The Valdosta County Sheriff offered half a million dollars of his own money in response to the negative outcry about a recent report released regarding the 2013 death of a Georgia teen.
After years of controversy and conspiracies swirled around the death of17-year-old Kendrick Johnson, Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk reopened the case last year and pored over boxes of documents.
“I’m going to try and dispel all the rumors and accusations,“Paulk told PEOPLE at the time. “I just want the truth. That’s all I want.”
Last week, the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Department issued a 16-page report stating there was no evidence to show that anyone else was responsible for Kendrick’s death,theNew York Timesreported. He described it as a “weird accident,” the paper stated.
For years, Kendrick’s mother, Jacquelyn Johnson, and her family fought for answers that never came.
When authorities ruled Kendrick’s death accidental, theorizing he had fallen into the opening at the center of the mat and suffocated, the Johnsons conducted an independent autopsy of their own, which determined he was a victim of foul play.
“I’m going to fight this fight because, at the end of the day, that’s my child that’s in the grave,” Jacquelyn told PEOPLE in October.
Sheriff Paulk, who was not in office at the time of Kendrick’s death, decided to pore over 17 boxes of evidence in an effort to dispel any myths, hoping to close the case that has divided a town. But Kendrick’s parents didn’t agree.
On Saturday, Jacquelyn and her family gathered in downtown Valdosta to protest Paulk’s findings,theAtlanta Journal Constitutionreported.
“They can always try and do what they want, but I’m going to stay in their face,” Jacquelyn stated in a Facebook live stream, the paper reported.
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On Monday, Sheriff Paulk decided to offer his own money as a reward to anyone who provides any information leading to an arrest and conviction.
“After the release of my synopsis of the federal files on the Kendrick Johnson case, his parents have called me a liar and continue to state that Kendrick was murdered,” he wrote, according to the paper.
“Because of these statements, I am personally — with my own funds — offering a reward of one-half million dollars … to anyone who comes forward with information that results in the arrest and conviction of a person for the alleged murder of Kendrick Johnson at Lowndes County High School.”
source: people.com
