Federal investigators will probe the death of Georgia teen Kendrick Johnson, whose body was found rolled up in a gym mat at his high school in January.
U.S. Attorney Michael Moore said in a news conference in Macon, Ga., Thursday that the FBI and federal prosecutors were now involved in the mysterious case.
The local sheriff had closed the case, calling it a a freak accident. Johnson's parents, however, have said they suspect their 17-year-old son was murdered.
They waged a public battle to reopen the case, alleging a cover-up by officials.
"I am of the opinion that a sufficient basis exists to conduct a formal review of the facts and investigation surrounding the death of Kendrick Johnson," Moore said.
"My objective is to discover the truth, and I believe that can only be done by gathering all of the relevant information surrounding Mr. Johnson's death," he added.
Kendrick Johnson's parents and their attorneys join Rev. Al Sharpton to discuss the newly announced federal investigation into their son's death.
Lt. Stryder Jones, a spokesman with the Lowndes County Sheriff's Office, said the department welcomed the probe, "but we stand behind our initial investigation."
Meanwhile, Johnson's parents have hired civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who also represented the family of slain teenager Trayvon Martin.
On Wednesday, a small portion of the surveillance video taken at Lowndes High School in Valdosto, Ga., where Johnson was found dead was released.
It did not show the fateful moment, but the parents were awaiting the release of even more video footage (1,900 hours worth) from the days he went missing.
One part of the the newly released footage shows Kendrick Johnson walking into the gym and onto the basketball court where other people are playing.
An autopsy by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation ruled that he suffocated inside an upright gym mat after he fell in headfirst reaching for a shoe.
Months later, Johnson's parents exhumed his body, and a private pathologist performed a second autopsy, determining blunt force trauma to the neck.
And in a strange twist that shocked the family, he second autopsy also discovered Johnson's organs were missing and the body cavity was filled with newspapers.
Following that revelation, Sherry Lang, director of public affairs at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said, "We stand behind our medical examiner's office."
Of the cavity find, she said, "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."
{ 0 komentar... read them below or add one }
Posting Komentar