Lowndes County reopens Kendrick Johnson case

VALDOSTA, Ga. (WTXL) — The Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office has reopened the Kendrick Johnson case.

LCSO confirmed to ABC 27 the case was reopened Friday, March 5, 2021, after federal investigators gave them documents requested in the case from two years ago.

Now, they are working to compare those notes to new information the sheriff’s office has obtained and are looking for any discrepancies.

Johnson’s body was found on January 11, 2013, in the old Lowndes High School gymnasium inside a rolled up gym mat, head first. In May 2013, his death was ruled an accident.

"They know something happened to Kendrick, but yet they are not doing anything about it," said Jacquelyn Johnson, Kendrick Johnson's mother. "So it's up to us to make them do their job."

Since Kendrick Johnson's death in 2013, the Johnson family has filed several lawsuits and Johnson’s body has been exhumed multiple times as the family fought to have his death investigated as a homicide.

Jacquelyn Johnson says justice was never served for the death of her son.

"People just don't understand how hard it is to lose a child," said Jacquelyn Johnson. "But to lose a child to murder."

In July of last year, a federal court dismissed the Johnson family’s case.

Johnson's case received renewed national attention in the summer of 2020 when Kim Kardashian West tweeted, demanding justice for Johnson.