LOWNDES COUNTY, Ga. (WCTV) – The case of a teen whose body was found wrapped in a mat at Lowndes High School’s gym in 2013 remains active over a decade later, according to the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO).
In a social media post on Monday morning, the sheriff’s office announced that the case of Kendrick Johnson, who died at the age of 17, remains active and that Sheriff Ashley Paulk’s reward money of $500,000 still stands for any information leading to the arrest and conviction in the death of Johnson.
The teen’s death garnered national attention after his body was found rolled up in a gymnasium wrestling mat at the South Georgia high school on Jan. 11, 2013.
LCSO’s statement on Monday comes just a month after a judge dismissed a $1 billion federal lawsuit, first filed in 2023 by Johnson’s family, against several parties, WCTV’s sister station, WANF, reported. The reasons for the dismissed lawsuit included immunity, failure to state a claim, procedural rule violations and statutes of limitations.
The complaint from Johnson’s parents had been amended to include numerous defendants over the past few years, including the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Lowndes County and Lowndes County Schools, among several others, according to WANF.
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A few months after the teen’s death, a GBI autopsy report concluded that Johnson died from “accidental positional asphyxiation,” according to a motion to dismiss filed by the GBI on March 2.
At the request of Johnson’s family, a second autopsy report was conducted by a private medical examiner, who found the teen’s cause of death to be “unexplained blunt force trauma, ” the order revealed. A third autopsy was also performed, which matched the results of the first autopsy report.
However, the teen’s parents did not accept the findings, citing inconsistencies in the autopsy reports.
Anyone with any information is encouraged to go to the sheriff’s office, located at 120 Prison Farm Road. For those who may have information but reside in another jurisdiction, LCSO advises those to go to their “local law enforcement agency to make a statement in reference to this case.”
To read the full order filed March 2, click here.
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