Kendrick Johnson (17) Dies after getting trapped in gym mats

[TupeloHoney]

By being forcibly pushed in, or, more likely, rolled up horizontally & then the mat pushed up to a vertical standing position? Possibly as a "joke" or possibly REAL bullying?

I have the sneaking suspicion this could be a case of dumb teenage boys goofing-off-gone-wrong, but perhaps the others involved are too nutless to come forward. Maybe one of his "buddies" threw his shoe in there. Kendrick tried to retrieve it as other "buddies" promised to hold his legs and then pull him out. Then, they all ran off and had some yucks while he was stuck in there, thinking someone would here him yelling or that the mat would eventually loosen up and he would escape?

Or maybe some horrible people jammed him in there? Rolled him up in there? It's so weird and I don't blame his family for wanting answers.

Oh, so it's not just me.

Yea, maybe eventually someone that knows more about scarring and decomp will say something about this.

I hope someone will. I'm all ears!


And I'm just gonna throw this out there ... Um, sports are kind of important in good ole Lowndes County/Valdosta. South Georgia football is big damn deal, y'all. What if some extra-special jocks were involved? Hmmmmmm.

[dtfpaf798]

If he was reaching in to get his shoes and fell in head first, shouldn't he shoes be on the end where his head is? How did the shoes get by his feet?

[TupeloHoney]

exactly. how is it that his legs and feet look fine, but his face is messed up the way it is?

I'm really hoping someone will chime in an enlighten us on this. I guess it's possible that the damage to his face is from that area being pressed up against the mat for a long period. The ring around his head at first made me thing he HAD to have been tightly rolled up into it (with the top of his head sticking out) rather than go into it willingly, but then I thought maybe the weight of his body pressing down after many hours might cause that crease around his head.

Anyway, I can see a 17-year-old boy who is goofing off with his friends going in willingly ... the mat might have been rolled loose enough that he could get in but couldn't get out.

I just don't believe for a second that he was alone. There's no way.

[Angiebla]

I'm really hoping someone will chime in an enlighten us on this. I guess it's possible that the damage to his face is from that area being pressed up against the mat for a long period. The ring around his head at first made me thing he HAD to have been tightly rolled up into it (with the top of his head sticking out) rather than go into it willingly, but then I thought maybe the weight of his body pressing down after many hours might cause that crease around his head.

Anyway, I can see a 17-year-old boy who is goofing off with his friends going in willingly ... the mat might have been rolled loose enough that he could get in but couldn't get out.

I just don't believe for a second that he was alone. There's no way.

I agree with you. I noticed something after looking at the picture of his face again, it looks like some of the skin on his face was in an advanced state of decomposition. I didn't think that happened until after 48 hours plus post mortem.

[beli]

yeah, he was killed elsewhere and placed into the mat to try to cover it up. and what a stupid excuse to come up with. he couldn't flip the mat onto the ground? i want to see more pics of where he was found. SHOW ME THE RECEIPTS!

[Live2Love]

I read somewhere that the coroner said his face is like that because all of the blood rushed to his head after being that way. I don't know though. That looks more than just bloated. It looks like he is disfigured. He also reported no injuries to the skull which I'm not sure I believe either. This whole thing confuses the hell out of me.

[Keann Scissorhands Powley]

Wouldn't his face look like that because of skin slipping?

[loonywop]

I have the sneaking suspicion this could be a case of dumb teenage boys goofing-off-gone-wrong, but perhaps the others involved are too nutless to come forward. Maybe one of his "buddies" threw his shoe in there. Kendrick tried to retrieve it as other "buddies" promised to hold his legs and then pull him out. Then, they all ran off and had some yucks while he was stuck in there, thinking someone would here him yelling or that the mat would eventually loosen up and he would escape?

Or maybe some horrible people jammed him in there? Rolled him up in there? It's so weird and I don't blame his family for wanting answers.




I hope someone will. I'm all ears!


And I'm just gonna throw this out there ... Um, sports are kind of important in good ole Lowndes County/Valdosta. South Georgia football is big damn deal, y'all. What if some extra-special jocks were involved? Hmmmmmm.

he was killed and rolled up in the mat

[loonywop]

Haha. Yea, the reasons these things become "such a big deal" is because cover-ups get exposed and go public, then national. Once the spotlight is one, it's easier to get justice. You know how many cases are buried and never heard about again. It's bad enough in the city, but I'm surprised anything in a small town is on the up-and-up. No one is watching those people.

