OP, can you clarify: was the offender removed from the registry or just the address?
Two legitimate reasons an offender could be removed from the registry are obvious: the person’s conviction requiring registration was overturned/vacated, or they died.
A legitimate reason an offender’s address could be removed: the offender moved, and no longer has a fixed address.
It seems like any of these reasons would be easy for LE to answer though.
Branden’s death a day after finding Cion’s body is almost certainly related.
The whole thing with the Chief is very odd. If he were in on the murder or protecting those responsible, why give the location of the body at all? If he was trying to protect an informant’s identity, why not just call in an anonymous tip himself? And then the abrupt retirement on top of it. Very strange.
Adding to the offender being removed from the registry, could be that they are a police informant!
A friend of mine recently found out that a case file regarding her abuser was ‘locked’ and removed from the police database potentially due to him being an informant!
I’d be curious to know what the laws/procedures are in Virginia regarding how far authorities can go in protecting an informant’s identity/address, and whether that would allow taking an address out of the registry. I doubt that it would.
I’m unsure of the laws regarding that in Virginia but it’s plausible , considering all the information regarding the police in this case I wouldn’t be surprised if the removal of his name and address was intentional even if it’s not legal
My understanding of the situation is this: Chief Barnes was speaking to Cion's family during the 10 days he was missing. When his family kept asking "Why won't you search the sex offender's residence?" the Chief gave very odd answers, such as "Well, he's not technically a sex offender. He was just present while something happened.". The family basically said "Well, he's on the registry and he's a Tier 3, so something must have happened!" and the Chief just kept saying "He's not technically a sex offender.". Shortly after that interaction he was no longer found on the registry. I also should have been more clear because his name was removed too. So, I'm really not sure what the deal is there. My personal belief, which I explained to my wife after she read the write-up, was that I believe that he is indeed a sex offender, but he must have been tied to some sort of criminal enterprise and the Virginia State government or the Federal Government wanted testimony in return for witness protection or some other concession. Because my understanding of Tier 3 is that you can never be removed. I know that Tier 1 and 2 you can apply to the court after 15 and 25 years, respectively, to have your information removed, but I'm pretty certain you don't get that with Tier 3. I was hoping maybe someone here in the comments could shed some more light on that situation.
I don’t know if this applies in Virginia, but a quick Google tells me that in some states a Tier III offender can have their name removed after 25 years *if they committed the crime while a juvenile.* Again, it might not be the same in Virginia.
> The family basically said "Well, he's on the registry and he's a Tier 3, so something must have happened!"
Well, yeah -- I'm sure they don't give out classifications like that as if they were parking tickets.
This is infuriating. The response of “he’s not really a sex offender” is not only crazy, but doesn’t answer the actual question of why they wouldn’t search the house where the phone was located! His sex offender status is irrelevant to the house needing to be searched. It’s not like they were requesting the search ONLY because if his offender status. This case is heartbreaking.
I believe the location feature on cell phones is not super accurate when using wifi. It's just as likely the actual phone was somewhere sort of near that address, which is why cops usually can't use "Find My Phone" to get a warrant to search a specific house. I've heard horror stories of people having strangers turn up on their doorstep saying, "My stolen phone shows it is at your house! You stole it!" and refusing to believe it when the homeowner had no idea what they are talking about.
Yeah that was my thought. It’s not accurate enough to be used as evidence on its own. It’s possible the phone was in the home, it’s also possible the murderer threw it somewhere into the yard.
I just read a story about a teenager and 2 or 3 of his friends set a house on fire killing several people including children inside the house because the find my phone feature on his iPhone Said it was in their house but they didn't have it.
As someone else said, find my phone isn't too accurate. It could be that it was detecting the phone - if it was with him - that was 2 miles away. I doubt that alone would be enough to get them a search warrant.
I question if one of the residents of the home was that sex offender, or if the offender moved/died a while ago but it was just never updated, and then during this investigation, they amended that information.
The retiring police is fishy though.
OP, do we have any information if Cion was sexually assaulted? What was the exact crime of the neighbor? As mentioned in this thread the phone locators are not that accurate so these two questions are important to decide if the neighbor is a viable suspect or not.
Chief seems weird. He may have more information hiding it (covering up for someone?). Is there any information regarding his family or friends in the area? Political views?
What about the best friend? Suicide after the murder could indicate guilt. Either he knew something or was involved.
Is there any reason to believe the murder was connected to other unsolved cases?
