Teen Dies Mysteriously During Homecoming Prank

This is a story that starts with a. simple prank and it ends with a tragedy. that no one can currently explain. Haden. Kelly, a beloved high school athlete. golfer, was found unresponsive during. homecoming week and now he is dead and. it is not clear why. We bring on. forensic death investigator Joseph Scott. Morgan to try to understand what may be. going on. Welcome to Sidebar, presented. by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber.

What I'm about to tell you is sad as it. is just so strange. 17-year-old high. school student Haden Kelly, a rising. golf phenom, is dead. And I will tell. you, it is not clear why. Now, we're. going to get into what we know based on. the reporting and then try to figure out. what we don't know. But this past. Monday, the Daily Mail reports that. Haden was playing a prank with friends. out in Dodge County, Georgia, tepeeing a. yard, you know, throwing toilet paper.

all around when all of a sudden, it was. reported a friend finds him unresponsive. at 9:00 a.m. collapsed in this yard. And. Haden is actually, by the way, the great. nephew of the Dodge County Coroner, Joe. Smith. Smith told WGXA that this was. part of homecoming activities. Says it's. not clear what happened. that hadn't. reportedly died at the scene. Now, his. body has been sent for an autopsy. It is. weird. It is really, really weird. We do.

not have a lot of details about what's. going on here. Before we even get into. what could have happened, I just want to. take a second to tell you a little bit. more about this guy. Okay, this young. man was a serious, serious golfer. He. worked at Dodge County Golf Club. He. played for the Dodge County High School. Golf Team. the team and coaches, they. released a statement on Facebook that. said, "He was our top performing golfer. and always finished earlier than most of. his teammates. He always stayed till. each team member finished. He could have.

left as most of the time he finished. first against the competition. It wasn't. about him. He stayed to support his. team. He wanted the team to succeed.". And Smith doubled down on this, saying. to WGXA, "He played every day." And I. believe if that were something he wanted. to do, he would have gone pro because he. was that good. Dodge County High School. released a statement on Facebook saying, "There are no words to express the. sadness that our DCHS family feels for. the loss of Junior Haden Kelly. Please.

join us in prayer for his family, friends, and our DCHS family. Gone from. our sight, but never from our hearts. And you can feel how special and how. loved he was. So again, what happened? I. want to bring in forensic death. investigator from Jacksonville State. University and host of the Body Bags. podcast, Joseph Scott Morgan. Joseph, so. good to see you. Always great seeing. you. Thank you so much. >> Thoughts? Thoughts on this? Uh yeah, the. circumstances are certainly uh odd,

bizarre, as a matter of fact, because. you've got a 17-year-old kid who's. obviously an athlete. Um probably in. pretty good physical condition. You take. a look at this young man. He looks like. the picture of health. He's long, lean, you know, externally, you know, you. don't see anything that would give you. pause to say, you know, this person's. got some kind of health condition. He's. not like morbidly obese or anything like. this. There's even images, these uh. still images of him swinging his golf.

club. You know, he's got this beautiful. back swing, very long swing. You can. tell he's very practiced. Spends. probably a lot of time on the range. And. I've been to Dodge County, Georgia, uh. Eastman, Georgia, that area. It's hot. It is hot, hot, hot during the. summertime. We've already made it. through summer. You know, he's been. playing golf all summer. He's been in a. couple of tournaments. I think my big. question as a death investigator would. be what kind of symptomology had he. presented with because you know you. think about you're going to go out at.

9:00 in the morning to go toilet paper. homes which back in my day that was done. at night but again part of homecoming. festivities apparently according to the. authorities. Did any of his friends see. anything odd? Was he short of breath? Was he complained of a headache, chest. pains, nausea particularly? Had he. thrown up prior to them getting. together? There's so much that we don't. know at this point in time. And of. course, the autopsy at this point in. time, which I would imagine is being. conducted by the state medical. examiner's office in Georgia, um it's.

going to be left pending unless they. find some kind of physical anomaly that. is so glaring or some kind of trauma, which we haven't heard anything about. that yet. We're going to be waiting on. examination of microscopic tissues and. we're going to be waiting on toxicology. How many times have you and I talked. about toxicology over the years, Jesse? And that's going to be a big key here. >> Let me ask you something. Have you ever. sat through a meeting and you thought at. the end of it, wait, what did we just. decide after all of that? Maybe you sat. through a really good discussion, but.

then you lost track of what the action. items were later on. Look, I've been. there. I'll freely admit it. But that is. why I want to bring your attention right. now to our partner, Plaude AI, and their. newest product, the Note Pro. Okay, this. right here is an AI meeting assistant. that is designed for leaders. It's about. the size of a credit card. It's slim. It's portable. And by the way, look at. that. Goes right on the phone. So easy. And let me tell you something about. this. I can keep mine with me for. brainstorming sessions when we're. planning new episodes of Sidebar or. interviews. It picks up voices from up. to 16 ft away. It filters out background.

