Charges filed in deaths of 3 Kansas City Chiefs fans whose bodies were
found in friend's backyard
[March 06, 2025]
Two men were charged Wednesday in the deaths of three
Kansas City Chiefs fans whose bodies were found in a backyard two days
after they got together to watch the final game of the regular season in
2024.
Jordan Willis and Ivory Carson are each charged with three counts of
involuntary manslaughter and two counts of delivery of a controlled
substance in a case that gained widespread attention on social media.
Their bond is set at $100,000 cash only.
Speculation about what happened started after 38-year-old Ricky Johnson,
36-year-old Clayton McGeeney and 37-year-old David Harrington were found
dead in Willis’ Kansas City, Missouri, yard on Jan. 9, 2024, after
McGeeney’s fiancée went looking for him. A doctor with a forensic lab
later determined that the combined toxicity of fentanyl and cocaine
killed them, according to the probable cause statement.
Witnesses said the friends were using cocaine when they got together
first at Harrington’s home and then Willis’ on Jan. 7, 2024, to watch
the Chiefs play the Los Angeles Chargers. The witnesses said Willis had
a history of offering cocaine to his friends when they were low on money
and that he bought it from Carson, according to the probable cause
statement.
But Willis’ lawyer, John Picerno, said there is no evidence that Willis
bought the drugs that his friends ingested before their deaths, noting
they had been partying all day. And he said Willis didn’t know that they
were still in his backyard — or that they needed medical attention —
until police showed up.
“It has been a very, very long year for Jordan," Picerno said. “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.”
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This Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 photo shows Jordan Willis' house in
Kansas City, Mo., where three Kansas City Chiefs NFL football fans
were found dead in the backyard. (Tammy Ljungblad/The Kansas City
Star via AP, File)
Willis told police that he believed that McGeeney, Harrington and
Johnson possibly got a hold of some fentanyl at some point on the
Sunday the game was played and that he thought they all left his
home around 4 a.m. the next morning.
Weather records indicate the low temperature that night was around
33 degrees (1 degree Celsius).
Investigators interviewed Carson, who admitted to selling cocaine to
Johnson, Willis, Harrington and McGeeney before Jan. 1, 2024, the
probable cause statement says. No attorney is listed for Carson in
online court records.
In the weeks and months since the three deaths, the case went viral
on TikTok and other social platforms for its true-crime overtones.
And family members of the three men have taken their frustrations to
Kansas City-area media, questioning when there would be charges.
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