School documents released Tuesday by an attorney representing a dead Valdosta high school student challenges the alibi of the older of two brothers targeted by federal prosecutors investigating the 2013 death.
A copy of a reservation for a bus that carried Lowndes High School’s wrestling team to Macon for a tournament in which the older brother was competing lists the departure time as 4 p.m. — roughly three hours after Kendrick Johnson, whose body was found inside a rolled-up gym mat, was last seen alive. State and local law enforcement concluded the 17-year-old’s death was accidental.
“We were told they were not on campus when our child disappeared,” said Chevene King, reading a statement from Johnsons’ parents, who believe their son was killed. King urged parents of wrestling team members to ask their children “the questions police did not.”
One Lowndes wrestler told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution the team left the school well before 4 p.m. The 152-mile trip takes roughly two-and-a-half hours by bus and the tournament began at 7 p.m. that night.
“I remember we had weigh-ins that afternoon about 3 or 4 (p.m.),” said Matt Moody, a junior at the time. “We definitely left before 4.”
The brothers, whose names are being withheld because they were juveniles at the time of the alleged incident, received letters from the U.S. Attorney office’s informing them they were “target(s) of the grand jury’s investigation” into Johnson’s death. They’ve never been identified as suspects.
The lead investigator on the case declined comment Tuesday, as did the attorney for Lowndes High School.
In a previous interview, Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Stryde Jones said the boys’ names had surfaced because of a 2011 scuffle between Johnson and the youngest of the brothers.
His alibi has been supported by school surveillance footage that places him across campus from the old gym where Johnson’s body was found. His teachers told investigators he was in class and not tardy that day.
The mother of one Lowndes wrestler said she arrived in Macon no later than 5 p.m., at which point the team had already arrived.
“We go to all the tournaments and I know I checked out after a half-day at work,” Nicole Ogburn said Tuesday. “There’s no way they left at 4 p.m.”
So what explains the discrepancy on the departure times for the wrestling tournament?
Two people with direct knowledge of the investigation told the AJC the bus was reserved at the beginning of the school year, before wrestling coach Spencer Graybeal knew the exact times of the matches.
Beyond the trip time, wrestlers also have to report for weigh-ins and “skin, nail and hair checks,” a lengthy process that all of the competing teams must go through.
The team returned to Valdosta on Jan. 12, one day after students discovered Johnson’s body.
“When we heard he had died I remember a lot of us saying, ‘Thank God our boys weren’t there,’ ” Ogburn said. “They would’ve been the ones who found his body.”
Only varsity wrestlers made the trip, said Moody, which would account for the presence of other team members captured by school security cameras.
In an exclusive interview earlier this year, the younger of the two brothers told the AJC that he and Johnson, once close friends and football teammates, had moved past the 2011 tussle.
“I wouldn’t even call it a fight,” the boy said. “It was pretty much forgotten after the coaches talked to us.”
The boys’ mother, Karen Bell, said she believes her sons are being singled out because their father, Rick Bell, is a FBI agent. The elder Bell also received a target letter from U.S. Attorney Michael Moore alleging possible civil rights violations. It’s not known whether target letters were sent to anyone else.
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