GRIM CONNECTION

Cops Investigating NFL Player’s Death as Potential Serial Killing

Kevin Johnson is one of four unhoused people killed near the L.A. River since October 2025.

Authorities are investigating a potential link between the homicide of former NFL player Kevin Johnson and a string of killings of unhoused people in Los Angeles. Johnson, 55, was found dead inside a tent encampment along the Los Angeles River on Jan. 21. Johnson’s cause of death is listed as “blunt head trauma and stab wounds,” and his manner of death was ruled a homicide, according to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner records. Officials say Johnson’s death may be linked to three other murders of unhoused people living along the L.A. River, in an area commonly referred to as Compton Creek. All four murders occurred within the same general location between October 2025 and January 2026, and all four victims were unhoused individuals living in tent encampments. Officials are looking into the possibility that all four murders were done by the same killer, the L.A. County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau said, though a suspect has not yet been identified. Johnson played for three seasons in the NFL during the 1990s as a defensive tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles and the Oakland Raiders.