Kedarie The Victim And His Murderers Summary

1356 Words6 Pages

On the second night of March in 2016 in the quaint city of Burlington, Iowa, the body of 16-year-old Kedarie Johnson was found stuffed in an alley with two gunshots to the chest, a plastic bag shoved down his throat, and a bottle of bleach by his side. His murder in cold blood triggered a cascade of events that led to the murder trials of two men, questionable and controversial federal involvement backed by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and new light shed on continuing debates of gender identity inclusivity policies and legislature in the justice system.
The Victim and His Murderers: Context A “popular junior, known for his infectious laugh and dazzling grin,” (Davey, 2017) Kedarie was an admired member of his community whose sudden death shook the inconsequential city he’d lived in. His family moved from the West Side of Chicago in hopes of a better future to the predominantly white area. Kedarie’s most notable characteristic relevant to this case was his gender fluidity. Widely accepted by his family and friends, …show more content…

The first two witnesses were friends of Kedarie: Tremell, 17, and Amari, 16. Tremell said he’d spent the afternoon with Kedarie the day of his death, eventually going to HyVee (the supermarket where Sanders-Galvez and Purham first spotted Kedarie) around 7:00pm. The two left the store at around 8:20pm, but Johnson went back into the store because he’d left his backpack and computer. The second witness, Amari, said he then showed up at her house later that night, during which Kedarie told her “Lumni was following him.” The red car that Kedarie believed was following him was outside of the house, but was gone before he’d left Amari’s house. (Parrott,