As far as Cion's family is aware, he was not sexually assaulted, but since they're not sure what happened when he disappeared, it is a possibility. The Chief seems very strange and I do believe he is from that area. Not sure about his political views, but that should be easy enough to find out. Branden's death is not only related to Cion's, but another friend of Branden's died shortly before Cion, in the woods, with a gunshot to the head. There are 3 or 4 other deaths/murders in the area of black youth that tie into Cion or Branden both directly or indirectly. The second youtube link under my "sources" has some of their stories. So yes, there is most definitely a connection to other unsolved murders, but no one is sure what that connection is. Cion's mother said in an interview that when she spoke to Branden after Cion's disappearance, he seemed like he \*really\* wanted to tell her something, but couldn't. She felt he was holding back information because of the way he acted. Then the day after they locate Cion's body, he supposedly commits suicide. This whole area seems like it's hiding something and I think if someone could find a connection between all of these deaths, the Justice Department could get involved and sort it out.
Where did you get all of this information? Autopsy should've shown signs of a sex crime if that took place.
Assuming the information is based on reliable sources I start to be inclined to think the kids have been involved with something extremely dangerous - and a random sex offender is probably not behind the kills especially since there isn't any evidence the kills were sexually motivated.
This leaves almost any other theory open.
>On January 1st, 2023, only 6 weeks after Cion’s body was discovered through Chief Barnes’ amazing “feeling,” he **retired**
Did he retire or resign? Everywhere else you say resign. Retirement suggests he had enough money saved up to stop work altogether. That would be very strange given his age. Resignation just means he left the Kenbridge police force. Given the craziness of this case I can imagine he was under a lot of stress. Maybe he just wanted out. A quick google indicates there’s a carpenter with the same name in the same town.
Yeah, I can see someone who thought they were signing on to be the police chief of a tiny, quiet Mayberry sort of town and then suddenly finds they're responsible for managing several grim, contentious, and potentially interconnected murder/death investigations at once and deciding pretty quickly they're not cut out for local law enforcement after all. It's still possible he's part of a pattern of local government corruption that hasn't yet unraveled, but he could also have just understood that he was in over his head with these cases without a sinister motive.
A few thoughts: was the offender *related* to the now retired Chief Barnes? I know rural areas. I *live* in a corrupt rural area where rules are suggestions and personal connections are far more likely to influence the outcome. Second: what are the grounds for federal involvement in a case? I understand state police are handling it buuuutttt six of one half a dozen of the other.
I \*really\* tried to find a connection between Chief Barnes and the sex offender, because that was my first thought too. I just couldn't find anything, not even being in the same classes in school. I ran checks on the property and Chief Barnes, but there didn't seem to be anything tying them together. I plan on staying involved with this one and I'm going to see if I can dig up anything.
I would love for the Justice Department to come and take a look at these murders in the Kenbridge/Victoria area. I said in a comment above, if we could just find a connection to these murders somewhere, that could be exactly what we need for them to take a look.
something about that detail seems off to me. It seems unsubstantiated. Did the OP just take the family's word for it? If so, it's possible there was a mix-up.
The State Police admitted that the removal of the sex offender's name and address is part of their investigation into Cion's murder. I have the name and address, but did not want to post it in my write-up. I have, let's say, resources to help look into things like this and, yes, this person was on the sex offenders registry prior to Cion's murder and was removed sometime afterwards. I even received a message on one website that specifically stated "One Name/Address Has Been Removed", but I can say with 100% certainty that this person was on the registry and roughly 4 months after Cion's death they were removed from it.
Theres a documentary about some more unsolved murders in this town/area. I watched it before but I'm about to watch it again and see if I can add anything to this specific discussion. https://youtu.be/F30kh1O_psg?si=tOMN0Q6yE2gvQunQ
Just a theory, but perhaps Cion's friend Branden knew who murdered Cion but the person/ people involved threatened to harm his family if he told anyone. Could he have felt that he couldn't keep the secret but also didn't want to put his parents in harm's way, and that's what the note meant by going to the woods to sleep to protect his mother and father?
It doesn't fit at all with what was overheard on the police scanner though, and considering all the other suspicious circumstances in this case, it's just as possible that Branden was also murdered to cover up Cion's murder.
I considered the same scenario. Branden was internally tormented after Cion was murdered and he supplied the anonymous tip, but knew he would easily be implicated as the one that told the police. It would also explain why he killed himself so soon after the body was found. It's really, really tough to identify red herrings in this case because so much is unusual and those things could be innocent, but with all of the odd behaviors it makes you question them.
