THIS BLOG IS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER – SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM FOR UPDATES.
On January 9, 2024, the bodies of three men were found outside of a home in Kansas City, Missouri. They have been identified as Clayton McGeeney, Ricky Johnson, and David Harrington.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009045465831 – Clayton
https://www.facebook.com/david.t.harrington.7 – David
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100073597812234 – Ricky
The men had gone to the home of Jordan Willis for a Kansas City Chiefs watch party on Sunday January 7. The low temperature on game day was 29 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. On Jan. 8, the low was 32 degrees; and the low on Jan. 9 was 18 degrees.
As some background into Jordan, he is a scientist at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI).
Early reports said that Jordan and the three men were the only people at the home. Some more recent articles do say that there was a fourth guest at the home but I haven’t seen him named anywhere. It seems like the men commonly got together to watch football and if they drank, they would stay at the house, so nobody thought it was strange when they did not return that night.
By Tuesday, relatives of the three men were getting worried as they had not returned. Family members say that Jordan was not responding to texts or calls.
Clayton’s fiancee April became so worried that she went to the house on Tuesday, January 9. When nobody would answer the door, she broke into the basement and found a body on the back porch.
April called police and they arrived at the home at around 10pm. When police searched the property, they found two more bodies in the backyard.
“It’s very scary because I heard nothing. I’m home most of the time, but I didn’t hear anything,” said Suzanne Reichart who lives across the street.
“Pretty quiet neighborhood, I mean, for sure. There’s not a whole lot that goes on here – quiet, safe” said Tamara Ziegler who lives two doors down.
Police said at the time there was no sign of foul play on any of the bodies.
There is a Fox4KC article from the following day, Wednesday January 10 and in that, it states that Jordan told his family that “his friends froze to death.”
Another neighbor, Mia Dukes told KCTV5 that Jordan had been living in the house for about six months. “But no one’s really come in and out of the house at all, we don’t really see anybody,” Mia said..
Clayton’s cousin Alan spoke to the media and said “I’m not looking for anyone’s head or anything, but my cousin was frozen to the dirt for two days. It’s gotten a lot of attention from everyone having questions but not a lot of attention from anyone having any action; it just seems strange.”
Ricky’s brother Jonathan Price said that he heard that Jordan had animals that would need to go outside, and claimed the city didn’t get enough snow to submerge the men for them to be hidden for days.
‘There’s many different things that don’t add up, we just don’t understand how somebody wouldn’t at least be investigated in any way,’ he said.
‘We’ve heard that he’s moving out as well, so we don’t know if he’ll even be sticking around much longer.’
‘My brother was a smart man, and there’s no way that he would just freeze to death. Freezing to death is not a cause of death that I would accept,’ he said.
There is a USA Today article from January 16 that outlined the status of the case at that point.
Police Sgt. Jake Becchina said that Jordan had been cooperative and that “This case is 100% not being investigated as a homicide.”
Mia, the neighbor, spoke to the media in a January 20 article and said that there had been no movement from the house since the men were found, except for a Uhaul appearing on the property.
“It was parked in the grass over there, not in the driveway,” Mia said. “It wasn’t there very long.”
David’s mother, Jennifer spoke to Fox4KC about her son’s death. “It was the most devastating moment of my life. I was at work, and I just never thought I’d be one of those people that would respond the way I did. I collapsed, I think. I don’t remember.”
Jennifer also spoke about Jordan saying that his friends froze to death.
“I’m furious. Everybody is furious,” she said. “Nobody believes this story. None of his friends, none of the families, none of us believe.”
A friend of one of the men named Kaylee La Tier, wrote this post on Facebook.
‘(He) was inside his home alive while my friends were dead in his yard for lord knows how long. They were all hanging out since after the game Sunday. He KNEW people were looking for them,’ she wrote.
‘He read messages of people searching for him on Tuesday. My husband banged on his door for 20 min. My friend banged on his door and then busted a window and yelled and announced her presence while she’s inside and still nothing from him??
‘Then the cops come 10 min later and he comes out nonchalant in his boxers with an empty wine glass in hand??!’
On January 22, 2024, Attorney John Picerno issued a statement on behalf of Jordan. “Jordan had absolutely nothing to do with their deaths. He does not know the timing or manner of their deaths, nor does he know how or when they exited his house. He had no knowledge that they remained in his backyard or that they needed medical attention. Had he known, he certainly would have called for help. The last time he saw them was when they left his house, and he went to bed,” Picerno said.
