In October 2013, the Department of Justice launched a federal investigation into Johnson’s death.
Several members of Johnson’s extended family and current Lowndes High School students were seen walking into the federal courthouse in Macon Wednesday.
This was at least the third convening of the grand jury. Witnesses were subpoenaed to testify in the case on at least two dates in 2014, according to documents reviewed by CNN.
“While our investigation has proven to be more complicated and taken longer than I had originally anticipated, we remain committed to following the facts where they may lead,” U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, Michael Moore told CNN Friday.
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Previously released documents showed that the former student and his brother were advised by their attorney in 2013 not to speak to investigators or provide them any statements.
In August, the brothers’ parents filed a $5 million libel lawsuit in federal court against the publishers of Ebony magazine and writer Frederic Rosen. The suit claims stories written by Rosen and published in Ebony magazine and on Ebony.com imply that the brothers played a part in Johnson’s death and their father was involved in a conspiracy to cover it up. The claim that the brothers played any part in the death “is completely untrue,” according to the lawsuit.
The interviews come more than 18 months after Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office closed its investigation into Johnson’s death. Sheriff’s office investigators concluded Johnson got stuck while reaching for a shoe at the center of the rolled mat. The state medical examiner determined Johnson died as the result of accidental “positional asphyxia.”
Johnson’s parents, Kenneth and Jacquelyn Johnson, believe the story about the shoe is a coverup and that their son was murdered. A forensic pathologist hired by Johnson’s family later found evidence of “unexplained, apparent nonaccidental blunt force trauma” to the neck. He concluded Johnson’s death was the result of a homicide.
