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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWTF??? Georgia teen was stuffed with newspaper after death, family lawyer says
The mysterious death of a Georgia teen has taken a bizarre twist with the revelation that an autopsy of his exhumed remains found his internal organs missing and his body stuffed with newspaper.
The family of Kendrick Johnson, 17, of Valdosta, Ga., was "outraged" and "devastated" by the discovery and believes his death was a murder that is being covered up, a lawyer representing them said Thursday.
Johnson, a three-sport athlete, was found dead on Jan. 11 in a rolled-up wrestling mat in his high school gym. State medical examiners concluded that he accidentally suffocated while trying to retrieve a sneaker.
But his parents, Kenneth and Jacquelyn Johnson, were doubtful about that conclusion. In June, they won a court order to have Kendrick's body exhumed for a second autopsy.
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/10/20898158-georgia-teen-was-stuffed-with-newspaper-after-death-family-lawyer-says?lite
Duer 157099
(17,742 posts)WTF?
rurallib
(62,460 posts)BillyRibs
(787 posts)are so steeped in the religion of the state, that they will believe any thing issued as dogma, and attack any one questioning it as if they were heretics.
BronxBoy
(2,286 posts)just saying
stevenleser
(32,886 posts)Unbelievable.
7962
(11,841 posts)(this has nothing to do with whether or not there was foul play, just what supposedly happened that killed him)
The mats are rolled up in the gym. Kids sometimes place their shoes on top of them. His shoes fell into one of the rolled up mats. He fell into the rolled up mat trying to get the shoes and as he exhaled he slid in further, which in turn made it harder and harder to breath, and eventually suffocated him.
There is supposedly security footage of him going into the gym, but also showing OTHERS going into the gym as well. But I've never seen if they went in before or after him or when they left. Theres also the question of him being bruised. Dont know if the situation described above would cause that or not.
But this latest news is off the charts. Newspaper??? SOmething sure isnt right about that.
loli phabay
(5,580 posts)I remember jumping down the rolled up mats when younger, i can see someone leaning in and then slipping head first down it.
truebluegreen
(9,033 posts)subterranean
(3,427 posts)Baitball Blogger
(46,763 posts)MADem
(135,425 posts)Harrington Funeral Home and the Valdosta sheriff did not return a request for comment from NBC News.
Sherry Lang, director of public affairs at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said, "We stand behind our medical examiner's office and their autopsy report on this case. We returned the organs with the body to the funeral home. It's our policy and it's our practice on every single autopsy that we do."
On Thursday, Kendrick's parents announced they planned to seek legal action against government officials who may have had involvement in covering up their son's murder.
"To find his organs are missing is just insult on top of injury," Crump said. "They're outraged. They've been outraged for the last nine months."
...
"A lot of people in the community believe they know who did this [the murder]," he said. "The question is why was it covered up. Right now we think that the truth is right under our noses and it's going to come out. This murder mystery will be solved."
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/10/20898158-georgia-teen-was-stuffed-with-newspaper-after-death-family-lawyer-says?lite
If the papers are dated after the transfer of the remains from one place to the next, that will be a clue....
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)I have no idea how a bunch of people aren't fired over the theft of this kid's organs...
Too bad the Georgia governor is such a racist piece of shit and could care less about what's happening out in pudunk...
BronxBoy
(2,286 posts)mainly White area...not much to ponder.
fitman
(482 posts)Don't laugh stranger things have happened. Young, healthy, drug free athletic guy...family friend of said rich guy or an aquintance..
Dash87
(3,220 posts)Auntie Bush
(17,528 posts)However, how long was he dead when he was discovered? Or could he have been killed for his organs? The first autopsy would have revealed this unless it was a coverup. Ouch! That tin foil hat is too tight.
fitman
(482 posts)But after watching the weird circumstances on those shows nothing would surprise me any more.
Dreamer Tatum
(10,926 posts)Pretzel_Warrior
(8,361 posts)Weird. Next they will blame the local mortician for his shoddy "newspaper-based embalming methods".
XemaSab
(60,212 posts)but this whole thing reeks of a coverup.
Response to joeybee12 (Original post)
Cronus Protagonist This message was self-deleted by its author.
mike_c
(36,281 posts)I presume the pathologist would have removed his organs for examination, measurement, and histology during the previous autopsy. I don't know whether it's normal practice to dispose of them as biological waste afterward, but stuffing the body cavity with some sort of filling would probably be a concession to open casket funeral services.
former9thward
(32,093 posts)In a previous job I witnessed dozens of autopsies at Chicago's Cook County Medical Examiner's Office. Various organs are taken out for later testing and paper is put in the body so the body does not collapse in on itself before family viewing/burial. In Chicago they usually used tissue paper or similar. The lawyer is just trying to take advantage of public ignorance of this practice and generate outrage.
joeybee12
(56,177 posts)not suffocation...there's a cover-up and a pretty lame one, too.
former9thward
(32,093 posts)But the OP headline was about the body being stuffed with newspapers. The headline was not about murder or cover up.
joeybee12
(56,177 posts)Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)And I'm still interested to know how the GBI ever came to such a laughable "official" conclusion....
Sheepshank
(12,504 posts)it is the decent, kind and honerable thing to do for the family.
I've heard of bones being removed and PVC piping used to replace the bones. The cadaver bones were used for grafting..and had been removed without the consent of the family. THIS is what Iwonder has happenened in the OP? Research or transplanting without consent. The morg or funeral home stands to make a lot of money from harvesting body parts.
former9thward
(32,093 posts)Sometimes testing takes weeks. The body can't wait that long.
Thor_MN
(11,843 posts)jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)abelenkpe
(9,933 posts)I read about it awhile ago. Feel so bad for his family! Definitely not an accident. This news makes the story even more suspect.