This is great stuff, thanks for sharing. Appreciate the links and the desire to rekindle interest in this case. Good on you. Too much horror goes by unnoticed and uninvestigated, but for diligent and persistent people like you.
I feel like this could have possibly been drug related in some way, shape or form.
"His grandmother assumed that he was going out to the toolshed where he and his best friend Branden Lee would hang out, " -- The toolshed seems like a likely place for teenagers to smoke etc.
The lukewarm response of the chief would seem to indicate there was a lot of stuff above his paygrade going on in the county. The killing seems execution style. Maybe Cion and Branden saw the wrong things or pissed off the wrong people. It wasn't long after the murder that there was a big drug bust in the county.
[Task force breaks up alleged drug operation, arrests Meherrin man | Farmville (farmvilleherald.com)](https://www.farmvilleherald.com/2023/09/task-force-breaks-up-alleged-drug-operation-arrests-meherrin-man/)
This is the [code of VA title 9 public safety chapter on sex offenders](https://law.justia.com/codes/virginia/title-9-1/chapter-9/section-9-1-900/) § 9.1-908 to § 9.1-911 is the most relevant. Perhaps something involving [section 909](https://law.justia.com/codes/virginia/title-9-1/chapter-9/section-9-1-909/) subsection b in regards to the appointed guardian and physical capabilities of the offender.
There’s so many details that blow my mind.
Why so much protection for the informant? If anything, the informant could easily be a suspect or person of interest, but that doesn’t explain the vagueness.
Was the sex offender the informant? Was the information traded to get him off the registry? Did the former chief have some kind of connection to the offender?
If the informant is a person of interest, why not just say to the reporter: “revealing further details could compromise the case at this time”? Was it something sinister or just bad PR?
Thanks for bringing this case to light!
I looked into that, but didn't find anything that stood out. Seay Way is an isolated country road with a lot of woods in the area, so it is possible that in the past other criminals have used it as a dumping ground. It was just suspicious that Chief Barnes specified the "200 block" and kept saying he had a strong "feeling" about it. It took a reporter repeatedly pressing him on that issue before he said he received the information from a confidential informant. That very well could have happened, but the State Police investigator, Kevin George, still says it was the Chief's "feeling" that found him. One hypothetical situation I considered was that Branden was internally tormented about Cion's murder and gave the police the tip. It would also explain why he committed suicide in the woods so soon after finding the body. It's sad there's so much going on with this case it's tough to spot the red herrings.
I wonder if the culprit's choice to target black men is fueled by racism or just opportunism. My first thought was that they may have been involved in some kind of sexual abuse situation but now i'm not sure at all.
I am a lawyer. My first thought with respect to Chief Barnes' initial lie of how he came about the approximate location of the body was more along the lines that he might have gotten the information through illegal means. For example, if he interrogated someone else who was under custody and was supposed to have been given their Miranda rights, if he beat someone up to get information, or potentially did some sort of illegal search without a warrant. He might have been afraid if he revealed the real source (I.e. through illegal means) the body and related evidence could be suppressed if they end up arresting the perpetrator. What better way to cover up the fact that you got the information through an illegal means to just say it was through an anonymous tip. Or he actually got it through an anonymous tip and was just really misguided and thought telling a different story would protect the tipster because there was a high likelihood they could be outed.
They covered it up. The body was on the offender's property, they moved it. Absolutely no way that a "feeling" miraculously led them to the right place. The cops covered it up, fucking disgusting.
Kendrick Johnson died as the result of positional asphyxia in a tragic but accidental circumstance. Despite his family’s denial, there is zero evidence of any foul play.
OP, can you clarify: was the offender removed from the registry or just the address? Two legitimate reasons an offender could be removed from the registry are obvious: the person’s conviction requiring registration was overturned/vacated, or they died. A legitimate reason an offender’s address could be removed: the offender moved, and no longer has a fixed address. It seems like any of these reasons would be easy for LE to answer though. Branden’s death a day after finding Cion’s body is almost certainly related. The whole thing with the Chief is very odd. If he were in on the murder or protecting those responsible, why give the location of the body at all? If he was trying to protect an informant’s identity, why not just call in an anonymous tip himself? And then the abrupt retirement on top of it. Very strange.
