‘Nothing’s Been Done’ Since Kendrick Johnson’s Gym Mat Death 12 Years Ago, His Mom Says On Anniversary

The mother of a Black teenager who was found dead inside a rolled-up wrestling mat in his Georgia high school gymnasium 12 years ago marked the somber anniversary in part by renewing calls for accountability in a case for which no one has been held responsible.

Jackie Johnson took to Facebook on Friday to remind her friends and followers that Kendrick Johnson, 17, was “beaten to his death January 10, 2013 and nothing has been done as of January 10, 2025.”

Demands for justice in the case have endured since that fateful day in 2013 at Lowndes County High School, as Johnson’s family has persistently raised awareness. That includes this past September when Jackie Johnson traveled to Washington, D.C., on behalf of the Kendrick Johnson Foundation to hold a press conference and remind people that her son “was found dead from severe injuries along with evidence of a two-prong stun gun use.”

What happened to Kendrick Johnson?

An initial report by the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office concluded that the teen reached for a loose shoe that fell in the center of the mat. Kendrick Johnson then became trapped in the mat, which was propped upright behind bleachers, and died from being upside down for an extended period, the report said. Officials also said Kendrick Johnson was alone at the time.

But Kendrick Johnson’s family maintained that the teen had been murdered, noting his bloated head and face during the first autopsy.

When a court granted a request to have Kendrick Johnson’s body exhumed and re-examined by an independent pathologist, the second autopsy found hemorrhaging on the right side of Kendrick Johnson’s cheek and determined the death was the result of a homicide with evidence of “blunt force trauma to the right side of Kendrick’s neck, near the jaw.”

However, Lowndes County Coroner Bill Watson said he stood by the original autopsy and ruled that Kendrick Johnson died from “unexplained,” non-accidental blunt force trauma, which was caused by asphyxia, or suffocation. Since the state also supported the original report, there were no suspects in the death.

However, the second autopsy revealed that Kendrick Johnson’s body had been stuffed with newspapers before burial, sparking suspicions of possible organ harvesting.

“We have been let down again,” Kenneth Johnson, Kendrick’s father, said in response to the stunning revelation. “When we buried Kendrick, we thought we were burying Kendrick, not half of Kendrick.”

The independent pathologist who conducted the second autopsy said he was unsure “who did not return the organs to the body” before adding later, “when we got the body, the organs were not there.”

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) — which performed the first autopsy — and the Harrington Funeral Home – which embalmed and buried Kendrick Johnson — both denied responsibility. A GBI rep said the organs were in Kendrick Johnson’s body when it was given to the funeral home, which said it received the body without any organs.

Amazingly, the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department Of Justice said in a statement there was not “sufficient indication of a civil rights violation to authorize a civil rights investigation.”

Photos from the high school gymnasium in Valdosta, Georgia, showed Kendrick Johnson’s shoeless legs trapped in the mat. Another photo, which places doubt on the claim of accidental death, showed Kendrick Johnson’s face bloated with pooled blood, some of which had poured out of his body and onto his locs and the floor.

Kendrick Johnson’s family eventually retained the legal services of civil rights and personal injury attorney Ben Crump.

Months later, video footage of Kendrick Johnson in the Lowndes High School gym showed that the teen was not alone on the day he died. Crump said the video footage “is proof that there is some conspiracy to conceal the truth from this family and the public as to who killed Kendrick Johnson. We believe that somebody corrupted this video.”

In the video, Kendrick Johnson can be seen walking down a hallway and then turning into the school’s gym. Once Kendrick Johnson enters the gym and veers right, he is not seen on the surveillance video again. The video ends with students leaving the school.

Kendrick Johnson was also shown on video walking across the basketball court with another student trailing him. Suddenly, a second clip jumps that shows Kendrick Johnson running and other students appear in the shot later, making it appear as if a quick edit was made, considering how abruptly other students appeared.

That new video evidence prompted U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia Michael Moore to announce his intention to lead a federal investigation into Kendrick Johnson’s death.

The following year, Kendrick Johnson’s family sued the funeral home in charge of the teen’s remains, alleging that Harrington Funeral Home was not only negligent but also committed fraud while handling their son’s body.

After the lawsuit was filed, more than 100 people, including Kendrick Johnson’s former classmates, were subpoenaed by a federal grand jury investigating the teen’s death.

Right around the second anniversary of Kendrick Johnson’s death, his parents filed a $100 million lawsuit against elected officials and law enforcement officials, alleging that a local FBI agent encouraged his sons—who were schoolmates of the victim—to “violently assault” the teen.

Branden and Brian Bell, the brothers accused of involvement in Kendrick Johnson’s death, denied any wrongdoing.

That lawsuit, which was eventually dropped, came on the heels of a separate wrongful death suit filed by the family over the summer against local school administrators.

The DOJ in 2016 announced that its investigation had found “insufficient evidence to support federal criminal charges.”

To add insult to literal injury, Kendrick Johnson’s parents were subsequently ordered to pay legal fees for the lawsuit that they dropped. The judgment sided with attorneys seeking to reclaim $850,000 after the Johnsons and their attorney, dropped the $100 million lawsuit against the school and city and county leaders.

“It’s like we’re having to pay for my son being murdered,” Jackie Johnson, Kendrick’s mother, later told Roland Martin in an interview for NewsOne Now.

In 2021, Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk reopened the case as a means of restorative justice for Kendrick Johnson’s family.

The following year, Paulk released a 16-page report finding no evidence of “foul play” and affirmed prior findings in the case, to the chagrin of Kendrick Johnson’s parents. A copy of the report showed that Paulk dismissed the idea of a cover-up or any conspiracy theories. Paulk, in turn, offered a reward of $500,000 for any information that leads to an arrest and conviction for Kendrick Johnson’s alleged murder.

As of 2025, Kendrick Johnson’s family is no closer to having the answers they seek.

SEE ALSO:

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Unsolved Black Deaths That Still Haunt The Culture