By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-03-10 12:38:14 | Updated at 2025-03-10 16:13:49
3 hours ago
The scientist arrested in the deaths of three Chiefs fans who overdosed in his frozen backyard has now been sued by the father of one of the victims.
David Harrington’s father is seeking $100,000 in damages in a negligence lawsuit filed against both the homeowner, Jordan Willis, 39, and his alleged drug dealer Ivory Carson, 42, as reported by Fox 4.
Harrington, 37, Ricky Johnson, 38, and Clayton McGeeney, 36, were last seen alive watching the final regular season Chiefs game in January, 2024 - a full two days before their bodies were discovered in Willis' Kansas City, Missouri, backyard.
On Wednesday Willis and Carson were charged with involuntary manslaughter and delivery of a controlled substance. They have pleaded not guilty.
The two were arrested after more than a year of speculation of what killed the three friends. Officials have now determined they died of a combined toxicity of fentanyl and cocaine.
Witnesses said the friends used cocaine while watching the Chiefs play the Los Angeles Chargers together on January 7, 2024, first at Harrington’s home and then Willis’ home.
The witnesses said Willis had a history of offering cocaine to his friends when they were low on money and that he bought it from Carson, according to the probable cause statement.
Willis, an HIV scientist, told police that he believed that McGeeney, Harrington and Johnson possibly got a hold of some fentanyl and that he thought they all left his home around 4 a.m., the morning after the game
Jordan Willis, 39, is facing charges of involuntary manslaughter and delivery of a controlled substance. He is also been sued by one of the victim's fathers
The bodies of David Harrington, 36 (second from left), Ricky Johnson, 38 (far right), and Clayton McGeeney, 37 (second from right) were found in the backyard of their friend Jordan Willis's home in Kansas City on January 9
Alleged drug dealer Ivory J. Carson, 42, was also arrested. He and Willis both pleaded not guilty
Weather records indicate the low temperature that night was around 33 degrees.
TIMELINE OF EVENTS
January 7, 2024: The three men go to Jordan Willis' home to watch the Kansas City Chiefs game against the Los Angeles Chargers, which starts at 3:25pm CT.
At some point during the night, Willis goes upstairs to sleep, leaving the three men and another unnamed man to hang out in his house.
January 8, 2024: Jordan Willis claims he did not leave his home this day, so he didn't realize the victims' cars were outside.
Loved ones of the missing men start trying to contact Willis, who doesn't respond.
January 9, 2024: Clayton McGeeney’s fiancée breaks into the home and scream Willis' name after two days of no communication with her partner.
She finds one of the bodies on the back porch.
At 9:51pm, three bodies are found at the property after police perform a welfare check.
Investigators interviewed Carson, who admitted to selling cocaine to Johnson, Willis, Harrington and McGeeney before January 1, 2024, the probable cause statement says.
Willis’ lawyer, John Picerno, said there is no evidence that Willis bought the drugs that his friends ingested before their deaths, noting they had been partying all day. And he has said Willis didn’t know that they were still in his backyard — or that they needed medical attention — until police showed up.
'It has been a very, very long year for Jordan,' Picerno said. 'He’s lost his job. He’s lost his home. He’s lost his friends. The public are pointing at him as someone who essentially killed them. And nothing could be further from the truth.'
Willis has previously denied any involvement in his friend's deaths, saying he went to bed in the early morning hours of January 8 and did not know his friends were still in the backyard.
He also claimed he did not see any of the numerous messages from his friends' loved ones until police showed up at his house two days later because he was sleeping with headphones on.
But for months, friends and family members had suspected Willis knew more about his friend's deaths than he had let on as they demanded answers from the police department, which kept mum about the case, only saying officers did not believe the men's deaths were the result of foul play.
They now say Carson - who went by the nickname 'Blade Brown' - supplied and sold cocaine to Willis and the victims, noting that his DNA was later found on a bag of fentanyl inside Willis' home.
The bodies were found in Willis' backyard after McGeeney's fiancée decided to break into Willis' basement
Friends and family members had suspected Willis (pictured) was more involved in the trio's death than he had let on
Officers also spoke to a witness who told investigators he had been at Harrington's home earlier in the night, and saw a 'plate of cocaine allegedly supplied by Willis that everyone was using,' Platte County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Zahnd said at a news conference on Wednesday.
Another witness reportedly told police he was with Willis, McGeeney, Harrington and Johnson at Willis' home following the Chiefs game 'where they drank, smoked marijuana and used cocaine.'
That witness said Harrington, McGeeney and Jonson were still alive as of 1.30am, while Willis had gone to bed, according to KSN.
But for nearly two days afterward, friends and family members said they did not hear from Harrington, Johnson and McGeeney as they repeatedly messaged Willis on social media begging for answers.
By January 9, McGeeney's fiancée decided to break into Willis' basement when the scientist did not answer the front door.
She called police when she noticed a body on Willis' back porch. Officers then found the other two corpses.
A toxicology report ultimately determined that the three men had cocaine, THC and fentanyl in their systems, and on Wednesday police declared that they died of 'fentanyl and cocaine toxicity.'