Hell, Stubenville's rape case became a big deal, but only after the bullshit got exposed.

your right there,there's a lot of shit buried and a lot of people are breaking a lot of laws

[TessD]

Wouldn't his face look like that because of skin slipping?

Yes, that's what's described in his autopsy. Plus there doesn't seem to be much that would indicate any trauma like he was beaten.
You can read the autopsy report here:

http://valdosta.sgaonline.com/2010vd...ck-johnson.pdf

There is a lot of controversy surrounding the Sherriff's handling of this boy's death. Apparently the paramedic or Emergency Medical Technician on the scene had written in his report that the Old Gymnasium at Lowndes County High School should be considered a crime scene and refused to remove the body. The sheriffs had different ideas. I don't blame the parents for being suspicious. This article talks more about some of the alleged questionable actions of the sheriff's department.

http://www.thecentralgeorgian.com/?p=867

Such a strange and sad death of a teenage boy. I hope the second autopsy will bring some answers for his parents.

[I doubt it]

Cry Loud: The So-Called Accidental Death of Kendrick Johnson
http://uptownmagazine.com/2013/05/cr...drick-johnson/

[marshmallow]

those mats take 2-3 in shape wrestlers to roll up and stand up. there is no way he fell in like a pencil, there had to be at least 3 or 4 people involved. was he a wrestler? why was he near the mats, isn't there a mat room?

a lot of questions, no real answers.

[debk589]

We used to have those mats all over our gym in high school, the size of the hole in the middle when those things are rolled up is TINY. Like this:



and ultimately if it's done correctly, there should be almost no hole, like this:



I'm really believing he was rolled up in the mat. Whether he was already dead or not by that point has yet to be determined, but there's no way he "fell into a rolled up mat". that's just horseshit.

[Live2Love]

I also have to say I'm having a hard time imagining the scenario as well. In high school I was a cheerleader and we had a rolled up mat we called "the burrito" to help us practice back hand springs and there was now way in hell anyone would have fit through the middle of it. Not even close.

[Ron_NYC]

I don't think it was so much that they wanted people to believe the story they just wanted things to get pushed ahead so that no questions would ever even get asked. Look like that's backfired on them immensely.

[Shins]

If he was reaching in to get his shoes and fell in head first, shouldn't he shoes be on the end where his head is? How did the shoes get by his feet?

Exactly.

Someone beat the shit out of him and then rolled him in a mat to hide his body. They threw his shoes in after to hide the evidence. People have been known to lose their shoes with the oncome of immediate severe trauma.

Additonally, I don't buy the facial decomposition explaining the distortion of his face. It seems pretty clear that either his nasal bridge and/or palat are completely crushed.

[Nic B]

My first thought when I saw the pic of him rolled up in the mat, where you can see just his feet & legs, was, why are the shoes on that end?? If his shoe/shoes fell in and he went head first to get them, at least one shoe should be on the end where his head is. And why was he in the gym alone? I mean, he was there alone and throwing his shoes around and one fell in? Come on. First of all, if it WAS an accident (which I don't think it was) there had to have been someone there who threw his shoe in as a joke or something. They need to find whoever was there. Obviously someone rolled him up in there, either to intentionally kill him, or it was a joke gone wrong. This is just so sad, and my heart breaks for the family.

[beli]

My first thought when I saw the pic of him rolled up in the mat, where you can see just his feet & legs, was, why are the shoes on that end?? If his shoe/shoes fell in and he went head first to get them, at least one shoe should be on the end where his head is. And why was he in the gym alone? I mean, he was there alone and throwing his shoes around and one fell in? Come on. First of all, if it WAS an accident (which I don't think it was) there had to have been someone there who threw his shoe in as a joke or something. They need to find whoever was there. Obviously someone rolled him up in there, either to intentionally kill him, or it was a joke gone wrong. This is just so sad, and my heart breaks for the family.

i'm blind and dingy bc i didn't realize his shoes were laying behind his legs in the photo of his rolled up in the mat. it was a late night.

