Police have charged two men in connection with the whose bodies were found following a watch party in January last year, authorities said Wednesday.
According to an arrest warrant, Ivory Carson and Jordan Wills both face three counts each of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of delivering a controlled substance in relation to the deaths of Ricky Johnson, 38, Clayton McGeeney, 36, and David Harrington, 37, three friends since high school.
Police found the bodies in the backyard of a house on NW 83rd Terrace in the city Jan. 9, 2024. Autopsies revealed that all three men died of combined cocaine and fentanyl toxicity.
A probable cause statement accused the defendants of “recklessly causing the deaths.” Each charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Carson is already in custody in Platte County with a $100,000 case bond, while Willis has told police he will surrender to authorities and will post a $100,000 case bond.
“This case is a tragic reminder of the dangers of street drugs,” Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd told a news conference Wednesday. “But make no mistake, the people who supply those drugs can and will be held accountable when people overdose.”
McGeeney’s fiance told police that the three men went to Jordan Willis’s house to watch the game Jan. 7. When she couldn’t contact McGeeney, she went to the house after spotting McGeeney’s pickup truck outside. No one came to the door and the witness entered the house through a basement window,, citing court documents.
She found a body on the back patio and called police. The temperatures dropped below freezing on the night of the game.
Witnesses told police they saw the victims consuming drugs Jan. 7, including alcohol and marijuana, and text messages show that the men had agreed to be supplied with drugs.
And after obtaining a warrant to search the house, police found two plastic bags containing white powdery substances — testing revealed that one was cocaine and one was fentanyl.
Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves told the news conference: “This is a message to those who are bringing fentanyl into our communities, providing it to people, harming communities: you will be held accountable, you will be arrested and you will be charged.”
Both police and prosecutors acknowledged that the investigation had taken 14 months to lead to charges, but said that they had not given up on the case.
“It takes time to bring these cases, there were additional investigative things that needed to be wrapped up before this case could be brought,” Zahnd said in response to a reporter’s question on the delay.
Stephanie Walling, Johnson’s niece, told NBC News back in January last year of the pain his death had caused and that the family had no idea exactly how he had died.
“It’s just really hard because I know his girls meant the world to him and he had really big plans for them,” a tearful Walling told NBC News. “Now, he won’t get to follow through with those plans.”
