FSU Valued Its Image More Than Brian BellDavid Whitley (Copied in full w/permission)

VALDOSTA, Ga. — Brian Bell has felt the eyes upon him for two years. Everywhere he goes, people look at him and wonder.

Is he a football hero or a murderer?

There is plenty of hard evidence for the former and barely a speck for the latter. But that hasn't stopped colleges from caving in to a smear campaign that has wrenched this city.FSU yanked its scholarship offer to Lowndes County High linebacker on the eve of National Signing Day. The Seminoles opted for image protection over justice.

"They went to the mat for Jameis Winston," said Leigh Touchton, a Valdosta civil rights leader, "and this kid hasn't done anything."

Bell is getting blackballed out of college football. Just don't say that too loudly or you might be subjected to the social media bullying has turned a tragedy into a farce."It's time to move on," Susan Moody said.

She was on the steps of the Lowndes County Judicial Complex recently, waiting for a prayer vigil to begin. It had been called to bring the community together and promote healing.Nice sentiments. But for now they don't have a prayer.

Murder or accident?This story began Jan. 10, 2013, when 17-year-old Kendrick Johnson went to the Lowndes County High gym shortly after 1 p.m. The theory is Johnson climbed up on top of a stack of gym mats to reach for shoes he'd left behind.He slipped, became lodged headfirst in the middle of one of the rolled-up mats and asphyxiated. The mats were stacked in a corner of the gym, and Johnson's body wasn't discovered until the next morning.The one thing everyone agrees on is Johnson is the preeminent victim in this case. And any parent would rightly scream for answers to such a bizarre death. But that search has left of trail of undeserving casualties, starting with Bell.

He'd gotten into a fight with Johnson on a bus in 2011. That was enough to make him the lead murder suspect on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

The social media sleuths said Bell and his older brother, Branden, supposedly beat Johnson to death. Adding to the intrigue was the fact the boys' father, Rick, is an FBI agent.Race quickly became the polarizing factor, since Bell is white and Johnson was black.The Lowndes County Sheriff's Office investigation ruled the death an accident. That didn't begin to satisfy a suspicious community.

"I was a firm believer Mr. Johnson had met with foul play," Rev. Floyd Rose said. "I thought that from the beginning."

He's the pastor at Serenity Christian Church and president of the local chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Rose organized support for Kendrick's parents, Kenneth and Jacquelyn Johnson.He brought in Rev. Al Sharpton for a rally that attracted 1,600 people. He helped set up a $10,000 reward for information that would solve the alleged crime.

Other rallies followed as Johnson's parents set up camp on a lot across from the old county courthouse. They wore T-shirts reading: "I AM KENDRICK JOHNSON," and "Justice for KJ."Their suspicion was fueled by discrepancies in the police investigation, like the coroner not immediately being called to the gym and Johnson's organs being discarded after the autopsy.The Johnson family hired a forensic pathologist to perform a second autopsy. He decreed that Johnson died from "non-accidental, blunt-force trauma."

Touchton, the head of the local NAACP chapter, asked the U.S. Department of Justice to open a civil rights investigation that is ongoing. She said the Johnsons' legal team asked her to investigate the death.Touchton's findings did not fit the growing narrative.

"This is not a murder," she concluded. "It was a tragic accident. Period. End of story."Hardly.

Accident or Murder?Touchton became Valdosta's NAACP leader in 2000. She was re-elected three times and won the organization's Medgar Evers Award for service to civil rights.

None of that has immunized her from charges of bias and incompetence, much of it based on the fact Touchton is white.

The state NAACP rejected Touchton's findings. She eventually resigned.Rose's civil-rights credentials aren't so easily dismissed. He started marching for justice in 1963. He's 76 now, but his guiding principle has never changed."If you follow the truth, wherever it leads," Rose said, "I believe the truth will set you free."

What did he find the truth to be here?"The more I looked into the case personally and through open records and interviews, I came to the conclusion there's no way he could have been murdered," Rose said. "To accuse the Bell brothers is utter nonsense."

He fears the D.O.J. investigation has dragged on 16 months due to political pressure."Why don't they just go ahead and say what I already know?" Rose said. "I found nothing. I know it, they know it. They're so far out there, they may not want to say that."

There was no forensic evidence indicating a fight occurred at the gym. But even if you grant that Johnson was murdered and every cop in south Georgia is conspiring to protect the killers, one thing stands out.The Bells have airtight alibis.

Witnessess say and video shows Brian Bell was in class across campus at the time Johnson would have been killed. Branden Bell was with the wrestling team on a trip to Macon, 153 miles away.

I asked Johnson family lawyer, Chevene King Jr., how he squared that. He said look at the complete investigative report.

It is 633 pages. I couldn't find anything contesting the Bell brothers' whereabouts on Jan 10, 2013.If this ever went to trial, I don't see how the prosecution could refute the testimony of at least 13 witnesses who saw the Bells either in class or on a bus to Macon when Johnson died.If 25 months of social media posts are any indication, that conclusion simply means I'm part of the grand conspiracy.

On Jan. 12, 2015, the Johnson family filed a $100 million wrongful death lawsuit against 38 defendants. It basically says a couple dozen law enforcement, city and school officials — both black and white — are risking going to prison in order to cover up a murder committed by two people who could not be placed at the scene of the crime.

Controversy beginsAttorney Benjamin Crump represented Trayvon Martin's family in Sanford and later Michael Brown's family in the Ferguson, Mo., legal drama. The FSU alum is also co-counsel representing the Johnsons.The cases change. The storyline does not.

A young black male is killed under dubious circumstances. Stories conflict. Passions are inflamed. Civil strife ensues. The perpetrator becomes a pariah.The difference here is George Zimmerman and Darren Wilson didn't have the support of the local civil rights leaders most familiar with the case, much less witnesses testifying they were nowhere near the scene of the death.Nobody ever claimed the $10,000 reward Rose arranged, but the "Justice for KJ" enragement apparatus went fully operational.A photo of Johnson's disfigured face was spread over the Internet. Supporters said it was proof Johnson was beaten. It was actually an autopsy photo taken after the medical examiner had sliced and examined the body.Facebook accounts were set up and gathered more than 50,000 likes. Ebony magazine ran a series titled "Who Killed Kendrick Johnson" in which it concluded Johnson was murdered. The Bell family filed a $5 million libel and slander suit, claiming the series fueled a social media reign of terror.

"If you just mention one of [the Bell brothers] names, they'll find you and tear you down," said Michael Ross, Bell's friend since third grade.

A popular rumor was that the son of Lowndes County Sheriff Chris Prine killed Johnson. Except Prine doesn't have a son.

Matthew Moody was on Bell's wrestling team and therefore deemed an accomplice. Susan Moody defended her son on her Facebook page. Someone on the Kendrick Johnson Memorial page posted Moody's home address, phone number and a family picture that included her 92-year-old parents."Family of Murders" it said. "We stand for justice, and justice will be served tonight."

Moody had worked off and on at a local café for 12 years. Her boss called her into his office one day."I can't have you here," he said. "I can't have my employees being scared."She was fired. Brian Bell was becoming radioactive.

FSU's decisionKing turned down an Orlando Sentinel request to interview Johnson's parents for this column. But he said the family has no connection to the social media campaign."They have done too much in the way of filing litigation to want to resort to those kind of tactics," he said.Jacquelyn Johnson, however, has numerous posts on the Kendrick Johnson Memorial Facebook page. King's brother Clennon was hired to produce a video implicating the Bell brothers. It has almost 28,000 views on YouTube.

Bell attorney Brice Ladson sent demand letters to Johnson's attorneys and Clennon King asking them to remove the video and other statements from the website.Bell's family also turned down interview requests, but they have been the target of dozens of death threats. Bell stopped going out at night.

"It's been hard. I've had him crying in my arms," Ross said. "But he's a strong individual for a teen-aged kid. I don't know how he does it."As Signing Day approached, the Facebook pages urged followers to pressure FSU not to sign the "psychopath." The $100 million civil suit provided fresh oxygen for the furor. After the Winston circus, FSU cringed at the thought of headlines like "FSU Trades Accused Rapist for Accused Murderer."In a 2006 profile in the FSU Law School's magazine, Jesse Jackson praised Crump's ability to generate publicity for a case. Crump's spokesman said that did not happen here."He's had no involvement with FSU and their decision," Crump communications manager Adner Marcelin said. "His only involvement has been on the legal side of the case."

