Kansas City Chiefs fans' deaths: Why former homicide detective believes criminal charges still possible
A year-to-date after three men were found frozen in their friend's snowy Kansas City backyard after an NFL watch party, their families still have no explanation for their sons' mysterious deaths.
Clayton McGeeney, 37, Ricky Johnson, 38, and David Harrington, 36, were found dead behind their friend Jordan Willis' home on Jan. 9, 2023. Two days earlier, the four men met up at the house to watch the Kansas City Chiefs play the Los Angeles Chargers.
In the days before McGeeney's fiancée found the men's bodies, Willis could not be reached by phone and did not answer his door, according to family members who searched for the three friends who never returned home.
A representative from the Platte County Prosecutor's Office told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that an investigation into the men's deaths is ongoing. Members of each of the three men's families said that a year later, they still have no updates in the case, with Johnson's mother saying she was "heartbroken."
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"No news or developments," a source close to Willis said on Wednesday. "It's very frustrating, and we don't know what the holdup is."
"He's taking it hard on the anniversary," the source said. "We thought there would be closure by now."
Although preliminary autopsy results shared with the media by family members indicate that fentanyl, cocaine and marijuana were in their systems, the deceased men's families have questioned Willis' involvement in what happened, with some threatening to file lawsuits.
In September, Willis' attorney John Picerno told Fox News Digital that "charges [will be] forthcoming in the next few weeks," based on "internal conversations" with prosecutors.
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"They claim the case is still under investigation," Picerno said on Wednesday. "But as you know, [the] prosecutor told me months ago that my guy has been cleared of any wrongdoing in relation to harming the other three individuals."
Julie Rendelman, a former prosecutor, told Fox News Digital that if Willis was responsible for his friends' deaths, he "likely would have been arrested already."
That said, she said she would "be shocked if a prosecutor's office would promise that any individual wouldn't be pursued, especially if the case is being investigated."
"I'm not saying that [Picerno] is lying, but none of us were privy to any conversation that was had," she said on Wednesday.
"It seems to me that there's room to give some answers without giving it away, even if the answers are 'we don't have the answers,'" Rendelman said of the Platte County Prosecutor's Office. "That happens – cases go unsolved."
Criminal defense attorney Ted Williams told Fox News Digital that a year later, a medical examiner should have complete autopsy results.
"After getting the results of the autopsy, which I would believe they have the full results by now, you would think that would be enough to bring charges against someone associated with the death of these three men," Williams said on Wednesday.
"What is weird and strange and mysterious is that this is still an open case with the Kansas City Police Department – if they believe that this was not a death that was caused at the hands of another, you would think that they would close this investigation out, and they have not," Williams said. "It's still open, so… it could still be considered a homicide… The big question is, what direction is the investigation going?"
But Rendelman pointed out that, although toxicology results and an autopsy are likely completed, a medical examiner may have been unable to determine causes of death.
Rendelman also said it is not outside the realm of possibility that detectives with the Kansas City Police Department are still gathering information in the case. They could be withholding information from the public so as not to jeopardize that investigation.
"I had cases as a prosecutor where we didn't charge anyone for years," she said. "We kept them very quiet and close to the vest because we didn't want outsiders impacting our ability to fully investigate and hold the people responsible that were responsible… they may be concerned that anything they tell to the public could impact their ability to investigate this."
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"Are there some law enforcement offices that just take longer to investigate things? Yes. Are there some prosecutors' offices that aren't as savvy in determining what the public should or shouldn't know? Yes," Rendelman said.
Previously, members of the men's families told Fox News Digital that they intended to sue Willis in civil court. David Harrington's father told Fox News Digital that he and his son's mother were "convinced that Jordan Willis played a part in this somehow" and they "just [hadn't] figured out how yet."
Rendelman said that, in addition to holding someone responsible for their sons' deaths, the families could get the information they are seeking through the discovery period of a civil lawsuit if the prosecutors' office continues to keep them in the dark.
"Sometimes people sue just to get information – you can get a subpoena, get depositions," Rendelman said.
"I would have to believe that there's going to be civil litigation that will bring out more than the public is going to learn from the criminal investigation," Williams echoed.