noise. It can record nonstop for up to. 50 hours. But here's the real game. changer. It captures absolutely. everything. audio pictures, written. notes, highlights, and then the app. turns it all into structured summaries. with insights and clear to-dos that you. can then share with your team. And with. Ask Plaude, it's like having a second. brain. It can draft up follow-up emails. It can pull data reports. It can even. help you brainstorm all based on the. context of your meetings. Plus, no pro. can give you peace of mind. A display. screen shows your recording status. It.

has Apple Find My Fast File Transfer. It. meets the highest privacy standards, so. I feel secure using it even for the most. sensitive of topics. And if you're like. me and you want to make the most of your. time, it's time to try the Plaude Note. Pro. So, right now you can get 10% off. of Plaude's other features, the note. note pin with code Jesse. Just click the. link below or scan the QR code on. screen. So, let's talk about the. autopsy. So, how does it work? What is. the full examination look like? When you. say pending, what do you mean? And and. when could we actually get results? >> Well, I I think probably uh what's.

referred to as the gross dissection, which is where you have the remains in. front of you. you do an external and an. internal examination and we refer to it. as examining the body with the unaded. eye. Okay? And what that means is is. there any kind of diagnosis that the. forensic pathologist can come up with. like if they're taking a look at the. heart they would look at the valves in. the heart with a young person to see if. there's any kind of mal for the valves. wanting to know also things like is the.

heart muscle atrophied in any way you. know kind of worn and weak. Is there. wall thickening in the heart? That's a. sign of hypertension many times. And of. course, they're going to look for. standard things like heart disease. You. know, you begin to think of a. 17-year-old with heart disease. In my. wildest dreams, I've been trying to. think about this. Is he predisposed to. some kind of genetic anomaly? And it's. all going to center around the heart. I. think probably around the brain as well. But that examination is not going to be. complete until.

they can take those tissue samples that. they recover at autopsy. Remember how I. said with the unaded eye and what they. will do is they will fix those samples, place them onto a microscopic slide and. is a hisytological examination. And the. pathologist will actually sit in a. microscope and take a look through the. scope at the tissues as well. You'll. have extensive tissue sampling. throughout the body to try to understand. this and to try to appreciate is there. something that has been missed.

developmentally cuz he's he's 17 Jesse, you know, I mean, he's not that far. removed from mom taking him to the. pediatrician. Were there any indications. early on? Is there something that they. may have missed? You know, one of the. first things that came to mind for me. cuz he's kind of long and lean, I was. thinking, well, is this kid suffering. from Marfan syndrome, which is something. we see with people that are really tall? They even think that, you know, Abraham. Lincoln may have had Mar fans. You get. heart anomalies with that. And there's. certain physical characteristics that. you see particularly with the fingers.

Um, and there are heart heart. abnormalities that are associated with. that. And I I don't know that that's the. case. >> Uh, but everything is going to be. explored here. I think one of my big. questions, I've heard a couple of things. here that as far as the timeline goes. that are kind of interesting. And I'd. read one report where they said that he. was deceased at the scene and found by a. friend and then the other was that he. was removed from the scene and taken to. the emergency room and pronounced there. >> I saw that reporting too. Yeah. >> Yeah. And I want to understand that.

timeline cuz Jesse, that's very. important when you're talking about. something where you don't have obvious. trauma. You have to understand what was. going on with him. And also when they. found him, I want to know, was he just. not breathing? Were there any color. changes in his body? And the reason I. say that, there's one obvious thing that. you can kind of look at and see. If. somebody is in what's referred to as. congestive failure, it essentially goes. from like the nipple line up to the top. of the head. People will actually take. on kind of a dark purplish color, and.

that's an indication of congestive. failure. You've got a problem with your. heart, your lungs. You're not processing. like you should be. So, there's so much. here to explore. And as a death. investigator, I got to tell you, I'm. going to be asking some very specific. questions. I want to know what he had. ingested that morning because 17 year. olds just don't fall over deceased. We. hear about them in the news. Do you know. why we hear about them? It's the same. reason we're talking right now. It just. doesn't happen. That's what puts it on. the radar. It's such an anomaly. I want. to know if he's taken on any kind of.

supplements in the morning. I want to. know if maybe he's on an energy drink. That could play into it. You never know. 9:00 in the morning, you're running. around the neighborhood, you're tepeeing. houses and this sort of thing. You're. with your buddies, anything that he. might have had in his system. And of. course, that's all going to come back. relative to toxicology. >> And they will also be looking, I. imagine, for allergies and toxins as. well. I imagine if that's so clear to. determine um based either on toxicology. reports or a preliminary examination.

