The parents of one of three Kansas City Chiefs fans found dead in a scientist friend’s backyard say that toxicology reports suggesting they took a deadly mix of drugs only proves “there’s more to the story.”
David Harrington’s parents insisted that there was no closure from reports Friday saying that their 37-year-old son and friends Ricky Johnson, 38, and Clayton McGeeney, 36, had three times the lethal level of fentanyl as well as THC and cocaine in their systems.
“What matters is that he didn’t take that to die,” mom Theresa Harrington told NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo.
“It just means that there’s more to the story, there’s more to it than just that.
“He didn’t take that to die,” she continued. “If he took the drugs on his own, he took them to get high.”
Harrington said her son “wasn’t a drug addict or anything like that,” and suggested he may have taken the lethal combination of drugs under “peer pressure.”
Her husband, Jon, also said the toxicology reports do not fully explain how their son and his friends were found frozen and dead days after visiting their friend Jordan Willis.
“Somebody gave them something that would kill them,” he insisted, saying he believes the dead men likely “got them there” at the watch party, while conceding he has no way of knowing for sure.
Harrington’s mom also believes it’s telling that police made clear it is an ongoing investigation after initially ruling out anything suspicious.
“We keep getting answers that [police] are still investigating, so there’s something there that they’re saying, ‘maybe that’s not right,’” she said.
Willis’ attorney John Picerno has repeatedly stated that his client “did nothing wrong” and had no idea his friends were dead in his backyard.
The HIV scientist is understood to have checked himself into rehab for an unknown addiction in the days after the deaths.
Kansas City police spokesperson Alayna Gonzalez confirmed to People magazine Monday that “the case remains an ongoing death investigation.”
“Both KCPD Detectives and the Platte County Prosecutor’s Office have been in touch with the deceased men’s families and remain in contact with them as the investigation unfolds.”
