The fifth friend who was at Jordan Willis’ home on the night three Kansas City Chiefs fans were last seen alive has hired a defense attorney – who has disputed parts of Willis’ account of what happened.
On January 9, the bodies of David Harrington, 37, Ricky Johnson, 38, and Clayton McGeeney, 36, were found in his backyard of Willis’ home in Kansas City, Missouri.
They had been there since January 7, when the three men visited Willis to watch the Chiefs play the Los Angeles Chargers, along with the as-yet unnamed fifth friend.
That friend told FOX 4 Kansas City, which did not name him, that when he left the house at midnight, all of the men were still alive.
The fifth man stressed that it’s ‘absolutely not true’ that he was the ‘last person to see the three men alive,’ the outlet reported.
He has also now lawyered up – hiring fierce criminal defense attorney Andrew Talge.
David Harrington (second left), Clayton McGeeney (second right) and Ricky Johnson (right) are shown with two unidentified fellow Chiefs fans, neither of whom is believed to be involved in the mystery. Harrington, McGeeney and Johnson were found dead on January 9 in the backyard of another man’s house
The fifth friend present at Willis’ house has also lawyered up – hiring fierce criminal defense attorney Andrew Talge
Talge said his client arrived at Willis’ house at 7pm – and they were all hanging out until midnight. The four other men were watching Jeopardy when he left.
The lawyer also said that on Tuesday – the day after – the fifth man texted Jordan Willis. He sent this after Clayton McGeeney’s fiancée and from Ricky Johnson’s mother had got in touch asking about their loved ones.
This contradicts what Willis’ attorney Picerno has said on multiple occasions. He said that his client only received messages on Facebook Messenger, not text messages or calls.
The Kansas City Police Department has said that there was no evidence of any criminal activity or foul play at the scene.
Cops classified the ordeal as a death investigation and not a homicide. Willis has not been charged.
For two days, the families of the victims say they visited Willis’ home, called him and sent him Facebook messages asking where they were. He did not respond.
Eventually, the fiancée of one of the men broke into the house through the basement and found the first body in the backyard. She then called police, who arrived to find Willis in his underwear, holding a wine glass.
His attorney maintains that he did nothing wrong, and has cooperated with police.
Willis (pictured) told police the men had frozen to death in his backyard. Their loved ones have raised questions over the lack of reporting of their bodies, and the snow that they say was not deep enough to submerge them
One of the bodies was found on the back porch of the property by the fiancée of one of the men, who broke in after receiving no answer from Willis
The other two bodies were found in the backyard. Police initially said there was no foul play, but are yet to confirm the cause of death for the three men
The medical examiner’s office is yet to reveal the cause of death or whether any of the men had any drugs in their system.
‘He has nothing to hide. He went to the police station and spoke with officers without a lawyer present, he allowed them to search his home… these were his friends.
‘He’d bought tickets for them all to go to the next Chiefs game – he didn’t want any harm to come to any of them. There was no ill will,’ attorney John Picerno told DailyMail.com.
He slammed internet sleuths and those assuming that he is to blame, calling the speculation ‘unfair’.
Picerno refused to answer questions about whether the men were using drugs. The results of the medical examiner’s toxicology report have not yet been released.
Willis insists he spent the next two days in his home, not thinking anything of the fact that his friends’ cars were still outside, and only learned they’d died when the fiancée of one of the men broke into the house on January 9 in the hopes of finding him.
He believes that after he waved the men off on January 7, they returned while he was asleep to ‘hang out’ in the living room.
‘Maybe they didn’t want to go to a bar or hangout somewhere else,’ attorney John Picerno told DailyMail.com today, as the families of the three victims demanded answers.
Ricky Johnson, a father-of-three, was one of the three men found dead
David Harrington was found dead on his friend’s property on January 9
Clayton McGeeney, 36, was also found dead in the backyard
He worked from home and his two dogs were at his father’s house, so did not require walking.
For two days, the families of the victims say they bombarded Willis with phone calls and Facebook messages asking where their loved ones were but received no response.
When the fiancée broke in on January 9 and found the first body, she called police.
The other two bodies were then found in the backyard.
‘He had absolutely nothing to do with their deaths,’ lawyer John Picerno told DailyMail.com today.
He has now moved out of the property and deleted all of his social media accounts amid a swell of public interest in the men’s deaths.
Willis’ attorney says he did not hear the victims’ loved ones banging on his door because he sleeps with headphones and a fan on. He also claims he did not see their Facebook messages until after the police showed up.
He does not know how the men died and says he never suggested that they ‘froze’, as had been reported.
Willis is an accomplished scientist, whose research into COVID and HIV has been praised in the medical world. In interviews, he described his two pit-bull mixes – Sadie and Daisy, as the ‘light of his life’.
According to an interview that Willis gave to the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative’s website in 2022, he is the senior principal scientist at the IAVI Neutralizing Antibody Center in Kansas City.
Willis said in the interview that he conducts data analysis and interpretation for the IAVI’s HIV vaccine trials. He also compared the search for an effective HIV vaccine to Covid-19 vaccine research.
The Virginia-native graduated with a Ph.D. in Chemical and Physical Biology from Vanderbilt University in 2014. He previously studied chemistry and molecular biology at Northwest Missouri State University.
In 2022, he received an award for his ‘significant contributions to HIV vaccine development.’
In the intro section to his now-deleted Facebook page, Willis wrote: ‘Walking the line to be be the funnest guy in the room and a full-on mental breakdown.’
While on another social media platform, Willis describes himself saying: ‘Self-proclaimed man-about-town.’
On January 9m Captain Jake Becchina of the Kansas City Police Department said: ‘First and foremost, this case is 100% NOT being investigated as a homicide. There have not been any arrests [or] charges, and no one is in custody.
‘There are no specific threats or concerns for the surrounding community at this time.
‘The resident at the house was cooperative with detectives the day the deceased were discovered.’
The loved ones of the men are however speaking out to demand answers.
She said the police are ‘not doing anything’ to solve the mystery of her son’s passing, and called for the owner of the home to be ‘at least investigated.’
Johnson’s brother Jonathan Price said that he heard the owner of the home 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 would 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.’