Ex-Jacksonville Jaguar Sergio Brown Arrested After Mother's Death
CORRECTION, Oct. 12, 2023: Sergio Brown was taken into police custody in San Diego as he re-entered the United States from Mexico, according to authorities. An earlier headline for this article mischaracterized his arrest.
A former defensive back who spent seven years in the NFL is in police custody under suspicion of first-degree murder.
Sergio Brown, 35, had been missing for almost a month, after the body of his deceased mother was discovered on Sept. 16.
Police found the body of Myrtle Brown, 73, behind her Maywood, Illinois, home after relatives who had been unable to contact her alerted authorities, CNN reported.
She died from injuries sustained in an assault, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office found, according to Cook County Director of Communications Natalia Derevyanny. Her death was ruled a homicide.
The next day, Brown’s brother, Nick Brown, posted on social media that Sergio had gone missing.
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“My brother Sergio is still missing,” Nick Brown wrote on Instagram. “If anyone knows where he is I want him to know that I love you and please come home.”
“It’s a sad but hopeful time, and we will all get through this together,” he wrote. “Mom always told me, ‘tough times don’t last,’ and our last conversation about tough times being temporary is my beacon of hope.”
According to police sources cited by CNN, Brown had been in Mexico, and authorities there were keeping track of him since within a few days after his mother’s body was discovered.
The outlet said that Brown was being held on a felony fugitive arrest warrant by the San Diego Sheriff’s Department on Wednesday morning, apparently after having been taken into custody upon his return to the U.S.
He is expected to be held in San Diego until he is extradited to Illinois, The New York Times reported.
While missing, Brown had posted on social media that he thought his mother was on vacation and suggested that some media reports about him were “fake news,” according to CNN.
Last week, Myrtle Brown’s family issued a statement urging a more detailed investigation into her death.
“We continue to pray for his well-being and advocate for his immediate and safe return to the United States,” the statement said of Sergio Brown, with whom the family said they had had no contact. “Let us work together to turn this tragic loss into a force for positive change and justice.”
On Wednesday, the family said they were “heartened by the news that Sergio Brown has been apprehended and returned to the United States unharmed” in a statement cited by NBC News.
Brown spent seven seasons in the NFL, playing for the New England Patriots, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars and Buffalo Bills. Before that, he played college ball at Notre Dame.
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