Jordan Willis, the man who lived in the home where three Kansas City Chiefs fans were found dead in January 2024, has now been charged with three counts of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of delivery of a controlled substance.
Willis, 36, faces charges alongside another man, Ivory Carson. Police believe Carson sold the drugs ingested by the three men to Willis. The trio died as a result of fentanyl and cocaine combined toxicity.
Attorney John Picerno, who is representing Willis, has spoken out, saying that there is no evidence that Willis bought the drugs that his friends ingested before their deaths, noting they had been partying all day. He added that 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 told police that he believed that Clayton McGeeney, David Harrington and Ricky Johnson possibly got a hold of some fentanyl at some point on the Sunday that the game was played. He also thought they all left his home around 4 a.m. the next morning.
On January 9 last year, Kansas City Police were called to a home in the Northland section of Kansas City by a woman who claimed to have found a body in her backyard while looking for her fiance, McGeeney, 36.
Police then found two other bodies: Harrington, 37, and Johnson, 38. Willis cooperated with authorities during the initial search.
Court documents were released on Wednesday revealing that Willis and Carson have been charged with three counts of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of delivery of a controlled substance. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 10 years behind bars.
The incident took place at Willis’s rental home, meaning that he was connected to the investigation from the start. However, Carson was first mentioned in the case during the press conference on Wednesday.
Platte County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Zahnd pointed to a physician with Forensic Medical of Kansas as he said that the three men succumbed to fentanyl and cocaine combined toxicity, which aligns with toxicology reports that came to light almost a month following the discovery of the bodies.
Detectives “found two plastic bags containing white powdery substances,” said Zahnd. One of the bags tested positive for cocaine and had Willis’ DNA on it. Zahnd added that another bag tested positive for fentanyl and bore Carson’s DNA.
According to a witness who had been at Harrington’s home alongside Willis, McGeeney, and Johnson on the night of the game, there was a “plate of cocaine allegedly supplied by Willis that everyone was using,” said Zahnd.
A separate witness is reported to have told authorities that he was with Willis, McGeeney, Harrington, and Johnson at Willis’s home following the game “where they drank, smoked marijuana, and used cocaine.”
Zahnd said texts on Harrington’s phone, which included the defendants Johnson, McGeeney, and others, reportedly reveal that Carson had provided the cocaine.
“This case is a tragic reminder of the dangers of street drugs,” said Zahnd. “But make no mistake, the people that supply those drugs can and will be held accountable when people overdose.”
The authorities found that at about 1:30 a.m. on Monday, January 8, Harrington, McGeeney, and Johnson were all alive and that Willis had gone to bed. But it wasn’t until 10 p.m. the following day that McGeeney’s fiancé reported the body.
Willis told investigators that he didn’t know that his friends were dead outside and that he hadn’t been in touch with their family or friends. According to the investigation, family members of the men had reached out to Willis on Facebook Messenger but hadn’t texted or called him.
A friend’s lawyer, Andrew Talge, rejected this notion, saying that on the day the men were discovered, the friend had texted Willis after being contacted via messages from McGeeney’s fiance and Johnson’s mother, but Willis didn’t respond.
Fox News reported that Willis soon left the home and moved into a rehab facility.
Carson is in jail on a $100,000 cash bond, while Willis is reported to be set to surrender himself on the warrant issued and post his cash bond of $100,000.
