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‘Slight relief’ for family of dead KC man after prosecutor meeting

  • Prosecutor met with families of 3 deceased Kansas City men
  • Brother: 'Slight relief' police are probing deaths harder
  • Police say no foul play suspected but toxicology reports pending

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(NewsNation) — A local prosecutor in Kansas City has met with the families of three deceased men who were found dead in the backyard of a friend’s home.

Did the families finally get answers they were seeking?

Jonathan Price, the brother of Ricky Johnson, one of the deceased men, says his family has some “slight relief” after the meeting, but he believes police still “dropped the ball” early in the case.

“It’s just, you know, are we too late?” Price said Wednesday night on “CUOMO.” “We don’t know information on what they had at the very beginning, so it’s kind of speculation on whether or not all the pressure and the attention that this is getting is what caused this now. We just don’t know what caused them to to start looking (for more information about the deaths) or if they’ve been looking the entire time.”

Police have reiterated multiple times the deaths of Johnson, David Harrington and Clayton McGeeney are not being investigated as homicides. No foul play is suspected and toxicology reports are pending.

The three men were found dead Jan. 9 in the backyard of the home of Jordan Willis, two days after the men had gathered to watch a Kansas City Chiefs football game.

Platte County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Zahnd said Wednesday that his office has offered assistance to Kansas City police and is waiting for the department to conclude its portion of the investigation.

The families have questions as to how the three men were lying dead in Willis’ backyard without him noticing.

Willis’ attorney John Picerno has previously told NewsNation his client works from home and he would have had no reason to go outside. Picerno also said Willis did not check his phone in those two days to see that people reached out to him asking about the location of the three men.

While the families met with the local prosecutor, NewsNation affiliate WDAF has learned Willis is now in rehab.

According to Fox News, once Willis moved out of the home and checked into rehab, a source says, to address his problem with addiction.

“It is very interesting the timing of everything, but it kind of does make sense … (Willis’) lawyer, at the very beginning, he was perfectly fine with answering all the questions except for whether or not there was drugs involved,” Price said of the new development.

WDAF also learned the three men were alive in the wee hours of Jan. 8 maybe as early as 1:30 a.m. It wasn’t until late the next night that McGeeney’s fiancée went looking for him, broke into the home and found a body.

WDAF has reached out to Willis’s attorney and is waiting to hear back.

Kansas City police are still waiting for the result of the toxicology report, which could be more than a month out.

NewsNation affiliate WDAF contributed to this report.

[CUOMO]

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