The three Kansas City Chiefs fans who were found dead outside their friend’s home on Jan. 9 reportedly had “several substances” in their bodies, family members told a local news outlet.
What’s happened
The toxicology reports are back for Clayton McGeeney, 36, David Harrington, 37, and Ricky Johnson, 38. The high school friends were found dead on Jan. 9 in the backyard of their friend Jordan Willis’s rental home, two days after Willis had invited them to watch the Kansas City Chiefs play the Los Angeles Chargers.
Two days after the game, McGeeney’s fianceé visited the house to check on him after not hearing from him and said she found a body on the back porch, the Kansas City Police Department told Yahoo News. She called the police and when officers arrived, they discovered two more dead bodies in the snow-filled backyard.
Willis told family members that the three pals “froze to death.”
The Kansas City Police Department has confirmed that it received these reports, according to the local Fox 4 affiliate. But police have been tight-lipped about what’s actually in the report due to their ongoing investigation. Reports from Fox 4 and other outlets cite anonymous family sources who’ve said the report indicates that the men had several substances, including fentanyl and cocaine, in their systems; however, those details have not been officially confirmed.
“If fentanyl was involved, which I don’t know at this point, then obviously … it’s a scourge, and it turns recreational drug use into a lethal situation,” Tony Kagay, the attorney for the family of McGeeney, told NewsNation.
Willis has moved out of the rental home, Fox News Digital reported on Jan. 31, and has checked into rehab for addiction.
“After the shocking loss of three of his close friends under extremely tragic circumstances, Jordan recognized that he had a problem with addiction,” the source told Fox News Digital. “He immediately checked himself into rehab after vacating his home and putting his things into storage.”
Conflicting accounts of what really happened that night
On Jan. 20, Willis’s attorney, John Picerno, told a local news outlet that after the game ended, the three men left the house and Willis went to bed. That was the last time Willis saw them, according to Picerno.
But on Jan. 22, Alex Weamer-Lee, a fifth man who was also watching the game at Willis’s house that night — told the local Fox 4 affiliate that Willis, McGeeney, Harrington and Johnson were awake watching Jeopardy when he left the home.
Weamer-Lee’s attorney, Andrew Talge, said his client arrived at the house around 7 p.m. and left at midnight.
Picerno said that Willis “got tired and went to sleep while there were these guys in the home, and as I know now, there was a couple of other people in the home.”
On Jan. 24, Picerno clarified the timeline, telling Fox News Digital that Weamer-Lee left the house first. Willis then said goodbye to Johnson, Harrington and McGeeney before falling asleep on the couch.
According to the local Fox affiliate, the three men were apparently alive as early as 1:30 am on Jan. 8.
Picerno has not responded to a request for comment from Yahoo News.
2 days of no response
During the days leading up to the discovery of the bodies, Picerno said that Willis — a senior principal scientist with a PhD at the nonprofit International AIDS Vaccine Initiative — was working from home, sleeping most of the time before police arrived, according to USA Today.
Multiple outlets have reported that after concerned friends and family had not heard from the men after the football game, they and Weamer-Lee tried to contact Willis, but he did not respond.
According to the local Fox affiliate, Picerno also acknowledged that two people came to the house but Willis had been sleeping with earbuds near a fan and didn’t hear them.
But Willis answered the door for police when they arrived, wearing just his underwear while gripping an empty glass of wine.
Family: ‘They may have done some substances that were questionable’
The families have been seeking answers for weeks surrounding the circumstances around the men’s mysterious deaths. They say Willis’s account of the night does not add up, including his claim that he slept for most of the two days and did not know there were dead bodies in his yard. However, they have acknowledged that drugs may have been involved before they died.
“I’m aware that they may have done some substances that were questionable — but the idea was to get high, not dead,” Jon Harrington, David Harrington’s father, told Fox News Digital.
“If they were supposed to be friends, why didn’t [Willis] come find them. I’m sure they have a hundred different answers to that, but that’s my question,” Jon Harrington said.
Johnson’s brother Jonathan Price told People magazine that for the men to freeze to death, “something had to have been in their system.”
“Whether or not it was taken knowingly, I wouldn’t answer that. But something was taken because three grown men do not freeze to death at the temperatures that were there at the time with just alcohol involved,” Price said.
Willis’s attorney has pushed back at the accusations that his client was involved in the men’s deaths.
“Jordan had absolutely nothing to do with their deaths. He does not know the timing or manner of their deaths, nor does he know how or when they exited his house,” Picerno told CBS News.
“The No. 1 thing that people need to remember from our point of view is that these were his three buddies. If they were in danger, he would’ve helped them,” Picerno told Fox News Digital. “If he knew they were out there, he would’ve called the police himself. Anything beyond that is pure speculation.”
What police have said
The Kansas City Police Department said that it was probing this case as a “death investigation” and that “no foul play was observed or suspected.”
Willis “was cooperative with detectives the day the deceased were discovered,” the department told Yahoo News via email on Jan. 25.
“There have not been any arrests/charges, and no one is in custody. There are no specific threats or concerns for the surrounding community at this time.” the statement continued.
The police told Fox 4 that their detectives and the Platte County prosecutor’s office have been in touch with the three men’s families and that the case is still a “death” investigation.
