Midwest
Video shows Kansas City Chiefs watch party host handcuffed after friends’ bodies found
A video showing a detained, handcuffed Jordan Willis was captured by a neighbor on the night police discovered the bodies of his friends Clayton McGeeney, Ricky Johnson and David Harrington in his Kansas City backyard.
Although the video is only seconds long, neighbor Ashton Brady, 25, told Fox News Digital that there was a heavy police presence at the house across his street on Jan. 9 for at least an hour and a half before he went to bed.
First, Brady said, he saw a distressed-looking woman hurrying from the house and making a phone call – according to the Kansas City Police department, McGeeney’s fiancée dialed 911 for a welfare check to the Northwest 83rd Terrace home around 8:51 p.m. that night.
Family members told Fox News Digital that she discovered the first body after she frantically broke onto Willis’ property, unable to reach him or her partner. She allegedly knocked at the door and even shouted Willis’ name from inside the house before making the discovery.
KANSAS CITY CHIEFS FANS DEATHS: JORDAN WILLIS CHECKS INTO REHAB AS FAMILIES AWAIT TOXICOLOGY RESULTS
In a still taken by neighbor Ashton Brady, Jordan Willis can be seen in handcuffs and boxer shorts, surrounded by police on the evening of Jan. 9. His friends Ricky Johnson, David Harrington and Clayton McGeeney were found dead on his property that evening – Kansas City Police have told Fox News Digital that they do not suspect foul play in their deaths. (Fox News Digital)
“I just thought when I saw her, I thought it was weird watching her walk from the side of the house – she came out through the back,” Brady recalled in a Wednesday interview. “It was weird, the pace she was walking and talking on the phone. She looked back over her shoulder every so often at the house.”
“She looked upset for sure, like she didn’t know what was going on or anything,” he said.
Brady went back into his house, but returned to watch the scene across the street after seeing the lights of an ambulance through his bedroom window.
“We woke up and there were cops up and down the street and caution tape – you couldn’t go anywhere.”
By the time he got back outside, he said, about four police cars had amassed across the street and police officers surrounded a handcuffed man wearing just boxers or sleep shorts.
“He was detained for probably, like, 30 to 45 minutes. He was shirtless for 10 or 15 minutes and then a police officer grabbed a jacket out of the house,” Brady said.
Lights inside the house remained off, but Brady said he could see officers’ flashlights through its windows as police conducted their search. At some point, he said, he could see lights coming from the backyard.
As time passed, the police presence grew – what was initially just four cars became eight or 10 on the small street, he said.
“He was handcuffed and the woman was with the other police talking, so I figured a dispute broke out, and they were getting both sides of a story,” Brady said. “I thought ‘maybe they just got into an argument’ – at the time I didn’t know they found bodies… I thought it was strange that I saw the police go through the house.”
“People asked if I saw any bodies come out, I never did,” he said.
Attorney and retired NYPD inspector Paul Mauro told Fox News Digital that no meaningful insights about the case can be inferred from the manner in which Willis was detained:
“You can cuff for your own safety, and they did have three [dead on arrivals], so they didn’t know what they were into here,” Mauro said of police at the scene.
HIV scientist Jordan Willis, 38, checked himself into a rehab facility after his three friends were found dead in his backyard on Jan. 9. It is unclear whether drugs played a role in their death, as their toxicology results are still pending. (GitHub)
After about an hour and a half, Brady said, the woman and the man he now knows to be Willis were taken away in police cars. At some point Willis was uncuffed, because Brady could “see his arms moving.”
Another neighbor, Maya Dukes, told Fox News Digital that there was still a police presence at Willis’ home around 4 a.m. the next day.
“We woke up and there were cops up and down the street and caution tape – you couldn’t go anywhere,” she recalled. “They didn’t have their lights on or anything, they were just out on the street and at that house.”
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Brady would only learn the extent of the tragedy that took place across the street the next day:
“My roommate texted me at work – I was like ‘holy s—, I didn’t know that.”
Brady said that he and his roommate had just moved from elsewhere in Kansas City to the house across the street from Willis, and had spent the previous week settling in. He was away on a hunting trip with friends on the weekend of the Kansas City Chiefs game against the Los Angeles Chargers, when the men were last seen alive at Willis’ home on Jan. 7.
KANSAS CITY CHIEFS FANS FOUND DEAD IN FRIEND’S BACKYARD: WHAT TO KNOW
David Harrington, Clayton McGeeney and Ricky Johnson were found dead outside their friend’s Kansas City home on Jan. 9, 2024. (Ricky Johnson/Facebook)
Dukes said she noticed trucks parked outside the house because they were parked in “a weird spot where people don’t normally leave their cars.”
The two trucks are visible in Brady’s video. Family members of the deceased men have criticized Willis for not noticing that his friend’s vehicles were still on his street and thinking something was amiss.
