On January 11, 2013, the body of 17-year-old Kendrick Johnson was found inside a rolled-up wrestling mat in the gymnasium of Lowndes High School in Valdosta, Georgia.
He was upside down, head toward the center of the mat, his feet sticking out of the top.

Investigators concluded he had climbed into the mat to retrieve a shoe and became trapped.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation ruled the cause of d*ath as positional asphyxia and the manner accidental. Several students said it was common to store shoes inside the rolled mats.

His family never accepted that finding. A second autopsy they commissioned reported unexplained, non-accidental blunt force tr*uma to the right side of his neck, and they have maintained for years that he was k*lled and that the truth was covered up.

In 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice closed its civil rights investigation, saying there was insufficient evidence to file federal charges.

The Lowndes County Sheriff reopened the case in 2021, and a 2022 report again found no evidence of foul play.

A $1 billion lawsuit filed by Johnson’s parents was dismissed by a federal judge in early 2026.

The case officially remains open, with a $500,000 reward still offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction