Former NFL player Sergio Brown is to be charged with the murder of his 73-year-old mother, police have said.
A search was launched for Brown after the body of his mother, Myrtle Brown, was found in a creek behind her home in Maywood, a suburb around 12 miles west of Chicago, on September 16.
Their family had previously reported both mother and son missing, after being unable to find them.
Police have now confirmed Brown, 35, was arrested in Southern California on Tuesday afternoon in connection with the death of his mother, as he tried to reenter the United States from Mexico.
He was booked into San Diego County Jail, and is awaiting extradition to Illinois to face charges of first-degree murder, Maywood police said in an update on Wednesday.
Sergio Brown has been arrested and charged with First-Degree Murder as he attempted to re-enter the U.S. via San Diego, for the murder of his mother Myrtle Brown. https://t.co/hezcXRu9wD pic.twitter.com/RnM8mJNgSS
— Maywood Police (IL) (@MaywoodILPD) October 11, 2023
A medical examiner previously ruled Ms Brown’s death a homicide and determined she had been injured during an assault.
Following her death, police began checking the authenticity of Instagram videos that appear to show Sergio Brown discussing her death. In a video posted on September 18 to an Instagram page that appeared to belong to Sergio Brown, a man resembling Brown calls reports about his mother’s death “fake news.”
“Fake news, fake news, fake news. It has to be the FBI,” the man says in the rambling, expletive-filled video, in which he says he thought his mother “was on vacation” in the Mexican state of Sinaloa.
Mrs Brown’s family paid tribute to her, NBC reported, as “a beautiful, loving, and inspirational soul that made everyone around her feel like they mattered”.
“With her contagious smile and personality, our loss of Myrtle has left an indescribable void not only in our lives, but in our communities,” the statement continued.
Sergio Brown, who graduated from Proviso East High School in Maywood, played college football for Notre Dame before his time with the NFL.
He played defensive back from 2010 to 2016 with the New England Patriots, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars and Buffalo Bills.