In the days following Willis’ arrest, Johnson’s family told Fox News Digital they retrieved their son’s vehicle. Brady said the other car left the street, as well, but was unsure whether it was driven or towed away. It is unclear when the three men arrived at Willis’ home.
KANSAS CITY CHIEFS FAN DEATHS: JORDAN WILLIS ‘DEPRESSED’ OVER ‘WILD SPECULATIONS’ ABOUT PALS, SOURCE SAYS
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)
“It’s kind of weird,” Brady said of moving into his new home as the tragedy was unfolding. “It’s been… I don’t know, it’s been interesting for me. At first, I didn’t know if I should say anything [about the video], I didn’t know how big of a deal it was. I kind of wish I didn’t say anything because now my phone’s blowing up and people are hitting me up. [But] I just feel for the families… hopefully it helps a little bit.”
He said he had never seen Willis before that night.
“I have theories on it,” Brady said when asked what he thought of the mysterious deaths across the street. “I personally, I don’t know. It’s weird to me. The weirdest thing to me is if it was an overdose, no one called or anything like that – I went to school and partied – usually when something like that happens, when you call the police or the ambulance, no one usually gets in trouble.”
Ashton Brady poses for a photo on his front porch in Kansas City, Missouri on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024. Brady’s neighbor, Jordan Willis, was briefly detained while police searched his home after three of his friends were found dead in his backyard after a football watch party earlier in January. (DWS for Fox News Digital)
The Kansas City Police Department has told Fox News Digital that the deaths of the three men are “100 percent not being investigated as a homicide,” and that Willis is not considered a suspect. Toxicology reports will take six to eight weeks to process, according to the private company contracted by Platte County to carry out autopsies, while their full autopsy reports will not be released for another 10 to 12 weeks.
Willis’ attorney, John Picerno, said that his client works from home, slept for “a lot” of the time between allegedly seeing the three men out of his house after the Chiefs game. Therefore, Picerno said, he did not see messages or phone calls, and did not hear concerned loved ones knocking at his door.
PARENTS OF KANSAS CITY CHIEFS FANS FOUND DEAD THINK VICTIMS ‘SAW SOMETHING THEY SHOULDN’T HAVE SEEN’
Family and friends of Clayton McGeeney, left, David Harrington, center, 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)
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Willis checked himself into an inpatient rehab facility shortly after moving out of his house and is “facing his addiction head-on” after the “enormous, heartbreaking wake-up call” of “los[ing] three of his close friends under extremely tragic circumstances,” a source close to the family told Fox News Digital.
Two men were seen loading Willis’ belongings into a U-Haul truck in the days following Jan. 9, neighbors said – the source said that it has since been moved into storage, and that he is “still cooperating with the police department in their investigation.”
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Illinois
Gates Explains How Injuries are Holding Mizzou Back After Loss to Illinois
ST. LOUIS — Dennis Gates’ eyebrows raised when he heard the word choice of “struggles” in a question regarding a recent drop off in perimeter offense for Missouri that was evident in a loss to Illinois.
“You said ‘struggles’?” Gates asked.
“You know, I can’t wait to get healthy as a team,” Gates said to answer the question.
With three of its players injured, Missouri suffered a 91-48 loss to No. 20 Illinois on Monday. It’s the lowest-scoring performance in any game in the Gates era. It’s the lowest-scoring output for Missouri in the series since a matchup in the 1943-44 season.
There’s no way to sugarcoat how poor of a performance it was for the Tigers. The cracks in the foundation that have been popping since the season opener at Howard are continuing to break through even more.
But Gates believes returning those thee players will begin to patch up those cracks and get Missouri closer to its full potential.
“It’s like pieces of puzzles,” Gates said. “Our entire team has been put together a certain way. … So we have guys playing playing well, but playing out of position due to our injuries, and ultimately, I’m excited about getting healthy. You cannot ask our players to do more than what they’ve done. I take it on my shoulders, as the leader, as the head coach, it’s on me. This game is on me.”
The most impactful of the absences has been guard Jayden Stone, who has now missed each of the last seven games with a hand injury. He provided a scoring spark off the bench, including from the perimeter, when he was healthy. His initial timeline for return set him to return to the court for SEC play at the latest.
Meanwhile, forward Trent Pierce has missed the entirety of his junior season so far with an undisclosed injury. No specific timeline has been given for his return.
Additionally, Missouri faced another surprising hit against the Fighting Illini with forward Jevon Porter missing the game with a leg injury.
Between Stone and Porter, Missouri is missing a combined average of 19.2 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. Plus the length of Pierce, who started in 19 games last season.
Gates believes Missouri is hurting not only from the absence of those three players alone, but also from the domino effect it is having on the lineups. Specifically with the offensive spacing that Stone brings that creates opportunities for other players on the offense.