[TupeloHoney]

i'm blind and dingy bc i didn't realize his shoes were laying behind his legs in the photo of his rolled up in the mat. it was a late night.

I guess I just assumed he was wearing the shoes in the pic and kicked them off while struggling to get out and that the shoe he was allegedly trying to retrieve was from a different pair he was carrying around for sports practice or something. I dunno.

[Shins]

I guess I just assumed he was wearing the shoes in the pic and kicked them off while struggling to get out and that the shoe he was allegedly trying to retrieve was from a different pair he was carrying around for sports practice or something. I dunno.

This seems like a more likely turn of events?

[TessD]

It's so hard to find any info or timeline of what happened that day ...before Kendrick ended up in that rolled up mat. Here's some snips from this article: http://valdostadailytimes.com/local/...dent-s-details


"The story borders on the outlandish to many — the theory that Johnson died trying to retrieve a shoe from a stack of wrestling mats in the high school’s old gym on Jan. 10, 2013. But the investigation into Johnson’s death revealed that students often used the spaces between gym mats as free lockers, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s full report on Johnson’s death details how the teenager died and how dangerous the mats can be."

"A motion-controlled camera recorded Johnson crossing paths with another student and heading in the opposite direction towards the gym mats, which authorities stated had been rolled up and stacked vertically over the Christmas holidays."


"A class reportedly filled the empty gym shortly after Johnson went to retrieve his shoes. The time elapsed left just enough time for the teen to lose his life as he attempted to change out of his good shoes between classes."



So he was wearing one pair of shoes and went back to the old gym to change into another pair of shoes? When he became stuck inside the mat, did he kick off the shoes he was wearing in the struggle to free himself? Ugh! It's so hard to make sense of this story.

[TupeloHoney]

This seems like a more likely turn of events?

It's so hard to find any info or timeline of what happened that day ...before Kendrick ended up in that rolled up mat. Here's some snips from this article: http://valdostadailytimes.com/local/...dent-s-details


"The story borders on the outlandish to many ? the theory that Johnson died trying to retrieve a shoe from a stack of wrestling mats in the high school?s old gym on Jan. 10, 2013. But the investigation into Johnson?s death revealed that students often used the spaces between gym mats as free lockers, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation?s full report on Johnson?s death details how the teenager died and how dangerous the mats can be."

"A motion-controlled camera recorded Johnson crossing paths with another student and heading in the opposite direction towards the gym mats, which authorities stated had been rolled up and stacked vertically over the Christmas holidays."


"A class reportedly filled the empty gym shortly after Johnson went to retrieve his shoes. The time elapsed left just enough time for the teen to lose his life as he attempted to change out of his good shoes between classes."



So he was wearing one pair of shoes and went back to the old gym to change into another pair of shoes? When he became stuck inside the mat, did he kick off the shoes he was wearing in the struggle to free himself? Ugh! It's so hard to make sense of this story.

What's that you say, Tess? Kendrick had two pairs of shoes? One good pair and one for gym/practice? Guess I'm not a total dipshit after all.

I just didn't think the pair of shoes in the pic was a huge issue because after reading a number of articles last night and quite a few this morning, I never once read where his loved ones said anything about those shoes striking them as odd.

[beli]

i was just saying i didn't realize they were there. i had not thought of him having two shoes though.

[Angiebla]

those mats take 2-3 in shape wrestlers to roll up and stand up. there is no way he fell in like a pencil, there had to be at least 3 or 4 people involved. was he a wrestler? why was he near the mats, isn't there a mat room?

a lot of questions, no real answers.

I agree this whole story doesn't make any sense. The mats are really tall when in the upright position, how could he have climbed in one by himself?

[Shins]

[/B]


What's that you say, Tess? Kendrick had two pairs of shoes? One good pair and one for gym/practice? Guess I'm not a total dipshit after all.

I just didn't think the pair of shoes in the pic was a huge issue because after reading a number of articles last night and quite a few this morning, I never once read where his loved ones said anything about those shoes striking them as odd.

Who called you a total dipshit?


My point is that the more I mull over any plausible "accident" that might have occured, the more that foul play makes sense.