Charges have been filed against two men in connection with the death of three Kansas City Chiefs fans in January 2024.

Jordan Willis and Ivory Carson are both charged with three counts of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of the delivery of a controlled substance.

“People may have doubted this investigation because it has spanned more than a year,” Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd said. “The Kansas City Police Department and my office do not rest on homicide cases until we have exhausted every possible resource. Today’s charges are the product of the hard work of Kansas City detectives and prosecutors over those many months.”

Court documents state that Willis and three men attended a gathering at the residence to watch a football game, where they consumed alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine.

When police arrived two days later, they found a truck parked outside and made entry through a basement window, discovering the bodies of 38-year-old Ricky Johnson, 36-year-old Clayton McGeeney, and 37-year-old David Harrington in the backyard.

Platte County Sheriff’s Office

A search of the home uncovered multiple bags containing a white powdery substance, later confirmed by forensic analysis to contain both cocaine and fentanyl.

Witnesses said the friends were using cocaine when they got together first at Harrington’s home and then Willis’ on Jan. 7, 2024, to watch the Chiefs play the Los Angeles Chargers. The witnesses said Willis had a history of offering cocaine to his friends when they were low on money and that he bought it from Carson, according to the probable cause statement.

But Willis’ lawyer, John Picerno, said there is no evidence that Willis bought the drugs that his friends ingested before their deaths, noting they had been partying all day. And he said Willis didn’t know that they were still in his backyard — or that they needed medical attention — until police showed up.

“It has been a very, very long year for Jordan,” Picerno said. “He’s lost his job. He’s lost his home. He’s lost his friends. The public are pointing at him as someone who essentially killed them. And nothing could be further from the truth.”

Willis told police that he believed that McGeeney, Harrington and Johnson possibly got a hold of some fentanyl at some point on the Sunday the game was played and that he thought they all left his home around 4 a.m. the next morning.

Weather records indicate the low temperature that night was around 33 degrees.

Investigators interviewed Carson, who admitted to selling cocaine to Johnson, Willis, Harrington and McGeeney before Jan. 1, 2024, the probable cause statement says. No attorney is listed for Carson in online court records. Text message data further confirmed Carson as the group’s primary supplier, according to court documents.

In the weeks and months since the three deaths, the case went viral on TikTok and other social platforms for its true-crime overtones. And family members of the three men have taken their frustrations to Kansas City-area media, questioning when there would be charges.

DNA evidence linked Willis and Carson to the drugs, according to the charging documents.

The medical examiner, on Jan. 12, 2024, ruled the deaths were due to a combined fentanyl and cocaine toxicity. Both Carson and Willis are in police custody, according to booking records.

“This is a message to those who are bringing fentanyl in our communities providing it to people, harming our community—that you will be held accountable,” Kansas City police chief Stacey Graves said. “You will be arrested and you will be charged.”

Their court dates have not been set.

Platte County, Missouri prosecutor announces charges:

Timeline of events, per court documents

• Jan. 7, 2024: The group attended a football game watch party and consumed alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine.
• Jan. 9, 2024: Police discovered the bodies.
• Jan. 12, 2024: The forensic medical examiner confirmed the deaths were due to fentanyl and cocaine toxicity.
• Jan. 23, 2024: Lab analysis confirmed the presence of cocaine and fentanyl in seized drug samples.
• July 10, 2024: DNA evidence matched Willis, connecting him to one of the bags of drugs.
• July 24, 2024: Investigators interviewed Carson, who admitted to selling cocaine by the gram to Johnson, Willis, Harrington, and McGeeney before Jan. 1, 2024.
• July 26, 2024: A forensic data extraction from Harrington’s phone revealed messages confirming Carson as the primary cocaine supplier.
• Sept. 16, 2024: A witness stated that McGeeney, Harrington, and Johnson remained at Willis’ residence after the football game.
• Dec. 12, 2024: DNA evidence from the second drug bag matched Carson.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.