Case of teen found dead inside mat at Lowndes High School in 2013 remains active, sheriff’s office says

LOWNDES COUNTY, Ga. (WCTV) – The case of a teen whose physique was found wrapped in a mat at Lowndes High School’s fitness center in 2013 remains lively over a decade later, in line with the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO).

In a social media submit on Monday morning, the sheriff’s office introduced that the case of Kendrick Johnson, who died at the age of 17, remains lively and that Sheriff Ashley Paulk’s reward money of $500,000 still stands for any information resulting in the arrest and conviction in the dying of Johnson.

The teen’s dying garnered nationwide consideration after his physique was found rolled up in a gymnasium wrestling mat at the South Georgia highschool on Jan. 11, 2013.

LCSO’s assertion on Monday comes only a month after a decide dismissed a $1 billion federal lawsuit, first filed in 2023 by Johnson’s household, towards a number of events, WCTV’s sister station, WANF, reported. The causes for the dismissed lawsuit included immunity, failure to state a declare, procedural rule violations and statutes of limitations.

The grievance from Johnson’s mother and father had been amended to incorporate quite a few defendants over the previous few years, together with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Lowndes County and Lowndes County Schools, amongst a number of others, in line with WANF.

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A number of months after the teen’s dying, a GBI post-mortem report concluded that Johnson died from “accidental positional asphyxiation,” in line with a movement to dismiss filed by the GBI on March 2.

At the request of Johnson’s household, a second post-mortem report was performed by a personal health worker, who found the teen’s trigger of dying to be “unexplained blunt force trauma,” the order revealed. A 3rd post-mortem was additionally carried out, which matched the outcomes of the primary post-mortem report.

However, the teen’s mother and father didn’t settle for the findings, citing inconsistencies in the post-mortem studies.

Anyone with any info is inspired to go to the sheriff’s office, positioned at 120 Prison Farm Road. For those that could have info however reside in one other jurisdiction, LCSO advises these to go to their “local law enforcement agency to make a statement in reference to this case.”

To learn the total order filed March 2, click on here.

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