[EXCLUSIVE] EBONY Magazine Hit With $5 Million Dollar Lawsuit, Over Kendrick Johnson Death Articles

The court docs note that the writer of the articles was Rosen — who is known for his “true crime” genre articles. The family explains that Rosen wrote articles about how Johnson was “murdered” by “blunt force trauma” and placed in the gym mat.

Rosen also wrote, in a November 19, 2013 article entitled “Tweets From Possible Suspects Raise Eyebrows” (hereinafter the “Tweets” article), ROSEN stated that a white sophomore high school football player fictitiously named Chris Martin, as well as his older brother fictitiously named Clark Martin (a LCHS senior), both sons of a Valdosta FBI agent, were “possible suspects” in KJ’s murder. Tweets goes on to state that Chris Martin had the motive to murder KJ because of previous fights they had, resulting in a “prior animus” going back at least two years.”

The parents explain that despite the name changes, many of the schools students, teachers and coaches were well aware the references to Chris Martin and Clark Martin were in fact references to BRIAN BELL and BRANDEN BELL, sons of Valdosta FBI agent RICK BELL. They claim the articles caused the sons to be threatened with bodily harm and they still receive threats on social media.