Despite claims to the contrary, Kansas City Chiefs fan Jordan Willis didn’t earn the nickname “The Chemist” for making drugs in high school, a source close to him says. Speaking to FOX News Digital, he refuted the theory that the professional scientist was involved in the deaths of three of his friends. .
Clayton McGeeney, 36, Ricky Johnson, 38, and David Harrington, 37, were last seen alive inside Willis’ home at an NFL game party. Two days later, on January 9, he was found frozen to death in the backyard of his Kansas City home.
The men’s loved ones have put forward the theory that Willis played an active role in their deaths, McGeeney’s cousin Caleb McGeeney told NewsNation: [Willis’] Friends knew him as “The Chemist.”
“Jordan’s ‘chemist,’ brother Jordan’s ‘chemist,'” Caleb McGeeney said. “It was easy for them to go and play, but he failed and made mistakes.”
However, a source close to Willis insisted that he was never called by that name and that he was “not a chemist by trade”.
Kansas City Chiefs fan found dead in friend’s backyard: What you need to know
On January 9, 2024, David Harrington, Clayton McGeeney, and Ricky Johnson were found dead outside their friend’s Kansas City home. (Ricky Johnson/Facebook)
“He is a computational data scientist in HIV vaccine research. His work is exclusively on the computer and he works from home,” a source told Fox News Digital on Monday.
“To promote the real-life Walter White-type story that people are trying to create,” the source said, referring to Bryan Cranston’s depressed character on the AMC drama “Breaking Bad.” , it’s very unfortunate that his work is being used against him.” A high school science teacher uses his knowledge of chemistry to become a drug lord after being diagnosed with stage 3 cancer.
The source also said Willis comes from a military family and has loving parents, but if he was “making drugs in the house in high school,” his parents “definitely” would have known and intervened. He also said that it would have been.
“Ruining Jordan’s reputation and life with a smear campaign as some kind of revenge will not bring peace to the family, especially without evidence from the police to corroborate their statements,” the source said. .
The source also accused the family of changing the story, saying, “Grief is no excuse to say whatever you want in public without consequences.”
Kansas City Chiefs fan dies: Family says there’s ‘more to the story’ with drugs in man’s system
Jordan Willis, 38, an HIV scientist, entered a rehabilitation center after three of his friends were found dead in his backyard on January 9, 2024. (GitHub)
“At first they don’t know about Jordan, the men don’t do drugs, so he must have been killed or poisoned or dragged out of the house, or he saw something he shouldn’t have seen. “It must be,” a source close to Willis said Monday. “Then, when the first toxicology came out, they were going to be under peer pressure.”
“Now, out of nowhere, the guys said they’d known Jordan since high school as ‘the chemist,’ and he’d been supplying and manufacturing drugs for them ever since. Which one? This is completely ridiculous,” they continued.
Kansas City police maintain that no criminal activity is suspected in their deaths, telling Fox News Digital that they are “100 percent not being investigated as homicides.”[s]. ”
But the families of the three men who died are wondering how Willis failed to notice their bodies just meters from the back door of his home. Willis’ attorney claims his client was asleep most of the time from the time he allegedly saw the three leaving. McGeeney’s fiance found one of the men’s bodies outside and called police.
Jonathan Pryce, Ricky Johnson’s brother, questioned how someone who is “responsible enough to earn a Ph.D.” could earn a Ph.D. In an interview with Fox & Friends last month, he said that “what seems like very complicated science” could “sleep all day on Monday.”
Death of Kansas City mayor, fans: Victim’s family at odds over ‘angry’ speculation, lawyer says
Family and friends of Clayton McGeeney (left), David Harrington (center), and Ricky Johnson (right), three of whom mysteriously died in the frigid temperatures outside a friend’s home in Kansas City. In response to this, people are making a fuss in search of answers. (Facebook)
Willis graduated with a Ph.D. He earned a doctorate in chemical and physical biology from Vanderbilt University in 2014, his attorney John Picerno confirmed to Fox News Digital. He previously studied chemistry and molecular biology at Missouri State University.
According to an interview Willis gave to the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative website in 2022, he is a senior principal investigator at the IAVI Center for Neutralizing Antibodies in Kansas City.
But on Monday, a source close to Willis told Fox News Digital: “For those of you who can’t imagine how he could have been completely out of mind and asleep for two days, oblivious to his surroundings, the good news is that what happened is… I don’t know much about it,” he said. Looks like a drug and alcohol vendor. ”
“He’s lucky to be alive,” a source said of Willis.
Kansas City Chiefs fan found frozen to death, preliminary toxicology results revealed
An exterior view of the backyard and porch of Jordan Willis’ home in Kansas City, Missouri, on Friday, January 26, 2024. The bodies of three of Willis’ friends, Ricky Johnson, Clayton McGeeney, and David Harrington, were found in Willis’ backyard. , a body was found on a porch on January 9, 2024, two days after attending a Kansas City Chiefs home game party. (DWS on Fox News Digital)
While many Chiefs fans spent Sunday night celebrating their team’s Super Bowl victory with beers in hand, Willis was in an inpatient rehabilitation facility, a source close to his family previously told Fox News Digital. He allegedly entered the program shortly after his friend’s death, but he continues to cooperate with police, officials said.
“Jordan went to rehab because he wanted to save his life. This was not a legal strategy, but a wake-up call,” a source said Monday. “Having three of his closest friends die outside his home without his knowledge was a real rock bottom moment that he will spend the rest of his life getting over.”
Officials say Willis has struggled with alcoholism and depression throughout his adult life. Officials say his bad habits diminished when he lived around “like-minded scientists” in San Diego while completing his doctoral program. But the 38-year-old allegedly turned his back on him when he returned to Kansas City to care for his father, who was diagnosed with late-stage Alzheimer’s disease.
“Moving back to Kansas City wasn’t good for his mental or physical health, and the added isolation of working from home caused him to fall back into old habits,” the source said. “When he returned after being away for more than a decade, he started spending more time with his high school friends.”
“Grief is no excuse to say whatever you want in public without consequences.”
Preliminary toxicology report results shared with the men’s families show THC, cocaine and lethal levels of fentanyl were detected in their systems. However, Harrington’s stepmother told NewsNation that these discoveries do not spell the end for the family.
“The important thing is that he didn’t accept that he was going to die,” his stepmother Teresa Harrington told NewsNation. “He didn’t take it to die. Even though he drugged himself, he took it to get high.”
But on Monday, a source close to Willis insisted: “They all made the wrong decision that night.”
Click here for the FOX News app
A source said: “We are outraged that something like this happened and are truly sorry that the men lost their lives.” “But as a friend who wants to protect him and help him get back on track, no one deserves this type of heinous behavior in a case that is still under investigation for the whole world to see.”
“There’s a plausible, very likely explanation as to why he didn’t know they were there that people don’t seem to understand,” the source continued.
Once a full autopsy and toxicology report is available and police complete a forensic examination of the electronic devices (at least two of the man’s family members have been asked for their son’s cell phone password), Pratt The county attorney’s office will decide whether to file criminal charges against Mr. Willis or not. Alex Wiemer Lee, the fifth party guest to leave Willis’ house alive on the night of January 7th.