The attorney said he released the statement in hopes of “setting the record straight.”
“Jordan is unaware of how his friends died. Like the rest of us, Jordan is anxiously awaiting the results of the autopsy and toxicology report. On behalf of Jordan and his family, we wish to express our deepest sympathies to the friends and family members of these young men, and our thoughts and prayers are with them,” John said.
The attorney said Jordan allowed officers to search his house when they arrived at his front door. The attorney also spoke about why people had not been able to get in touch with Jordan previously.
“Prior to being contacted by police, he did not receive any phone calls or text messages from friends or family members of the deceased. Two people came to his house; however, he did not hear them as he sleeps with air buds and a loud fan. One of those people, the wife of one of the deceased, tried to reach him via Facebook messenger, unfortunately, he did not see this message until after the police contacted him. Two of his friends parked their cars on the street and there were no cars parked in his driveway. Jordan did not notice the cars in the street; however, it would not be unusual for his friends to have left their cars there overnight,” John said.
We learned some more on January 24 after articles were released by the Guardian and People.
Picerno maintains Jordan, went to bed while his friends and a fourth guest lingered in his home, wished them a good night and got in bed.
“When he would have people over at his house, yes sometimes as people, they get tired, they’re people that are very close to you and you feel comfortable going to bed and allowing them to leave when they want to leave,” said Picerno.
Picerno acknowledged the report of there being another guest and said that individual “left maybe an hour or two before the other three,” adding that “Jordan is not exactly sure of that time period.”
The fifth person at the home has retained an attorney, Andrew Talge. Andrew told the station that Jordan and the three victims were watching Jeopardy! when his client left around midnight.
The attorney told KCTV that Jordan had moved out, deactivated his social media and gone on leave from work to grieve for Harrington, McGeeney and Johnson.
Ricky’s brother spoke to People on January 24 and said “If I were to give a hypothesis… for the three men to die in the way that they did, something had to have been in their system,” Jonathan Price, who shares a mom with Ricky Johnson, tells PEOPLE on Wednesday. “Whether or not it was taken knowingly, I wouldn’t answer that.”
He adds, “But something was taken because three grown men do not freeze to death at the temperatures that were there at the time with just alcohol involved.”
In March 2025, there were finally some updates in the case.
We learned that the men died from “fentanyl and cocaine toxicity.”
Jordan Willis (the person renting the home at the time) and Ivory Carson have been charged with involuntary manslaughter and delivery of a controlled substance.
A wrongful death suit has also been filed against the two.
“Defendant Willis and Defendant Ivory knew, or through the use of a reasonable degree of care, should have known of the presence of the fentanyl and the dangers and hazards that it posed including the possibility of being lethal to anyone that might ingest it,” the court filing stated.
“Once [Harrington] began to suffer from the dangers and hazards of the cocaine and fentanyl, [the two men] failed to render aid or otherwise attempt to rescue decedent from the impacts caused by the cocaine and fentanyl,” the suit added.
The lawsuit is seeking a total of $100,000 in damages.
We now know that Jordan purchased the cocaine from Ivory.
This info about the incident is from the NY Post:
Witnesses had told investigators the friends had used cocaine while watching the game.
They added that Willis had a history of offering cocaine, which he allegedly bought from Carson, to his friends when they were low on money, according to the probable cause statement.
After the bodies were discovered in the yard, investigators uncovered a bag of cocaine inside the home with mostly Willis’ DNA on it and another bag of fentanyl, which had Carson’s DNA on it, prosecutors said.
Willis’ lawyer, John Picerno, has argued there is no evidence his client bought the drugs that his friends ingested.
He added that Willis didn’t know his pals were lying dead in his backyard — or that they needed medical attention — until cops showed up.
“It has been a very, very long year for Jordan,” Picerno said after the charges were filed.
“He’s lost his job. He’s lost his home. He’s lost his friends. The public are pointing at him as someone who essentially killed them. And nothing could be further from the truth.”
Both Ivory and Jordan have pleaded not guilty. Jordan bonded out soon after he was charged.
Ivory appeared in court earlier this week. His bond was reduced from $100,000 to $50,000 cash-only.
The state opposed the request.
In the order, the judge imposed conditions, including house arrest with GPS monitoring, no possession or consumption of illegal substances or alcohol, pretrial supervision with random drug testing, and no contact with the co-defendant.
SOURCE LIST
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/24/kansas-city-men-deaths-backyard
https://www.kmbc.com/article/platte-county-judge-reduces-bond-chiefs-fans-overdose-case/64150773