence to back up anything that you're saying.
Speaker 1 (01:34:58):
So even what if what you're saying true there's no evidence,
show some evidence. Well, yeah, that you you have to
have evidence.
Speaker 2 (01:35:06):
I mean, you cannot just go around saying something happened
when it didn't or and there's no evidence to back
it up that way, and then just filing lawsuit after
lawsuit that keeps getting thrown out of court.
Speaker 1 (01:35:16):
And I have to say, because.
Speaker 2 (01:35:18):
You're producing I mean, we've seen they produce some false
evidence according to the judge they pay money to for
attorney fees. I mean, at what point do we just
let Kendrick's memory, we let him arrest in peace, and
we just honor his memory and recognize that this is
(01:35:41):
very likely a freak accident, right And the only thing
I guess they could even call evidence is their.
Speaker 1 (01:35:50):
Private autops he's paid for by them or their supporters
or both or whatever. And I honestly I have issue.
Oftentimes when people have an exhumation, hired expert witness, hire
an expert witness, it always typically tends to break to
and support whatever they think happened. And this is a
(01:36:13):
person that you're paying directly, So that's not strong that's
not strong evidence in all my opinion, and that's the
only thing that seemed to go their way during all
everything that you described, So yeah, I agree with you.
Just let the poor the young man let him rest,
remember the good times. And I know you'll never fill
(01:36:35):
that hole in your heart. I just know that you can't.
Speaker 2 (01:36:40):
And well, one hundred million dollars might look I know
I'm being an asshole.
Speaker 1 (01:36:47):
Well I know because I could tell while you were
researching this over the course of the last couple of
weeks that it was a kind of pissing you off.
Speaker 2 (01:36:55):
Well, my opinion changed. I'm going to be honest. When
I first started this case, I really thought like, Okay,
we're going to see racism, we were going to see.
Speaker 1 (01:37:05):
A cover Like yeah, that was our expectation.
Speaker 2 (01:37:08):
Extreme emotional reaction from the beginning, that this was shady
as fuck, right, But I can't say that now. And
again I don't know. I know I have listeners out there.
I've had people say like, oh, I'm excited to do it.
You know, I want to hear your perspective. I'm excited
that you are doing this case. I really think something
(01:37:29):
us is up with this, And everybody's entitled to think
that way, feel that way, or whatever, But just based
on the clear evidence, the kind of the large scale
that it would have to take to cover up, I
just don't believe that it was a homicide.
Speaker 1 (01:37:48):
I don't either, now, I truly don't. I think it
was a freak, terrible, freak accident. All right, Heather, thank
you for this two parter and thanks for what you doing.
What you do with a story like this. I think
you do a good job of taking a lot of information,
(01:38:08):
bringing it to the listeners, bringing it to me, and
really I appreciate what you do. Well.
Speaker 2 (01:38:14):
This has really impacted a lot of people, you know,
and when you make false allegations like that, I mean,
just think about these young men and let's say they're
not involved at all. I mean, there are people out
there who still think they had something to do with
Kendrick's steth.
Speaker 1 (01:38:29):
For all their life, they will think.
Speaker 2 (01:38:31):
That now they have a stigma and they have been
you know, ostracized, they have been harassed, they've lost opportunities.
It will forever be attached to their name, and that
just seems really unfair. If you're truly innocent.
Speaker 1 (01:38:46):
It's horrible. It's a terrible thing, all right.
Speaker 2 (01:38:51):
All right, So if you have a spooky story for us,
or just want to give us some feedback, you can
always email us at Mountain Merspodcast at gmail dot com.
And don't forget to check out our website www dot
Mountain murderspodcast dot com and check out our merch store.
You know, spooky season is upon us. Maybe you want
to get a cute T shirt, you want to get
a little hat, or maybe you just need some new
(01:39:13):
stickers for your laptop, your car.
Speaker 1 (01:39:15):
You've gotten so many designs over there. I got a
couple of spooky T shirts on the way for myself
and I can't wait till they get here and see
if they fit my big ass.
Speaker 2 (01:39:25):
Well, I don't know if you're gonna wear a T
shirt on your big ass, but yeah, maybe you're wearing
your T shirts incorrectly.
Speaker 1 (01:39:31):
Dylan, Oh, that explains a lot.
Speaker 2 (01:39:32):
Yeah. No, your arms go through the sleeves, not your legs. Okay,
that's why it looks like a diaper.
Speaker 1 (01:39:38):
Nice all right, Bye Dylan, Bye,
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