Homicide detectives on Sunday were investigating the death of the mother of a former NFL player after both were reporting missing from a Chicago suburb.
Myrtle Brown, 73, was found unresponsive near a creek behind her home Saturday as officers conducted a search for her and son Sergio Brown, 35, formerly of the Buffalo Bills, police in Maywood, Illinois, said.
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office said by email Sunday night that the elder Brown was killed by “multiple injuries due to assault.” It characterized the manner of death as homicide.
Family members who said they couldn’t find or contact the two reported them missing earlier Saturday, the Maywood Police Department said in a statement obtained by NBC Chicago.
Officers launched a search but it wasn’t until a second round that Myrtle Brown was found, it said.
The statement characterized the police probe as a homicide investigation, but it did not say what led detectives to that determination.
“Currently the Maywood Police Department is attempting to locate Mr. Sergio Brown,” the department said.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts was urged to contact authorities.
Brown played a number of positions, including defensive back, free safety, and strong safety.
He played for his high school football team in Maywood before attending the University of Notre Dame as a football player and moving on to a number of NFL teams, including the Indianapolis Colts and the Bills.
In 2016, NFL on Fox announced on Facebook that Brown earned a master’s in business administration degree from the University of Miami.
