Police are looking into the mysterious deaths of three Kansas City Chiefs fans who went to a home to watch a game against the Los Angeles Chargers and never returned home.
The three men went to the home on the 5200 block NW 83rd Terrace in Kansas City, Missouri, on Jan. 7 to watch the game, a family member said. Two days later, the fiancée of one of the men went to the home looking for him. She called the police, who confirmed there was a body on the back porch.
"Upon further investigation, officers located two other dead bodies in the back yard," the Kansas City Police Department said in a statement.
The men were identified as Ricky Johnson, 38, Clayton McGeeney, 36, and David Harrington, 37. The three men were friends since high school, Stephanie Walling, Johnson’s niece, said. She was not familiar with the resident of the home where the men were watching the game until their bodies were found in the backyard on Jan. 9, she said.
There were "no obvious signs of foul play" seen at or near where the men were found, police said. No arrests have been made in connection to the deaths.
In a GoFundMe created to raise money for funeral expenses, Johnson was described as "a cherished son, brother, uncle, and friend."
Walling created the fundraiser in the hopes that it will also help support the three daughters he left behind.
Johnson's death has left the entire family wanting answers, Walling said.
"It’s devastating because I just want to know what happened, I just want to know how things went down," Walling said. "Even if we don’t ever know the answer, it’ll always be something that kind of lingers in the back of my head, because it’s not something I'd wish on anybody and just thinking of him going through it, it hurts."
"I just want to bring awareness to what’s going on to hopefully bring answers out because there is so many questions and not very many answers," she said.
The Kansas City Police Department did not identify the resident of the home, who they say was cooperative with detectives the day the bodies were discovered.
An investigation to determine the cause of death of all three men is underway, police said.
The medical examiner did not immediately respond to requests for an update.
“It’s just really hard because I know his girls meant the world to him and he had really big plans for them,” a tearful Walling told NBC News. “Now, he won’t get to follow through with those plans.”
Walling described her uncle, who was 10 when she was born, as a “gentle giant” and “a very caring person.” He was the biggest Kansas City Chiefs fan she knew, she said.
CORRECTION (Jan. 23, 2024, 5:00 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated the scheduling of the Chiefs game. It was a regular season game, not a playoff game.
