Kansas City Chiefs Fan Whose Friends Froze to Death in Backyard Reportedly Checks Into Rehab
Pending a toxicology report, there are still more questions than answers in the case of three Kansas City Chiefs fans who froze to death in the backyard of their friend's home after a Jan. 7 watch party. However, the home's resident, HIV-researcher Jordan Willis, 38, has reportedly since entered rehab, which may explain why he failed to notice the bodies of his friends over the course of two days.
On the evening of Jan. 9, David Harrington, 37, Ricky Johnson, 38, and Clayton McGeeney, 36, were found by authorities following a wellness check. Though homicide was reportedly ruled out, friends and family have been remained suspicious about the series of events leading up to the tragic incident.
A source close to his family told Fox News Digital that Willis is "facing his addiction head-on" by entering rehab, and that the deaths of his three friends was an "enormous, heartbreaking wake-up call" for him. "After the shocking loss of three of his close friends under extremely tragic circumstances, Jordan recognized that he had a problem with addiction," the source said. "He immediately checked himself into rehab after vacating his home and putting his things into storage."
A neighbor told the outlet that two of the men who died were seen arriving at Willis' house on the night of the game with two 30-packs of beer.
Eerily enough, new footage taken from the back of the home seems to indicate that it would have been difficult for Willis to not notice the bodies of his friends.
"Here is a new view of Jordan Willis' backyard," wrote News Nation correspondent Alex Caprariello. "You see those two chairs on the patio? David Harrington's brother tells us his body was found upright sitting in one of those. The other two men were found dead lying on the ground on or near the the patio."
"Notice the windows. There's six looking out, plus door-windows and a sliding glass door leading to the kitchen," he added. "It's hard for me to understand how you don't look out ANY of those windows for two days straight and notice three of your friends frozen bodies out there."
Here is a new view of Jordan Willis' backyard. You see those two chairs on the patio? David Harrington's brother tells us his body was found upright sitting in one of those. The other two men were found dead lying on the ground on or near the the patio.
Notice the windows.… pic.twitter.com/91tOlakCyN— Alex Caprariello (@alcaprari23) January 31, 2024
Willis' attorney John Picerno has maintained that his client, who is employed with the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative not-for-profit organization, works from home and slept with noise-canceling headphones for "a lot of" the two days while friends and family were searching for the men.
He added that it wouldn't have been unusual for the men to leave their cars parked outside of their friend's home, and that Willis' dogs were staying at his father's house so he had no reason to go outside in the cold and snowy weather.
"When he would have people over at his house, yes sometimes as people, they get tired, they’re people that are very close to you and you feel comfortable going to bed and allowing them to leave when they want to leave," Picerno previously told Fox 4 News. "None of us know what happened to these individuals and I think the most important thing to remember here, these are his three buddies."
Alex Weamer-Lee, a fifth man present at the watch party, relayed through his attorney that he had left the house around 11 p.m. on Jan. 7, and that the four other men were watching Jeopardy! at the time.
"He doesn't know what happened," Weamer-Lee's attorney, Andrew Talge, told the media. "We don't know anything until the toxicology reports come back, if they show anything… these men were my client's good friends."