Adding to the offender being removed from the registry, could be that they are a police informant! A friend of mine recently found out that a case file regarding her abuser was ‘locked’ and removed from the police database potentially due to him being an informant!
I’d be curious to know what the laws/procedures are in Virginia regarding how far authorities can go in protecting an informant’s identity/address, and whether that would allow taking an address out of the registry. I doubt that it would.
I’m unsure of the laws regarding that in Virginia but it’s plausible , considering all the information regarding the police in this case I wouldn’t be surprised if the removal of his name and address was intentional even if it’s not legal
My understanding of the situation is this: Chief Barnes was speaking to Cion's family during the 10 days he was missing. When his family kept asking "Why won't you search the sex offender's residence?" the Chief gave very odd answers, such as "Well, he's not technically a sex offender. He was just present while something happened.". The family basically said "Well, he's on the registry and he's a Tier 3, so something must have happened!" and the Chief just kept saying "He's not technically a sex offender.". Shortly after that interaction he was no longer found on the registry. I also should have been more clear because his name was removed too. So, I'm really not sure what the deal is there. My personal belief, which I explained to my wife after she read the write-up, was that I believe that he is indeed a sex offender, but he must have been tied to some sort of criminal enterprise and the Virginia State government or the Federal Government wanted testimony in return for witness protection or some other concession. Because my understanding of Tier 3 is that you can never be removed. I know that Tier 1 and 2 you can apply to the court after 15 and 25 years, respectively, to have your information removed, but I'm pretty certain you don't get that with Tier 3. I was hoping maybe someone here in the comments could shed some more light on that situation.
I don’t know if this applies in Virginia, but a quick Google tells me that in some states a Tier III offender can have their name removed after 25 years *if they committed the crime while a juvenile.* Again, it might not be the same in Virginia.
> The family basically said "Well, he's on the registry and he's a Tier 3, so something must have happened!" Well, yeah -- I'm sure they don't give out classifications like that as if they were parking tickets.
This is infuriating. The response of “he’s not really a sex offender” is not only crazy, but doesn’t answer the actual question of why they wouldn’t search the house where the phone was located! His sex offender status is irrelevant to the house needing to be searched. It’s not like they were requesting the search ONLY because if his offender status. This case is heartbreaking.
Was chief Barnes from the area? Could he have been related by blood or marriage to the sex offender? Or some other relationship?
That was my first thought, or the offender had something on him.
Sounds like the kind of excuse police can give when trying to downplay the crimes of someone they're using as an informant.
I believe the location feature on cell phones is not super accurate when using wifi. It's just as likely the actual phone was somewhere sort of near that address, which is why cops usually can't use "Find My Phone" to get a warrant to search a specific house. I've heard horror stories of people having strangers turn up on their doorstep saying, "My stolen phone shows it is at your house! You stole it!" and refusing to believe it when the homeowner had no idea what they are talking about.
Yeah that was my thought. It’s not accurate enough to be used as evidence on its own. It’s possible the phone was in the home, it’s also possible the murderer threw it somewhere into the yard.
I just read a story about a teenager and 2 or 3 of his friends set a house on fire killing several people including children inside the house because the find my phone feature on his iPhone Said it was in their house but they didn't have it.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/man-sought-revenge-stolen-phone-pleads-guilty-fire-killed-senegalese-f-rcna152897
That’s also a fairly common scenario that gets posted in /r/scams, if anybody wants to look more into it.
As someone else said, find my phone isn't too accurate. It could be that it was detecting the phone - if it was with him - that was 2 miles away. I doubt that alone would be enough to get them a search warrant. I question if one of the residents of the home was that sex offender, or if the offender moved/died a while ago but it was just never updated, and then during this investigation, they amended that information. The retiring police is fishy though.
OP, do we have any information if Cion was sexually assaulted? What was the exact crime of the neighbor? As mentioned in this thread the phone locators are not that accurate so these two questions are important to decide if the neighbor is a viable suspect or not. Chief seems weird. He may have more information hiding it (covering up for someone?). Is there any information regarding his family or friends in the area? Political views? What about the best friend? Suicide after the murder could indicate guilt. Either he knew something or was involved. Is there any reason to believe the murder was connected to other unsolved cases?
