VALDOSTA — An analysis of Lowndes High surveillance footage conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation indicates former student Brian Bell was not near Kendrick Johnson when he was last seen on campus. 

Kendrick Johnson’s body was found upside down in a vertically stored gym mat at Lowndes High School Jan. 10, 2013. A state autopsy ruled the death accidental as a result of positional asphyxia after Johnson became stuck while squeezing himself down into the gym mat to retrieve a shoe. Johnson’s parents have contended he died of foul play. 

Brian Bell and his older brother, Branden, had been targets of suspicion in Johnson’s death. The brothers and another former LHS student, Ryan Hall, were named in a $100 million civil suit filed by Johnson’s parents, which alleged the three students were involved in Johnson’s death and a far-reaching conspiracy to cover it up.

FBI analysis of LHS school surveillance footage was first made public in February, but the names of two “persons of interest” were redacted. Last week, a partially un-redacted version was made public through court filings, and revealed Brian Bell as one of the “persons of interest” in the report.

The partially un-redacted version was obtained by Bell’s parents who filed a Freedom of Information Act request for a copy of the report which identifies members of their family. They received a report that names Brian, but the identity of the second “person of interest” remained concealed, suggesting Branden was not a subject of the FBI’s analysis.

The FBI has concluded that on Jan. 10, 2013 Brian Bell was “headed towards the D Wing for his fourth block class” at the time Johnson was entering the school’s old gym, according to the report.

Photographs included in the report also show Johnson walking across the “old gym” floor at 1:27 p.m. and Brian Bell walking along the exterior of the school towards D-wing at 1:28 p.m. 

At the same time, Branden Bell was on a bus traveling to a wrestling match in Macon, according to investigations conducted by the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office and confirmed by documents and phone records obtained by The Valdosta Daily Times.

The “person of interest,” whose identity remains redacted in the FBI video analysis, was observed in the LHS parking lot headed towards J-Wing at the time Kendrick is last seen, according to the FBI report.

The unclassified report is dated Sept. 9, 2014, and contains the FBI’s analysis of Lowndes High School hard drives containing surveillance footage from Jan. 10 and Jan. 11, 2013.

Adam Floyd is Editor in Chief of Valdosta Today and is a former crime reporter for The Valdosta Daily Times who covered the Kendrick Johnson case extensively.