Jordan Willis Kansas City man claims being asleep when his 3 friends froze to death in backyard after watching football game as family members now demand answers as cops decline to charge HIV scientist as toxicology reports and an autopsy are now pending.
Deceased Kansas Chief fans identified as David Harrington, Ricky Johnson and Clayton McGeeney, with party host’s attorney now saying a fifth ‘mystery’ friend was also at the home on the night the 3 men froze to death.
An attorney representing a Kansas City man has claimed being in bed when three friends who had earlier that evening dropped by to watch a game of football only to later freeze to death in the man’s backyard later that evening.
The bodies of David Harrington, 37, Ricky Johnson, 38, and Clayton McGeeney, 36, were found on the evening of Jan. 9 after the fiancée of one of the men requested a welfare check.
All three men were found frozen to death at the backyard of the rental home located near N.W. 83rd Terrace and N. Overland Drive in Platte County that they had come to just two days earlier.
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Unanswered questions
One man’s body was found on the back porch of the NW 83rd Terrace home, while the other two were discovered in the backyard.
But the homeowner, since identified as Jordan Willis, 38, an award winning Kansas City scientist specialising in the study of HIV has insisted in having ‘no knowledge’ that his friends were freezing to death on his property after they had watched Kansas City take on the LA Chargers in the last game of NFL regular season play on Jan. 7, police said.
Willis, who has since moved out of the rental home where the Kansas City fans died that fateful evening, continues to maintain his innocence, while Kansas City police insist they are not leading a homicide investigation.
But not everyone believes Willis. Or not necessarily his version of events or to what degree and whether the deceased friends may have been under the influence on the evening of their death. Or were they accidentally locked out. Or perhaps locked out by design for boorish behavior? Or why none of the relatives of the three un-accounted friends were unable to make contact with Willis – either by phone, by text or when they went knocking on the man’s front door.
It wasn’t until the fiancee broke through a basement window and found a body in the back porch with attending police finding the ‘frozen’ bodies of the two other friends in the backyard.
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Mystery 5th houseguest
Willis’ attorney John Picerno told the The Kansas City Star that his client said goodbye to his friends – two of whom he’d known since high school – then ‘crashed’ on the couch.
A short time later, Willis according to the attorney went upstairs to bed, leaving the doors unlocked. The three men, he says, then returned to the property and at some stage, went outside.
Attorney John Picerno has since confirmed there was a fifth person at the house with Willis and the three victims that night. Picerno said Willis went to sleep while those four men were still up, hanging out in the house. No other information about the fifth friend has become public.
This new piece of information is part of the reason the victims’ families are frustrated and not necessarily convinced as to Willis’ version of events. They believe that still more than two weeks later, they haven’t got the full story.
‘Just the thought of him dying and them him sitting outside in the cold for two days,’ Caleb McGeeney, the cousin of Clayton McGeeney told FOX4KC. ‘It’s extremely devastating. The whole family is messed up. He was such a good person.’
So, what happened? When did it happen? How did it happen? These are the questions the families still don’t have answers to and continue to seek out as Jordan Willis insists he had nothing to do with the three mens’ deaths and could’ve never have preempted their demise.
‘It’s got a lot of holes in it, like last time he saw them they were leaving the house, but he didn’t know they had left, that doesn’t make much sense,’ Caleb McGeeney said.
In a Saturday statement Picerno released on behalf of Willis, Picerno said the last time Willis saw the three men was when they left the house and he went to bed.
The attorney would later change that story, claiming Willis went to sleep while the three victims and the fifth man continued to hangout in his home.
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Does football game host story add up?
‘When he would have people over at his house, yes sometimes as people, they get tired, they’re people that are very close to you and you feel comfortable going to bed and allowing them to leave when they want to leave,’ Picerno said.
The attorney explained Willis never left his home once he got back home Sunday. That’s why he didn’t notice the victims’ cars were still there.
Picerno also claims that his client didn’t hear anyone banging on the doors over two days, nor did he hear Clayton McGeeney’s fiancée break in and scream his name but minutes later he heard police knock on the door.
‘None of us know what happened to these individuals and I think the most important thing to remember here, these are his three buddies,’ Picerno said.
Picerno insists Willis had no involvement in the deaths of the three men.
‘He has nothing to hide. He went to the police station and spoke with officers without a lawyer present, he allowed them to search his home… these were his friends.
‘He’d bought tickets for them all to go to the next Chiefs game – he didn’t want any harm to come to any of them. There was no ill will,’ Picerno told the dailymail.
Case not being investigated as homicide
‘First and foremost, this case is 100% NOT being investigated as a homicide,’ Kansas City Police Capt. Jake Becchina said.
Adding, ‘The resident at the house was cooperative with detectives the day the deceased were discovered.’
Picerno has slamming internet sleuths and those assuming that he is to blame, calling the speculation ‘unfair’.
For the families they just want justice and a story that makes sense to them.
‘Somebody has to end up in custody over it regardless of any situation. They are at your house and three people are dead,’ Caleb said.
Family and friends of the victims took to social media to lambast the man who invited his friends to watch the game.
‘This man was inside his home alive while my friends were dead in his yard for lord knows how long,’ Kaylee La Tier wrote in a Facebook post earlier this month.
‘They were all hanging out since after the game Sunday. He KNEW people were looking for them. He read messages of people searching for him on Tuesday.’
Answered police wearing boxer shorts and empty wine glass in hand
‘My husband banged on his door for 20 [minutes],’ La Tier continued. ‘My friend banged on his door and then busted a window and yelled and announced her presence while she’s inside and still nothing from him? Then the cops come 10 [minutes] later and he comes out nonchalant in his boxers with an empty wine glass in hand??! Nothing is adding up. Dave, Clay and Ricky need and deserve justice.’
Picerno continues to maintain his client had no idea his friends were dead until police knocked on his door.
Picerno said his client was sleeping with headphones on next to a loud fan when people came looking for his friends and didn’t see a message from one of their wives until after police contacted him.
The man also did not think it was ‘unusual for his friends to have left their cars there overnight,’ the lawyer told The Kansas City Star.
Kansas City Police to date have not responded to media overture for comment as to why the three friends may have declined to seek shelter, or if they were under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Kansas City police are still waiting on the results from medical examiners to determine a cause of death. It could be weeks before they get results from an autopsy and other tests.
Temperatures on Jan 7th and 8th mostly stayed in the low 30s, before plummeting into the teens on the afternoon of the 9th, according to Weather Underground.
Since the beginning of this investigation, KCPD has kept the Platte County Prosecutor’s Office up to speed on their progress.
Willis is not facing charges in the case as police continue to investigate and await results. At least for now.