A press conference is not usually considered a legal forum. Crump held one two weeks ago in Jonesboro, Ark.

"Does anybody really believe Kendrick Johnson climbed into that wrestling mat and got stuck and died?" he asked.

Crump has been promoting "Kendrick's Law," saying all it takes to become a coroner in many states is a GED degree. He insinuated on an Atlanta TV show last month that the coroner who ruled Johnson's death was accidental had only a high school diploma.

That coroner, Dr. Maryanne Gaffney-Kraft, has a doctoral degree in Osteopathic Medicine.FSU spokesman Rob Wilson said the school is not commenting on the case. The day after Signing Day, Touchton was among nine people from Valdosta who met with FSU president John Thrasher.

"We thought when they heard the whole story they will understand it's a witch hunt propagated in the court of public opinion," she said. "We thought they'd be reasonable."She felt the two-hour meeting went well. Then FSU's general counsel spoke up.

"She basically said Benjamin Crump has enormous influence on this campus," Touchton said, "and this would not be a healthy environment for Brian Bell."

The Valdosta contingent was stunned. Then Touchton said one spoke up."If you let Benjamin Crump run your football program and your school," he said, "then shame on you."

Bell's future

Lowndes County High coach Randy McPherson has sat in his cramped office the past two weeks scrambling find Bell another school. The phones have been strangely silent.One school said it would overnight a scholarship offer. The package never arrived.Lowndes County High has won four state football titles the past 15 years, and eight players have gone to FSU since McPherson became coach in 2005. He doesn't blame Seminoles coach Jimbo Fisher for FSU's decision. But Bell's betrayal doesn't bode well for a ninth Viking heading to Tallahassee anytime soon."It doesn't help," McPherson said.

Bell was the leading tackler on last year's team and turned down official visits to other schools. His last trip to FSU was two weeks before Signing Day.

"He felt like it was home," Ross said.

An FSU source said nobody at the university believes Bell is a murderer, but administrators sincerely believe he would be better off elsewhere.Bell posted tweets using a slang version of the N-word after a gang threatened to kill him. A source close to the family said the tweets were taken out of context and the word was not meant as a pejorative.Regardless, FSU decided it does not need the headache. It is not the only school to make the calculation.McPherson has been tight-lipped about the whole saga, but one thing is obvious.FSU's motto is "Vires, artes, mores," Latin for strength, skill, character.McPherson thinks FSU should drop that last word.

Seeking unity"The community has been torn apart," Rose said. "Young people are confused."A "Justice for KJ" banner still hangs across from the courthouse, but the protests have faded. As with those in Ferguson, Mo., they are now comprised largely of out-of-towners.The most recent one at the judicial complex took new spin. It was the first billed as "No Sides" event.On her Facebook page, Johnson's aunt, Lydia Tooley Whitlock, called it something else."'WACK ASS' KLAN RALLY…. THE LIL HELLIAN DIDN'T MAKE IT INTO FSU BECAUSE NOBODY WANTS TO BE CONNECTED TO 'HIS KIND.'"Rev. Darren Neal, a black minister, kicked off the rally with a short sermon."We all have friends deeply wounded by our community's behavior," he said. "We all need prayer."

Eight or nine of them were offered up. A soloist sang "Amazing Grace."

A school counselor recited statistics on cyber-bullying — 70 percent of teens have witnessed it, 33 percents say they've been threatened.Schools are surrendering to it, led by FSU."As far as I can see, they haven't handled anything right," Ross said.After speaking to the crowd, he walked down the steps and was hugged by friends. They were black and white. His best friend was missing.

Organizers wanted Bell to attend, but they feared somebody might "accidentally/on-purpose" bump into his mother, knock her down, Bell would jump to her defense and the scene that would immediately be plastered on the Internet.

Everybody who was there would know the truth, but it would not matter.

In the search for justice for KJ, the truth has not set Brian Bell free.dwhitley@orlandosentinel.com