JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Nine years after a Georgia teen's body was found in a rolled-up gym mat, the Lowndes County Sheriff is offering his own money to anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest and conviction of a suspect in the alleged murder of Kendrick Johnson.
Sheriff Ashley Paulk tells First Coast News he’s personally offering up $500,000.
He says it's in response to Johnson’s family calling him a liar following the recent release of a sheriff's office synopsis that indicates there's no evidence of foul play.
"I have that much confidence...ever heard the phrase put your money where your mouth is? I’m that confident... I'll write 'em a check," Paulk said to First Coast News, saying that he's certain that his investigators left no stone unturned.
Johnson's body was found in a rolled-up gym mat at Lowndes County High School in Valdosta, about 120 miles northwest of Jacksonville, on Jan. 11, 2013.
Investigators said the 17-year-old Valdosta teen tried to reach into the rolled-up gym mat to grab his shoes.
Investigators said the initial autopsy found Johnson's cause of death was accidental asphyxiation when he got stuck in the mat while trying to retrieve a shoe. Johnson’s family believes he was murdered by schoolmates, and have had two subsequent autopsies conducted, both of which showed blunt force trauma as the cause of death.
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Johnson's body was exhumed in 2018 for the third autopsy. The findings showed the cause of death was "apparent non-accidental, blunt force trauma." It also showed some of Johnson's organs were missing.
Johnson family representatives said when the case was closed in 2016, the family met with federal investigators to present the findings of the case. That meeting was carried out without legal representation from the family, representatives said.
An attorney for the family said they believe the investigation was closed under suspicious circumstances, fueled by the pressure of retired FBI agents. Johnson's parents were persuaded to meet with two U.S. Attorney offices and the Department of Justice without legal representation, the attorney said.
Johnson's family refiled a lawsuit over his death in May 2019, contending that their son's clothes and organs, including his brain, were disposed of to interfere with the investigation into the teen's death.
The family's attorney said after the first autopsy that took place in the GBI lab, the organs were placed in a bag and placed back into Johnson's body when it left the lab. He said more people finding their loved ones dead with their organs missing is a human rights issue.