An HIV scientist whose three friends were found dead in his backyard after watching a Kansas City Chiefs game was initially handcuffed while being questioned by police, a new video shows.
The bodies of David Harrington, 37, Ricky Johnson, 38, and Clayton McGeeney, 36, were discovered in Jordan Willis’ backyard in Kansas City, Missouri, nearly three weeks ago.
Medical examiners have yet to reveal the cause of death, and toxicology reports are expected to take another five weeks. Police have previously said they are not treating the case as a homicide and Willis has not been charged with any crime.
McGeeney’s fiancée found their bodies in the backyard two days after the game and then called police, who handcuffed and detained Willis on his stoop, according to video obtained by NewsNation National Correspondent Alex Caprariellowho reported exclusively on the Banfield show.
Ashton Brady, the neighbor who recorded the video, said he saw McGeeney’s fiancée come out of the backyard, with police arriving on the scene about 10 minutes later.
HIV scientist Jordan Willis, whose three friends were found dead in his backyard after watching a Kansas City Chiefs game, was handcuffed as he was questioned by police for the first time.
The video was recorded by neighbor Ashton Brady and obtained by NewsNation’s national correspondent Alex Caprariello, who reported exclusively on the Banfield show
David Harrington (second from left), Clayton McGeeney (second from right) and Ricky Johnson (right) are shown with two unidentified fellow Chiefs fans, neither of whom are believed to be involved in the mystery. Harrington, McGeeney and Johnson were found dead in the backyard of their friend’s home on January 9
Willis, through his lawyer John Picerno, has claimed that he did not see the messages from his friends’ family and slept “much of the time” between his friends leaving and answering the door to the police.
“The police searched the house, went to the backyards, everything, and I had no idea what had happened,” Brady said.
‘The next morning I saw the news. I was just kind of in disbelief when I saw that happen.”
Caprariello reported that Willis, who was in his underwear and holding a wine glass when police arrived, was eventually untied, put in a police car and driven away.
Willis, 38, is an HIV researcher and protein scientist who lives and works at the house on NW 83rd Terrace, Kansas City, Missouri.
He is an accomplished scientist whose research on COVID and HIV has been praised in the medical community. In interviews, he described his two pit bull mixes — Sadie and Daisy — as the “light of his life.”
The men did not return home or contact their families after the Jan. 7 game between the Chiefs and the Los Angeles Chargers, and Willis did not contact anyone to say where they were or what had happened.
For two days, the victims’ families said they visited Willis’ home, calling him and sending him Facebook messages asking where they were. He didn’t respond.
Brady said, “We had just moved in.” But that week we had never seen those cars there. And then all of a sudden there were cars parked right in front of our driveway that whole weekend, and they never left and they stayed there until the police came.”
The grieving families of the three men are demanding that investigators reveal how they died.
Johnson’s brother Jonathan Price said he is making discoveries of his own, including the fact that one of the men “was not lying down but was found in a lawn chair on the porch away from the others.”
Harrington’s mother, Jennifer Marquez, has issued an urgent plea to Willis, saying: “I know he’s scared, but he was there, he took part in what happened that night, he had to know and he’s the only one who still remembers what happened. .’
She told News Nation anchor Natasha Zouves: “I want Jordan to come forward and say you know this wasn’t intentional, but this is what happened. I did this or I saw this, you know, just tell us.”
Willis has claimed through his attorney John Picerno that he did not see the messages and slept “much of the time” between his friends leaving and answering the door to police.
He claims he said goodbye to his friends – two of whom he had known since high school – and then “collapsed” on the couch.
A short time later he says he went upstairs to bed and left the doors unlocked. The three men, he says, then returned to the property and at some point went outside.
Picerno says he hasn’t heard the victims’ loved ones banging on his door because he sleeps with headphones and a fan on. He also claims he only saw their Facebook messages after the police showed up.
He does not know how the men died and says he never suggested they were “frozen” outside in cold weather, as had been reported in the days after their deaths.
Ricky Johnson, a father of three, was one of three men found dead
Clayton McGeeney, 36, was also found dead in the backyard
David Harrington was found dead on his friend’s property on January 9
A source close to Willis told Fox last week: “Not only is the entire country right now accusing him of murdering his friends without any factual details, evidence or charges, but he has also lost three close friends.
“He was unable to say goodbye or attend their funerals due to the circumstances of these wild speculations and accusations.
“No one seems willing to wait for the results of the toxicology report or other police facts from a case still under investigation to make these speculations.”
There was a fifth man at the viewing party, Alex Weamer-Lee.
He is a high school friend of the victims, but says he left at midnight after football ended and when everyone was still alive.