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[h=1]Mom says sons harassed, threatened in KJ case[/h]
Posted: Sunday, February 9, 2014 5:00 am | Updated: 7:18 pm, Thu Sep 11, 2014.
Adam Floyd
The Valdosta Daily Times
Karen Bell has had it with the rumor-mongering about her family’s connection to the death of Kendrick Johnson on social networking sites like YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.
“If you dare to stand up for what is truthful, you become a target for bullying and harassment,” said the mother of two teenage sons who have been the subject of the rumors. “I should not have to be quiet.”
Since Johnson’s lifeless body was found in a rolled-up gym mat at Lowndes High School more than a year ago, the Bells’ lives have changed. Karen Bell has decided to speak out against the not-so-quiet whisper campaign accusing her sons of murder.
Her husband, an FBI agent, cannot talk publicly about the hearsay and other loose talk blurring the line between fact and fiction on the Internet.
For more than a year, anonymous rumors have forced Bell’s children to live different lives even though an investigation by the sheriff’s office and an autopsy by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation determined Johnson died from a freak accident when he
became trapped upside down in a gym mat while trying to retrieve an athletic shoe.
The GBI autopsy said Johnson died of “positional asphyxia” that prevented him from breathing. Johnson’s parents believe he was the victim of foul play, possibly murder, pointing to a second autopsy they commissioned by a private pathologist that said their son appeared to die from a fatal blow to a carotid artery in his neck. U.S. Attorney Michael Moore is currently reviewing evidence in the case.
In the meantime, Karen Bell said, her sons are being falsely accused and bullied on social network sites, causing them anguish and concern for their safety.
She said her oldest son, 18, was forced to quit his job at a local grocery store in November after Twitter users posted online that they knew where he worked.
Posted: Sunday, February 9, 2014 5:00 am | Updated: 7:18 pm, Thu Sep 11, 2014.
Adam Floyd
The Valdosta Daily Times
Karen Bell has had it with the rumor-mongering about her family’s connection to the death of Kendrick Johnson on social networking sites like YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.
“If you dare to stand up for what is truthful, you become a target for bullying and harassment,” said the mother of two teenage sons who have been the subject of the rumors. “I should not have to be quiet.”
Since Johnson’s lifeless body was found in a rolled-up gym mat at Lowndes High School more than a year ago, the Bells’ lives have changed. Karen Bell has decided to speak out against the not-so-quiet whisper campaign accusing her sons of murder.
Her husband, an FBI agent, cannot talk publicly about the hearsay and other loose talk blurring the line between fact and fiction on the Internet.
For more than a year, anonymous rumors have forced Bell’s children to live different lives even though an investigation by the sheriff’s office and an autopsy by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation determined Johnson died from a freak accident when he
became trapped upside down in a gym mat while trying to retrieve an athletic shoe.
The GBI autopsy said Johnson died of “positional asphyxia” that prevented him from breathing. Johnson’s parents believe he was the victim of foul play, possibly murder, pointing to a second autopsy they commissioned by a private pathologist that said their son appeared to die from a fatal blow to a carotid artery in his neck. U.S. Attorney Michael Moore is currently reviewing evidence in the case.
In the meantime, Karen Bell said, her sons are being falsely accused and bullied on social network sites, causing them anguish and concern for their safety.
She said her oldest son, 18, was forced to quit his job at a local grocery store in November after Twitter users posted online that they knew where he worked.
