Gregory Johnson Jr. was the only black member who was living in the house of his fraternity Sigma Chi, a fraternity with a racist history, in 2008. On November 22nd, 2008, he was found hanged and dead in their basement. SJSU PD reported the death was a suicide and said his death was caused by ligature hanging. Gregory has a crack on the back of his head that indicated he had suffered from blunt force trauma, which was leaking brain matter that his parents saw when they were able to see his body. Pictures of his body taken by his parents do not show scars on his neck that support a death by ligature hanging; in fact, there are no marks on his neck, despite the autopsy report reporting marks on his neck. He had evidence on his body, including a broken neck, that showed proof of being beaten. Gregory had no indications of being suicidal, had no history of any mental illness, and left no suicide note. Gregory stood at 6 feet and 2 inches, whereas the pipe was only 5 feet and 10 inches above the ground. SJSU, UPD, and Sigma Chi still rule his death a suicide and have insisted that his parents not pursue the case anymore because of the statute of limitations set on suicide cases. Police reports were inconsistent and police did not pursue the case even though there was a flurry of many details that were inconsistent and suspicious. Conveniently, no Sigma Chi members had seen Gregory hang himself, and none of them saw anything except for the member who allegedly found his body hanging in the basement. Gregory’s parents were denied seeing their son’s body for 13 days because fraternity members had identified his body. When his parents arrived at the frat house, the fraternity had already taken the crime scene tape down and cleaned the basement and disinfected it using Pine-Sol (as allowed by police). Gregory's belongings had been tampered with, and pictures from his phone had been deleted. The FBI eventually took over the case, investigating it as a hate crime, and it stopped in Washington D.C. at the desk of then-Attorney General Eric Holder, with no explanation as to why it was dropped. His family and the public have never had access to the full police report, nor the FBI investigation report. No arrests have been made, and it is widely suspected that SJSU and UPD worked together to cover up his murder in order to avoid a bad reputation for the school, which has also had a history of racism within the school (ie., Sigma Chi in Trump memorabilia Spring 2019, a Nazi swastika in Joe West Dorm Hall, and anti-immigration flyers posted around campus in the 2019-2020 school year). Sigma Chi was also suspended in the mid 1960s for discriminatory actions, and clearly they are still racist, making Johnson’s death as the only black member of the fraternity living in the house at the time even more suspicious. Sigma Chi is an old, established fraternity throughout the college systems in the United States, with many members being from rich, powerful, and influential families. The people demand that the statute of limitations is put aside and the case is reopened in order to serve justice for Gregory Johnson and to finally punish his murderers, the members of Sigma Chi during the time of his death. Gregory Johnson’s parents have waited 12 years for justice and closure, and we the people demand that they do not have to wait any longer.
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Follow @justiceforgregoryjohnson on Instagram and @justice4gregory on Twitter for updates and more ways to fight for justice for Gregory Johnson Jr. Also visit whokilledgregoryjohnsonjr.com for email templates and more information.
More information on Gregory's case:
https://linktr.ee/justice_for_gregory_johnson
