Man gets 6 years for lying to investigators about unsolved murder of U.Md. football coach’s son
A Gaithersburg, Maryland, man has been sentenced to six years in prison for lying to a federal grand jury in connection with the unsolved murder of Meiko Locksley, son of University of Maryland head football coach Mike Locksley.
John Willie Kennedy Jr., who goes by “Cognac” and “Yak,” pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice charges in September 2023, admitting he lied to investigators about where he was during Meiko Locksley’s killing, according to prosecutors.
Meiko Locksley was found fatally shot in the chest in Columbia, Maryland, in September 2017. Police have released few details about the shooting over the years and have never publicly identified a suspect or suspects, but they have said they don’t believe the shooting was random.
According to prosecutors, Kennedy lived in a town house near where Meiko Locksley was found shot and called 911 to report the shooting. In the days after the killing, police interviewed Kennedy, who claimed he hadn’t seen anything, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland said in a news release.
Despite Kennedy’s claim that he hadn’t seen Meiko Locksley on the day of the shooting, prosecutors said phone records show the two had a series of calls shortly before Meiko Locksley was killed.
According to Kennedy’s plea agreement, investigators confronted Kennedy with the phone records in January 2018. Kennedy then told police he “might have” sold marijuana to Meiko Locksley, but denied having any information about the shooting, telling investigators he was in his house when it happened and only went outside after he heard the gunshots.
In March 2020, the murder weapon was found in Baltimore and investigators obtained location data for Kennedy’s cellphone at the time of the murder.
According to prosecutors, that data showed Kennedy was in the parking lot in front of the town house where Meiko Locksley was killed at the time of the murder.
About a year later, in April 2021, Kennedy lied to a federal grand jury, saying he was in his house when Meiko Locksley was shot. Investigators later learned witnesses saw Kennedy in front of the town house where Locksley was shot immediately before and after the shooting.
According to prosecutors, Kennedy was seen putting something in the back of his truck after the shooting, then ran toward his town house.
Kennedy admitted lying to the grand jury and obstructing the investigation. Under his sentence, he will serve three years supervised release follows his six years behind bars.
WTOP’s Jack Moore contributed to this report.