KANSAS CITY − After more than a year-and-a-half since three Kansas City Chiefs fans were found dead and frozen outside a Missouri home, a judge on July 24 ruled that the case against two men accused in their deaths will move forward to trial.

During a preliminary hearing in Platte County Circuit Court, Judge Abe Quint Shafer found enough probable cause in the triple murder allegations against Jordan Willis, 39, and Ivory Carson, 42 to send the case to a jury of their peers.

The defendants are charged with three counts each of of felony murder and distribution of a controlled substance in connection with the January 2024 deaths of Ricky Johnson, 38, David Harrington, 37, and Clayton McGeeney, 36. The men were all found dead in below-freezing temperatures outside a home Willis rented, the Kansas City Police Department said.

The case garnered national attention as the men's cause and manner of death were shrouded in mystery for more than a year.

Over a dozen family members of the alleged victims sat in the courtroom and remained silent when the judge made his decision during the nearly three-hour hearing.

Willis and Carson both appeared in court July 24, Willis wearing a blue and white button down shirt and black slacks. Carson, who remained incarcerated on a $100,000 bond, wore an orange jail jumpsuit and was shackled at the ankles.

Willis has been free on the same bond since shortly after his March 2025 arrest.

Although testimony revealed the men knew each other, and they sat less than five feet apart at the defense table, they did not speak.

Testimony: One corpse turned into three

Autopsies were conducted in January 2024 on the deceased men in the mysterious case, but their cause and manner of death remained a mystery until March 5, 2025. At that time, prosecutors announced the defendants had been arrested on the drug charge as well as three counts of involuntary manslaughter.

But on June 27, amended court documents show, prosecutors upgraded the offense to murder.

During the preliminary hearing, police detective Naomi Vaughns testified she responded to the home for a report of a dead body on Jan. 9, 2024. McGeeney’s fiancé first contacted police and said she visited the home after not hearing from him.

Instead of finding one corpse in the backyard, like the detective expected, she said she found three, later identified as Johnson, McGeeney and Harrington.

From involuntary manslaughter to murder: New charges filed in deaths of 3 Kansas City Chiefs fans

'We presumed the victims had overdosed'

Kansas City police detective Mark Divak testified that two of the bodies were found in the home's fenced-in back yard, and one was seated in a chair on the patio.

Temperatures that fateful night reached 18 degrees, Divak confirmed on the stand as he identified pictures of the frozen men taken at the scene. Headshots showed what appeared to be snow or ice on some of their faces.

"We presumed the victims had overdosed," Divak said. "There was no trauma to the deceased. No indication of any foul play involved."

Kansas City police detective Phillip Sipple told the court the men's autopsies revealed a toxic combination of cocaine and fentanyl killed all three of them. Officials allege that evidence – including the defendants' DNA found on drugs at the scene – shows the pair gave substances to the victims before their deaths.

Data recovered from Harrington's phone also allegedly contained text messages between Harrington, McGeeney, Johnson, Willis, Carson and others "consistent with the purchase and use of cocaine," prosecutors said. The messages, investigators claimed, indicated Carson supplied Harrington with cocaine.

Video captured Willis talking to police the day the bodies were found

In court, prosecutors played a video of an interview Vaughns conducted with Willis in a patrol car the day the bodies were found.

"They were drinking up a storm and smoking up a storm.... they may have gotten fentanyl," Willis told the detective, noting that his friends all sported Chief's gear that day.

He said early Monday Jan. 8, 2024, his friends left the house through the front door, and he assumed they were heading back to their own homes.

"They could have went behind the frickin'... gate. That's the only way. I saw them all leave." Willls told the detective, sounding choked up at that point in the video. "Why would they do that? I went to bed on the couch and they must have just went back in."

He said he slept most of Monday and only got up to get water from the kitchen and did not see the bodies.

"I slept on the couch," Willis said. "I had no idea they were back there."

It wasn't until police arrived that he learned his friend's' fate.

"I was just here sitting all day like an idiot," Willis said in the police recorded video. "They were here sitting all day. I just feel so bad."

'Chiefs are on. Let yourself in'

In a town that bleeds white and red, where its residents hope to spot Chiefs' Tight End Travis Kelce and his superstar girlfriend Taylor Swift on any given day, its football fandom cannot be denied.

"Chiefs are on. Let yourself in," the doormat to the front of the home directly across from the home where the men were found dead reads.

Across from the home rests the brick two-story house with gray siding where the men apparently took their last breaths - a tragedy neighbors called unimageable.

Cecelia Funk 46, who lives in the neighborhood told USA TODAY she was on a routine walk the day police found the bodies.

It was earlier in the day, she said, and they had not yet been discovered by police.

"There were no unusual smells or activity coming from the home," Funk recalled as she stood on a sidewalk in Willis' old neighborhood this week.

"It was a wintery wonderland that day," she said. "There were a lot of people outdoors either shoveling their driveway or building a snowman with their kids. After hearing that (they were found dead), I thought, wow how odd or how sad. We were all active and outdoors, but nobody bothered peeking over the fence."

Willis' attorney John Picerno confirmed his client has since moved from the home, and public records show he now lives about three miles northwest of the scene where the bodies were found. Ivory's last known address, public records show, is about three miles southwest of Willis' former home.

'No time frame for that DNA'

During closing arguments, both defendants' defense attorneys said the state could not prove Willis or Carson were responsible for their deaths.

"There is no time frame for the DNA on that bag," Willis' attorney Picerno said during his closing argument. "There is no evidence to prove the defendants offered the drugs to the men or died directly from what was in those bags."

Picerno also argued another one of the victims could have provided the drugs.

During cross-examination from the defense attorney, detective Sipple confirmed there was no evidence either of the defendants planned to kill the men.

When questioned by Carson's public defender Attorney Katherine Berger, Sipple testified officials didn't know when the drugs in the home were delivered, or who was there.

The detective during cross examination also confirmed a fourth person's DNA was found on one of the bags. Berger argued no other evidence connected her client to the men's deaths.

After his ruling July 24, the judge ordered Willis and Carson to appear back in court for arraignment on Aug. 6. and said their bond will remain the same.

Under Missouri law, felony second-degree is punishable by no less than 10 to 30 years in prison, or life imprisonment, the amended complaint reads.

A person convicted of manslaughter faces between five and 15 years in prison.

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.