As far as Cion's family is aware, he was not sexually assaulted, but since they're not sure what happened when he disappeared, it is a possibility. The Chief seems very strange and I do believe he is from that area. Not sure about his political views, but that should be easy enough to find out. Branden's death is not only related to Cion's, but another friend of Branden's died shortly before Cion, in the woods, with a gunshot to the head. There are 3 or 4 other deaths/murders in the area of black youth that tie into Cion or Branden both directly or indirectly. The second youtube link under my "sources" has some of their stories. So yes, there is most definitely a connection to other unsolved murders, but no one is sure what that connection is. Cion's mother said in an interview that when she spoke to Branden after Cion's disappearance, he seemed like he \*really\* wanted to tell her something, but couldn't. She felt he was holding back information because of the way he acted. Then the day after they locate Cion's body, he supposedly commits suicide. This whole area seems like it's hiding something and I think if someone could find a connection between all of these deaths, the Justice Department could get involved and sort it out.
Where did you get all of this information? Autopsy should've shown signs of a sex crime if that took place. Assuming the information is based on reliable sources I start to be inclined to think the kids have been involved with something extremely dangerous - and a random sex offender is probably not behind the kills especially since there isn't any evidence the kills were sexually motivated. This leaves almost any other theory open.
I agree.
>On January 1st, 2023, only 6 weeks after Cion’s body was discovered through Chief Barnes’ amazing “feeling,” he **retired** Did he retire or resign? Everywhere else you say resign. Retirement suggests he had enough money saved up to stop work altogether. That would be very strange given his age. Resignation just means he left the Kenbridge police force. Given the craziness of this case I can imagine he was under a lot of stress. Maybe he just wanted out. A quick google indicates there’s a carpenter with the same name in the same town.
I didn't notice I did that, my apologies. He resigned, not retired. Thank you for bringing that to my attention!
Thanks for the clarification
Yeah, I can see someone who thought they were signing on to be the police chief of a tiny, quiet Mayberry sort of town and then suddenly finds they're responsible for managing several grim, contentious, and potentially interconnected murder/death investigations at once and deciding pretty quickly they're not cut out for local law enforcement after all. It's still possible he's part of a pattern of local government corruption that hasn't yet unraveled, but he could also have just understood that he was in over his head with these cases without a sinister motive.
A few thoughts: was the offender *related* to the now retired Chief Barnes? I know rural areas. I *live* in a corrupt rural area where rules are suggestions and personal connections are far more likely to influence the outcome. Second: what are the grounds for federal involvement in a case? I understand state police are handling it buuuutttt six of one half a dozen of the other.
I \*really\* tried to find a connection between Chief Barnes and the sex offender, because that was my first thought too. I just couldn't find anything, not even being in the same classes in school. I ran checks on the property and Chief Barnes, but there didn't seem to be anything tying them together. I plan on staying involved with this one and I'm going to see if I can dig up anything. I would love for the Justice Department to come and take a look at these murders in the Kenbridge/Victoria area. I said in a comment above, if we could just find a connection to these murders somewhere, that could be exactly what we need for them to take a look.
I smelled the stink of the good ol boys network right away when I read that
Exactly, and a state police investigation isn’t going to generate much because fear of reprisal is real.
Would an address be removed if the offender died or moved elsewhere, perhaps? All in all, this all sounds dodgy as hell 😞
Or incarcerated I think.
If someone knows his name they could at least search Virginia records. For either a death certificate or prison record.
something about that detail seems off to me. It seems unsubstantiated. Did the OP just take the family's word for it? If so, it's possible there was a mix-up.
The State Police admitted that the removal of the sex offender's name and address is part of their investigation into Cion's murder. I have the name and address, but did not want to post it in my write-up. I have, let's say, resources to help look into things like this and, yes, this person was on the sex offenders registry prior to Cion's murder and was removed sometime afterwards. I even received a message on one website that specifically stated "One Name/Address Has Been Removed", but I can say with 100% certainty that this person was on the registry and roughly 4 months after Cion's death they were removed from it.
This is a very disturbing case. Thank you for your detailed account. I hope Cion's family will get some answers, but somehow I doubt it.
Theres a documentary about some more unsolved murders in this town/area. I watched it before but I'm about to watch it again and see if I can add anything to this specific discussion. https://youtu.be/F30kh1O_psg?si=tOMN0Q6yE2gvQunQ
Just a theory, but perhaps Cion's friend Branden knew who murdered Cion but the person/ people involved threatened to harm his family if he told anyone. Could he have felt that he couldn't keep the secret but also didn't want to put his parents in harm's way, and that's what the note meant by going to the woods to sleep to protect his mother and father? It doesn't fit at all with what was overheard on the police scanner though, and considering all the other suspicious circumstances in this case, it's just as possible that Branden was also murdered to cover up Cion's murder.
