2 Men Charged with Manslaughter in Chiefs Fans' Deaths 14 Months After 3 Victims Were Found in Backyard

• Police have arrested two suspects connected to the death of the three Kansas City men who were found outside a home days after watching a football game
• Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd said that two bags, one containing cocaine and the other holding fentanyl, were found at the home
• A forensic exam determined that the three friends “all died of Fentanyl and cocaine combined toxicity”

Over a year after Ricky Johnson, David Harrington and Clayton McGeeney were found dead outside a Kansas City home days after watching a Chiefs football game, two suspects have been arrested and charged.

“After an investigation of nearly 14 months, two suspects are now facing felony charges in Platte County, including involuntary manslaughter, related to the deaths of three Chiefs fans in January of 2024,” the Kansas City Missouri Police Department said in an update on Wednesday, March 5.

Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd said during a press conference that the suspects, identified as Jordan Willis and Ivory Carson, were charged with “distribution of a controlled substance and three counts of involuntary manslaughter.” Willis and Carson are being held on $100,000 cash bond, per the Associated Press.

Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. The Kansas City Police Department confirmed the arrests with PEOPLE.

Zahnd said that while searching the home after the incident, police found two plastic bags containing “white powdery substances.” After being tested by police, one of the bags came back positive for cocaine.

“The probable cause statement alleges that Mr. Willis was determined to be the major contributor of DNA found on that bag,” said Zahnd. “The other bag contained fentanyl and the probable cause statement alleges that Mr. Carson was determined to be the major contributor of DNA on that bag.”

Zahnd further noted that a witness alleged to be with the three friends at “Mr. Harrington’s home” on the night of the football game “where he saw a large plate of cocaine allegedly supplied by Mr. Willis that everyone was using.”

Another witness allegedly claimed that he was with the three friends at Willis’ home later that night, “where they drank, smoked marijuana and used cocaine. That witness left shortly before midnight.”

According to Zahnd, text messages also allegedly indicate that “Mr. Carson supplied Mr. Harrington with cocaine.”

The prosecutor said that a forensic exam determined that the three friends “all died of Fentanyl and cocaine combined toxicity.”

PEOPLE reached out to the Platte County Prosecutor’s Office for comment.

Johnson, Harrington and McGeeney were found dead on Jan. 9, 2024, two days after they went to the rental home of their friend, Willis, to watch the Kansas City Chiefs-Los Angeles Chargers game.

Willis’ lawyer, John Picerno, told PEOPLE in a statement on Jan. 23, 2024, that his client claimed that the last time he saw the men “was when they left his house, and he went to bed.” The attorney claimed that Willis was unaware that friends and family were trying to locate them “prior to being contacted by the police.”

Picerno added that his client was “unaware of how his friends died,” and he was “anxiously awaiting the results of the autopsy and toxicology report.”

In a statement shared with KCTV on Wednesday, Picerno said Willis’ charges came as a surprise and were “contrary” to what prosecutors told him months ago.

“The probable cause statement submitted by the state is consistent with what Jordan stated happened,” Picerno said. “Jordan maintains that he is not responsible for purchasing or supplying the drugs that led to the deaths of his three friends. We are very much looking forward to the day a jury gets to hear all of the evidence in this case.”

A woman searching for her fiancé, McGeeney, discovered one of the men on Willis’ back porch. The bodies of the two other men were then found in the backyard, the Kansas City Police Department told PEOPLE in a previous statement.

Two of the victims’ cars were parked on the street, but Picerno said at the time it wasn’t unusual for Willis’ friends to have left their cars overnight.

“On behalf of Jordan and his family, we wish to express our deepest sympathies to the friends and family members of these young men, and our thoughts and prayers are with them,” Picerno said in a 2024 statement released.

Throughout the investigation early last year, police repeatedly said “no foul play” had been “observed or suspected.”

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Johnson’s brother, Jonathan Price, previously told PEOPLE that he believed “something had to have been in their system” that wasn’t alcohol.

“If I were to give a hypothesis… for the three men to die in the way that they did, something had to have been in their system,” Price, who shares a mom with Johnson, said during an interview in January. “Whether or not it was taken knowingly, I wouldn’t answer that.”

On Feb. 1, 2024, early toxicology reports reportedly indicated the men had cocaine and fentanyl in their systems, per WDAF and TMZ, citing sources.

Although rumors continued to circulate in the wake of the reports, on Feb. 3, 2024, a KCPD spokesperson reiterated to PEOPLE that the case remained an “ongoing death investigation.”

The spokesperson added, “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.”