Federal marshals have seized emails from the Lowndes County sheriff's office this week involving the mysterious death of Georgia teen Kendrick Johnson.
U.S. marshals issued a warrant to the sheriff's office on Tuesday and Wednesday to seize emails and phone records related to the teenager's death.
The warrant comes two years after Johnson was found dead in a Valdosta high school in January 2013 rolled in a gym mat. Initially investigators ruled the case as an accident, saying that Johnson got stuck and died of "positional asphyxia," according to News One.
A second autopsy, taken at the behest of Johnson's parents, revealed that the teen died of "unexplained, apparent nonaccidental blunt force trauma." This information led his parents to file a $100 million lawsuit in January 2015, accusing two former schoolmates, who are brothers, and their father, who is a local FBI agent, of wrongful death, according to CNN.
Ron Hosko of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, which represents the family, said computers, thumb drives and cell phones were seized.
"The case is built solely on suspicion, innuendo and rumor, not evidence," attorney Brice Ladson, who represents the same family, told WCTV. He noted that no one has been indicted in the federal grand jury investigation and that there's no evidence that anyone from the family is involved.
The Justice Department launched a federal investigation nine months after Johnson's death, but very few details about their findings (if any) have been released to the public.