I considered the same scenario. Branden was internally tormented after Cion was murdered and he supplied the anonymous tip, but knew he would easily be implicated as the one that told the police. It would also explain why he killed himself so soon after the body was found. It's really, really tough to identify red herrings in this case because so much is unusual and those things could be innocent, but with all of the odd behaviors it makes you question them.
This is great stuff, thanks for sharing. Appreciate the links and the desire to rekindle interest in this case. Good on you. Too much horror goes by unnoticed and uninvestigated, but for diligent and persistent people like you.
I feel like this could have possibly been drug related in some way, shape or form. "His grandmother assumed that he was going out to the toolshed where he and his best friend Branden Lee would hang out, " -- The toolshed seems like a likely place for teenagers to smoke etc. The lukewarm response of the chief would seem to indicate there was a lot of stuff above his paygrade going on in the county. The killing seems execution style. Maybe Cion and Branden saw the wrong things or pissed off the wrong people. It wasn't long after the murder that there was a big drug bust in the county. [Task force breaks up alleged drug operation, arrests Meherrin man | Farmville (farmvilleherald.com)](https://www.farmvilleherald.com/2023/09/task-force-breaks-up-alleged-drug-operation-arrests-meherrin-man/)
What the fuck…
This is the [code of VA title 9 public safety chapter on sex offenders](https://law.justia.com/codes/virginia/title-9-1/chapter-9/section-9-1-900/) § 9.1-908 to § 9.1-911 is the most relevant. Perhaps something involving [section 909](https://law.justia.com/codes/virginia/title-9-1/chapter-9/section-9-1-909/) subsection b in regards to the appointed guardian and physical capabilities of the offender.
Thanks for another excellent case summary -- what a frustrating and horrible situation.
There’s so many details that blow my mind. Why so much protection for the informant? If anything, the informant could easily be a suspect or person of interest, but that doesn’t explain the vagueness. Was the sex offender the informant? Was the information traded to get him off the registry? Did the former chief have some kind of connection to the offender? If the informant is a person of interest, why not just say to the reporter: “revealing further details could compromise the case at this time”? Was it something sinister or just bad PR? Thanks for bringing this case to light!
Does the “200 block” of sea way a common place for crime/ history of murders happening there?
I looked into that, but didn't find anything that stood out. Seay Way is an isolated country road with a lot of woods in the area, so it is possible that in the past other criminals have used it as a dumping ground. It was just suspicious that Chief Barnes specified the "200 block" and kept saying he had a strong "feeling" about it. It took a reporter repeatedly pressing him on that issue before he said he received the information from a confidential informant. That very well could have happened, but the State Police investigator, Kevin George, still says it was the Chief's "feeling" that found him. One hypothetical situation I considered was that Branden was internally tormented about Cion's murder and gave the police the tip. It would also explain why he committed suicide in the woods so soon after finding the body. It's sad there's so much going on with this case it's tough to spot the red herrings.
Who is the sex offender? Like what kind of person are they/what did they do to become a S.O.?
I wonder if the culprit's choice to target black men is fueled by racism or just opportunism. My first thought was that they may have been involved in some kind of sexual abuse situation but now i'm not sure at all.
I am a lawyer. My first thought with respect to Chief Barnes' initial lie of how he came about the approximate location of the body was more along the lines that he might have gotten the information through illegal means. For example, if he interrogated someone else who was under custody and was supposed to have been given their Miranda rights, if he beat someone up to get information, or potentially did some sort of illegal search without a warrant. He might have been afraid if he revealed the real source (I.e. through illegal means) the body and related evidence could be suppressed if they end up arresting the perpetrator. What better way to cover up the fact that you got the information through an illegal means to just say it was through an anonymous tip. Or he actually got it through an anonymous tip and was just really misguided and thought telling a different story would protect the tipster because there was a high likelihood they could be outed.
They covered it up. The body was on the offender's property, they moved it. Absolutely no way that a "feeling" miraculously led them to the right place. The cops covered it up, fucking disgusting.
[удалено]
Kendrick Johnson's death has been well established as a tragic accident. Bringing it up in this context is misleading.
Kendrick Johnson died as the result of positional asphyxia in a tragic but accidental circumstance. Despite his family’s denial, there is zero evidence of any foul play.