Dr. Baden assesses what may have killed Chiefs fans outside friend's house
Forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden on the ongoing investigation into the mysterious deaths of three Chiefs fans
The longtime girlfriend of one of three Kansas City Chiefs fans found dead after an NFL watch party said her boyfriend did not use drugs and insists that he and his friends were "murdered."
The body of Lorie Kruse's boyfriend of 17 years, 37-year-old David Harrington, was frozen in the backyard of Jordan Willis' Kansas City home along with his high school friends Ricky Johnson, 38, and Clayton McGeeney, 36, on Jan. 9.
They were last seen alive inside the house two days earlier watching the Chiefs play the Los Angeles Chargers. Willis said he has no idea what happened to his friends.
Kansas City Police have told Fox News Digital that their deaths are "100% not being investigated as a homicide," and Willis has not been charged with a crime. Kruse, however, insisted in a Friday interview with News Nation's Chris Cuomo that Harrington's death was not an accident.
"David was murdered," she told Cuomo. "Those three guys were murdered."
KANSAS CITY CHIEFS FANS DEATHS: JORDAN WILLIS 'DEPRESSED' OVER 'WILD SPECULATIONS' ABOUT PALS, SOURCE SAYS
David Harrington, far left, Clayton McGeeney, second from right, and Ricky Johnson, right, were found dead in their friend's backyard two days after they had gathered to watch the Kansas City Chiefs game. (Ricky Johnson on Facebook)
"I don’t know if Jordan gave them something like they’re talking about," she continued. "David wasn’t a drug addict like they’re talking about… David didn’t do stuff like that."
"Maybe they did take something because they were drinking," she continued. "But I know David wouldn’t have took it."
Willis' attorney, John Picerno, has told Fox News Digital that he works from home, and slept for much of the period between allegedly escorting his friends out of his house after the Chiefs game on Jan. 7 and police knocking at his door around 8:51 p.m. on Jan. 9 after finding the bodies on his property. Therefore – despite large windows overlooking his backyard – he did not notice his friends in the snow, Picerno said.
PARENTS OF KANSAS CITY CHIEFS FAN FOUND DEAD THINK VICTIMS 'SAW SOMETHING THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE SEEN'
An exterior view of the backyard and porch of Jordan Willis’s home in Kansas City, Missouri, on Friday, Jan. 26, 2024. The bodies of Willis’ three friends – Ricky Johnson, Clayton McGeeney, and David Harrington – were found in Willis’ backyard, with one body found on the porch, on Jan. 9, 2024, two days after attending a Kansas City Chiefs watch party at the home. (DWS for Fox News Digital)
McGeeney's fiancée contacted police on Jan. 9 after finding one of the bodies on Willis' back porch, his family claims. She had broken onto the property in desperation after text messages and calls were not returned and her knocks at the door went unanswered.
"It does not make any sense to have three men dead, laying in the yard and [Jordan] asleep for 48 hours," Kruse told Cuomo.
"I have heard of Jordan before. I’ve never met him. I’ve heard a lot of terrible things about him," she said. "I don’t know the truth in it … David’s never had a conversation about Jordan. I’ve heard the name Jordan when he’s talking to his friends … I don’t think I’ve ever heard any stories about Jordan at all."
She also told Cuomo that Willis was "on drugs," but did not elaborate.
David Harrington's girlfriend of 17 years, Lorie Kruse, said that her partner was not a drug user and speculated that his death was not accidental. (Facebook)
Harrington's mother, Jennifer Marquez, also said that her son was not a drug addict and spoke out against assertions that intentional drug use may have played a role in his death.
"I believe Jordan does know," Marquez told Cuomo. "And I’m asking Jordan to please come forward and tell the truth because he does know what happened that night… He’s the only one that can give all of our families some peace."
In an earlier interview, Marquez told Fox News Digital that although her son "smoked cigarettes and drank beers with his friends," she does not believe he overdosed, and that "Jordan [is going to] have everything to do with what we find out" about his death.
Family and friends of Clayton McGeeney, left, David Harrington and Ricky Johnson, right, are clamoring for answers after the three men inexplicably died in freezing temperatures outside their friend's Kansas City home. (Facebook)
"Yes, I believe that something happened that night and that Jordan had something to do with it," Marquez said. "We all believe that Jordan had something to do with that."
Harrington's father, Jon Harrington, told Fox News Digital that he "doesn't believe anything [Willis'] attorney says."
"[Harrington's mother] and I are both convinced that Jordan Willis played a part in this somehow," the elder Harrington said on Thursday. "We just haven’t figured out how yet. . . . What else could it be? Perfectly healthy men don’t just drop off the face of the Earth."
After speaking with the Platte County prosecutor's office, Harrington's father said he "would expect that they will treat this as a drug overdose and go on with their business."
"Perfectly healthy men don’t just drop off the face of the Earth."
"But I don’t think it’s as simple as that," he said. "I'm aware that they may have done some substances that were questionable – but the idea was to get high, not dead … If they were supposed to be friends, why didn’t [Willis] come find them. I’m sure they have a hundred different answers to that, but that’s my question."
A spokesperson for Frontier Forensics Midwest, the private company contracted by Platte County to carry out autopsies, told Fox News that the results of the men's toxicology reports will take six to eight weeks to process, while their full autopsy reports will not be released for another 10 to 12 weeks.
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Kansas City Police Captain Jacob Becchina told Fox News Digital last week that the department "do[es] not anticipate any additional information released prior to the findings of the medical examiner," and that the "ruling on the cause of death is the next piece to determine any needed additional investigative tasks."
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