>> Yeah. Yeah, it would be. Um I you know. well first off you got to go back in. time relative to this young man's. history. I kind of you know talked about. that a little bit. Had he been followed. for his entire life by physician. developmentally? Was there anything? And. also I think important to try to. understand is over the past few weeks. has anything changed relative to his. appetite his activity? This kid is. really into golf. So if you've got a. let's just say he's become lethargic or.

kind of listless. you know, he's. complained of being tired, for instance, or fatigued. Did any of that. symptomology precede now, what we're. seeing now? That's an important question. to ask. Has his diet changed at all? And. you know, there are those outlier. things, too, that I'm still because it's. a death investigation. I'm going to want. to know if he had ingested something. Did anybody have access to anything he. was drinking or anything he was eating? That's all on the table at this point. You have to consider this. How expansive.

does a death investigation go? Do do. would your job be. >> looking at interviews or interviewing. people that were around him that day. leading up? Would it be looking at. surveillance footage? I mean, how. extensive does it go? >> Oh my lord. Yeah, it's going to be it's. going to be dense, particularly the data. is going to be dense, particularly in a. case like this because you're you know. when when you and I cover cases that are. involving very specific trauma, Jesse, we've got some pretty obvious answers.

there. You're literally starting out. with bupkas here. You don't have. anything as far as detailed physical. information or medical information about. lifestyle and all those things. So, you're having to build out a case. And. I'm not talking about from a police. standpoint. I'm talking about from my. community as the medical legal. authorities. You mentioned his great. uncle is the coroner. Well, he's part of. that uh machinery. You know, as far as. involving himself in the death. investigation, you're going to go back. You're going to go to his treating.

physicians. If he has a family physician. that he's been visiting, I'm sure with. every single kid that I'm aware of that. is going into a sport, okay, you have to. have a medical examination. What was. found there? Is it something that they. were doing every single year? And what. did that consist of? I'm going to. interview all of his friends, particularly those that were either. traveling in a vehicle with him, that. had spent time with him that morning. Of. course, you got to go back to the. parents. A real fantastic snapshot is. the last 24 hours before he was found.

unconscious or deceased in that yard. I. want to know what was going on with him. prior to all of that. you know, what. what would have occurred relative to. interactions with people, complaints of. illness, those sorts of things. All that. stuff's going to have to be unpacked. And this is going to be a very involved. investigation. >> When will the public and more. importantly, when will his family get. answers as to what happened? It's going. to be a slow roll out uh with talks. unless unless uh they can talk to the.

GBI who would be handling this case, the. Georgia Bureau of Investigation because. the state medical examiner is housed. within that organization if they can get. like toxicology bumped up to the front. of the line because everybody's going to. be curious about that. if they are not. seeing anything with the unaded eye and. they're just kind of going into this. investigation wanting to know what was. going on at a chemical level. Were there. any toxins? Were there any drugs? You. talked about allergies. I think that's.

going to be very important. Allergic. reactions, things of this nature. They're going to have to consider every. bit of that data. And this case in. particular, it would not surprise me, Jesse, to see them get maybe a. cardiologist involved in it, you know, as a consult to have them take a look at. the heart. Also, perhaps a. neuropathologist if they suspect. anything was going on with the brain. They'll bring in that consultation. because they want to make sure that all. the boxes are ticked here because you. get one shot at it. You get one shot at,

you know, doing it right the first time. and that's it. And so they're going to. cover a lot of territory with this. >> Before we wrap things up, little inside. baseball. So I helped to write a lot of. these episodes for Sidebar. Um I wrote. today's and as I was writing it, I. barely could find information about. this. There were like a few articles. They were repeating. >> a lot of the same information, bare. bones information. Is it strange to you? We don't have a lot of information right.

now. No indication about what happened. And it's like this was a beloved. athlete. He was doing a prank. >> He's dead. That's all we know. Like. there's no further explanation. Is that. strange to you? >> Uh not necessarily. However, I think. that it has to. um grab the appetite of the media in. particular. The closest large city to. this location is essentially Mon. You go. down to Mon, Georgia, and they've got. multiple news outlets there. There's a.

pretty prominent newspaper there. I. think at the making telegraph. I would. keep my eye on those news feeds to see. if this elicits any kind of reaction. from the news media there in that area. because they could really do a deep. dive. And I think it's really important. because look, we've got a 17-year-old. high school student, Jesse, that is. deceased. I think that that's valuable. information to try to understand and. educate the public about what's going on. here because I don't know if I'm a. parent, you know, and we've got a very. healthy, robust young man that is now. passed on. I want to know, is there.

anything I need to be worried about. relative to the safety of my child? Just. trying to understand behaviors that were. going on. They're all associated with. this. Yeah, there's kind of a silence. right here right now. I I would think. that uh reporters that occupy that space. down there in middle Georgia that they. would really get on the phone and get on. the street, go out there and ask. questions, talk to the kids that he went. to school with, you know, talk to the. teachers, talk to the coaches, and. really ask the GBI the direct questions. as well as his uncle, the corner's. office in Dodge County, Georgia.

>> Well, I just hope that whoever is. investigating this and analyzing this is. as thorough and well researched and. experienced as you because you are a. gem, Joseph. Thank you so much for. coming out and explaining what we should. be doing. You. >> bet, Jesse. Really, really. Yeah, of. course. Really sad case. You can check. Joseph out uh on Body Bags. Thank you. again, my friend. Appreciate it. >> You bet. >> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your. podcasts. You can follow me on X or.

Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak. to you next time. [Music].