For most of us, TikTok serves as a silly video website to see cats doing silly things and trending dances. But there is a side of TikTok that is descending on Platte County and they want answers.
Three weeks ago, five men watched the Chiefs beat the Dolphins. For three of those men, they would never leave. They were found dead at that home two days later by friends. The owner of the home, Jordan Willis, moved out a few days later, lawyered up, and has not spoken publicly. A fifth man at the party has also been mum on what happened.
Through an attorney, Willis said that he slept for two days with headphones in and never noticed the dead bodies in the backyard.
The three men were found frozen in the backyard during those sub-zero temperatures we suffered through, but the coroner is still awaiting toxicology and autopsy reports.
This is where the Internet comes in. There is a whole subculture of #TrueCrime aficionados. People who have gorged themselves on CSI programs and Dateline. They know crime like the back of their hand. And they’ve decided that the deaths in Platte County are a little too suspicious.
To date, no one has been charged with a crime. The Kansas City Police Department is treating the incident as a “suspicious death investigation” and stating that no foul play was observed. That doesn’t sit well with TikTok user SpookyBoyRiles who said “This case is so confusing, like how do you sleep for 2 days?”
Something is fishy and not adding up, says TikTokker Steph Charbonneau, “I just don’t get how they were in the backyard if he says he last saw them leaving out the front door?”
A video posted by jennalynn468 three days ago has over 31,000 views and over a thousand comments. It is one of hundreds of videos under the hashtag #JordanWillis. TikTok wants to get to the bottom of this and will stop at nothing. People have doxxed (given out personal information) about Willis and where he works. They have contacted friends of his and friends of the deceased. They are interested in any chemical substances the friends might have ingested at the party. They. Want. Answers.
Given the relative lack of local and national attention to this story in mainstream media (NewsNation has had several stories on it), this is continuing to live mostly online. But as we await those toxicology reports, the Internet will stop at nothing to learn more clues.
The Internet is no stranger to solving crimes. But their track record is far from perfect. Dating back to the Boston Marathon bombing, (where the Internet wrongly accused a man after mistaking him in a photo of the bomber) there is high risk in jumping to conclusions. Law enforcement plays by strict rules to protect evidence and facts for eventual court cases. There are no such rules on the Information Superhighway where you still get a lot of “a friend told me” and “I heard that someone’s cousin’s hairdresser said that…”
Regardless, TikTok has this in their teeth and is unlikely to let it go until the facts come out. You might check out the #JordanWillis hashtag on TikTok between dance trends and Taylor Swift gossip. The Internet is descending just up the road right here in Platte County.
(Get more from Chris Kamler on X and TikTok and other places, where you’ll most often find him as @TheFakeNed)
