The attorney for the parents of a Valdosta high school student found dead inside a rolled-up gym mat produced documents on Tuesday that appear to contradict the alibi of the older of two brothers under investigation by federal prosecutors.
While they have never been identified as suspects, the brothers, sons of a local FBI agent, received letters from the U.S. Attorney office’s informing them they were “target(s) of the grand jury’s investigation” into 17-year-old Kendrick Johnson’s death, which local authorities ruled was an accident.
Their motive, according to supporters of the Johnson family who believe the Lowndes High sophomore was killed: Vengeance. Johnson and the younger of the brothers had scuffled on a school bus in 2011.
Lowndes County Sheriff’s investigators dismissed that theory early on, saying that the brothers were never considered suspects.
“One of the brothers had checked out prior to Kendrick entering the gym (where he was found dead) for a state wrestling tournament,” Lowndes County Sheriff’s Dept. Lt. Stryde Jones told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last year. “The other brother was in his class, was not tardy. And then we checked the video of the gym and we don’t see him anywhere around the gym area.”
But a copy of the travel log to Macon for the wrestling tournament, obtained by the Johnsons’ attorney, Chevene King, lists the departure time for that tournament as 4 p.m. on Jan. 10, 2013 — roughly three hours after Kendrick was last seen alive.
“We were told they were not on campus when our child disappeared,” said King, reading a statement from the Johnsons. He urged parents of wrestling team members to ask their children “the questions police did not.”
One member of that team who was on the trip, Matt Moody, told the AJC the team departed no later than noon for the tournament, 152 miles away from Valdosta.
“I remember we had weigh-ins that afternoon about 3 or 4 (p.m.),” Moody said. “We definitely left before 4.”
The AJC has reached out to school officials and will have a complete report later on myajc.com and in Wednesday’s print editions.
