For years, rumors and controversy has swirled around the death of17-year-old Kendrick Johnson, a Georgia teen who was found dead inside a rolled-up gymnasium mat in 2013.While conspiracies surrounding Kendrick’s death have been the subject of numerous investigative shows and documentaries, filmmaker Jason Pollock, who recently releasedFinding Kendrick Johnson, focuses on one fundamental question: What happened?“There’s no conspiracy theories in the film,” he tells PEOPLE. “But these are the facts. These are the facts that are irrefutable that are mostly from the state’s own documents.“On Jan. 10, 2013, when Kendrick didn’t return home from school, his mom, Jacquelyn Johnson, wasn’t worried at first.She checked in with his father to see if he’d been in contact and reached out to other family and friends, but when she discovered no one had heard from him, she quickly filed a missing persons report.The following day, she went to his school to alert staff he was missing, as well as to check if he’d shown up.“The counselor hadn’t heard,” Jacquelyn recalls. “But then the phone rang. A voice was telling her they just found a body in the gym. … I’m breaking into pieces because I know it’s my child.“For years, Jacquelyn 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.Pollock tells PEOPLE he was looking for a new subject following the release of his previous documentaries about Ferguson and the death of Mike Brown. He came across the story of Kendrick and decided to dig deeper.“After the Mike Brown case, I decided to do a case that I felt needed this [investigative] treatment the most, and KJ’s family was down there in Georgia in 2017 when we first started talking about this,” he says. “Just completely alone and everything had fizzled for them, and nobody cared about them.“He worked on the film for four years, going to Valdosta, Ga., without alerting officials. When it came time to narrate the film, he turned to singer and actress Jenifer Lewis.Jenifer Lewis"It was the most difficult thing I have ever done in my life, and that is the truth,” theBlack-ishactress tells PEOPLE. “If covid wasn’t happening, I’d be downtown right now with millions of people marching for justice. KJ Johnson is everybody’s child.“Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.For now, Pollock hopes people will watch the documentary to learn about the facts of the case and decide on their own whether Kendrick was a victim of an accident or a crime.“The whole point is I don’t know what happened, but somebody there does,” he says.To learn more about the case, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE on newsstands now.
For years, rumors and controversy has swirled around the death of17-year-old Kendrick Johnson, a Georgia teen who was found dead inside a rolled-up gymnasium mat in 2013.
While conspiracies surrounding Kendrick’s death have been the subject of numerous investigative shows and documentaries, filmmaker Jason Pollock, who recently releasedFinding Kendrick Johnson, focuses on one fundamental question: What happened?
“There’s no conspiracy theories in the film,” he tells PEOPLE. “But these are the facts. These are the facts that are irrefutable that are mostly from the state’s own documents.”
On Jan. 10, 2013, when Kendrick didn’t return home from school, his mom, Jacquelyn Johnson, wasn’t worried at first.
She checked in with his father to see if he’d been in contact and reached out to other family and friends, but when she discovered no one had heard from him, she quickly filed a missing persons report.
The following day, she went to his school to alert staff he was missing, as well as to check if he’d shown up.
“The counselor hadn’t heard,” Jacquelyn recalls. “But then the phone rang. A voice was telling her they just found a body in the gym. … I’m breaking into pieces because I know it’s my child.”
For years, Jacquelyn 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.
Pollock tells PEOPLE he was looking for a new subject following the release of his previous documentaries about Ferguson and the death of Mike Brown. He came across the story of Kendrick and decided to dig deeper.
“After the Mike Brown case, I decided to do a case that I felt needed this [investigative] treatment the most, and KJ’s family was down there in Georgia in 2017 when we first started talking about this,” he says. “Just completely alone and everything had fizzled for them, and nobody cared about them.”
He worked on the film for four years, going to Valdosta, Ga., without alerting officials. When it came time to narrate the film, he turned to singer and actress Jenifer Lewis.
Jenifer Lewis
“It was the most difficult thing I have ever done in my life, and that is the truth,” theBlack-ishactress tells PEOPLE. “If covid wasn’t happening, I’d be downtown right now with millions of people marching for justice. KJ Johnson is everybody’s child.”
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
For now, Pollock hopes people will watch the documentary to learn about the facts of the case and decide on their own whether Kendrick was a victim of an accident or a crime.
“The whole point is I don’t know what happened, but somebody there does,” he says.
To learn more about the case, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE on newsstands now.
source: people.com