“When you lose a guy (Pierce) that has not played this season and he’s a starter in the SEC, that’s a (missing) advantage with length, shooting ability,” Gates said. “Jayden Stone, the same way, look at his percentage. You have to have both Stone and (Jacob) Crews in the game to open up things.”
The injuries have forced other players into roles not originally expected, stretching the roster thin.
“But in the meantime, in the process of getting healthy, we got to have guys fill in the blanks and be utility guys and do something that we may not have planned for you to do,” Gates said. “Some may take the opportunity as a way to get on the court, some may not.”
Gates specifically highlighted wanting the guys who were being asked to do more to do a better job of defending the 3-point line, where Illinois shot 45% from. He also highlighted wanting center Luke Northweather to be more agressive offensively in Porter’s absence.
Monday night’s absence for Porter meant more opportunities for true freshman forward Nicholas Randall, who appeared in 13 minutes. He grabbed two rebounds in that time.
But Porter and Pierce’s absence was still painfully obvious on the glass. Missouri was out-rebounded 43-24 and gave up 29 second-chance points while only scoring five of their own, a key disparity in the loss. The dominance on the glass for Illinois was crucial to the Fighting Illini going on a 14-5 run to end the first half. Gates attributed the second-chance points to Illinois being able to execute consistently on the opportunities and Missouri getting out of rotation too often.
“The second-chance points that we gave up, they executed on every single one of them, and that’s what hurt us,” Gates said. “That’s what ignited their run. And I just thought our guys at that point, hit a wall.”
Gates isn’t letting the injuries, nor Monday’s blowout loss affect his perception of what the team is capable of. With optimism that at least Stone and Porter could return at the start of SEC play, he’s hoping his team will look closer to the original picture he had in mind.
“I think our team is a good team, man,” Gates said. “We can win games as we have, without certain guys, and we’ll continue to piece it together.”
That piecing together will need to come quick. In non-conference play, Missouri did not earn any sort of notch for a possible bid in the NCAA Tournament. Though the Tigers finish the slate 10-3, Missouri went 1-3 against high-major opponents in that. The loss to Illinois was one that draws even more questions on what the Tigers are truly capable of this season.
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Indiana
Indiana faces Milwaukee, aims to halt 5-game skid
Milwaukee Bucks (11-18, 11th in the Eastern Conference) vs. Indiana Pacers (6-23, 14th in the Eastern Conference)
Indianapolis; Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. EST
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Bucks -1; over/under is 220.5
BOTTOM LINE: Indiana will try to stop its five-game slide when the Pacers take on Milwaukee.
The Pacers are 2-5 against opponents in the Central Division. Indiana has a 3-14 record in games decided by 10 or more points.
The Bucks are 3-4 against Central Division opponents. Milwaukee ranks fifth in the NBA averaging 15.0 made 3-pointers per game while shooting 39.9% from downtown. AJ Green leads the team averaging 3.1 makes while shooting 46.8% from 3-point range.
The Pacers average 109.7 points per game, 7.2 fewer points than the 116.9 the Bucks allow. The Bucks average 15.0 made 3-pointers per game this season, 3.4 more made shots on average than the 11.6 per game the Pacers give up.
The teams square off for the second time this season. The Bucks won the last matchup 117-115 on Nov. 4, with Giannis Antetokounmpo scoring 33 points in the win.
TOP PERFORMERS: Pascal Siakam is averaging 23.8 points, 6.7 rebounds and four assists for the Pacers. Ethan Thompson is averaging 3.0 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.
Ryan Rollins is averaging 17 points, 5.9 assists and 1.6 steals for the Bucks. Kevin Porter Jr. is averaging 3.0 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Pacers: 3-7, averaging 108.9 points, 41.1 rebounds, 23.1 assists, 7.3 steals and 6.1 blocks per game while shooting 44.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 114.9 points per game.
Bucks: 3-7, averaging 108.0 points, 39.2 rebounds, 26.2 assists, 8.1 steals and 3.4 blocks per game while shooting 48.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 113.7 points.
INJURIES: Pacers: Obi Toppin: out (foot), Ben Sheppard: day to day (calf), Isaiah Jackson: day to day (head), Aaron Nesmith: out (knee), T.J. McConnell: day to day (knee), Tyrese Haliburton: out for season (achilles).
Bucks: Giannis Antetokounmpo: out (calf), Taurean Prince: out (neck).
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
Iowa
States including Iowa, Nebraska reach $150M settlement with Mercedes-Benz
LINCOLN, Neb. (WOWT) – A coalition of states including both Iowa and Nebraska reached a nearly $150 million settlement with Mercedes-Benz.
The states allege over 200,000 diesel vehicles were illegally equipped with devices designed to cheat on emissions tests between 2008 and 2016.
Mercedes allegedly hid the existence of these devices from regulators and people purchasing the vehicles.
Copyright 2025 WOWT. All rights reserved.
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