NewsNation

Kansas City Chiefs fans’ deaths: Tenant’s attorney keeps changing story

(NewsNation) — More than two weeks after three friends were found dead outside a Kansas City home following a Chiefs viewing party, an attorney involved is changing the story — again.

The tenant’s lawyer, John Picerno, said another, fifth friend was still at his client’s rented home after his client had gone to sleep.


However, the other friend told NewsNation affiliate WDAF in an exclusive interview that he wasn’t the last person to see the three men alive, and when he left, tenant Jordan Willis was still awake.

The fifth friend, who remains unidentified, stressed that it’s “absolutely not true” that he was the last person to see the three men alive.

The fifth man’s attorney, Andrew Talge, said his client arrived at Willis’ around 7 p.m. on Jan. 7 and he left around midnight.

He claims Willis and the three men — David Harrington, Ricky Johnson and Clayton McGeeney — were alive and watching Jeopardy! when he left for the night.

Talge said his client then received a text from McGeeney’s finance and Johnson’s mother on Tuesday, asking where the guys were.

Talge’s client claims to have texted Willis and Johnson but never got a response back.

This is yet another inconsistency with the story Willis’ attorney has put forward about what had happened that Sunday night.

Picerno said Willis never received any texts, instead only messages through Facebook. But Talge insisted that his client had texted Willis via text messaging, not Facebook Messenger.

When asked about this, Picerno declined to comment.

Picerno has spoken to multiple media outlets over the past two weeks. He claims his client was asleep upstairs while the other four were awake.

But Picerno’s story has changed multiple times. For example, he told NewsNation’s Ashleigh Banfield that Willis let his friend out, but told another news outlet that Willis went to bed before his friends left.

“Yes, sometimes as people do, 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” Picerno told WDAF.

He continued, “None of us know what happened to these individuals and I think the most important thing to remember here is this was his three buddies.”

Police say there were no obvious signs of foul play and no arrests have been made. Plus, Willis has cooperated with police since the start of the investigation.

The investigation’s next steps will be determined by the medical examiner’s autopsy and toxicology reports, police said.

NewsNation affiliate WDAF contributed to this report.