Sergio Brown played for four NFL teams during his six-year career in the league.
Police are searching for a former NFL player after his mother was found dead at their home in a suburb of Chicago.
Investigators believe that Myrtle Brown, 73, was assaulted before she died. Her death has been ruled a homicide.
The whereabouts of her son Sergio Brown, 35, remain unknown. Police have not named him as a suspect.
Mr Brown played for four professional teams during a six-year career in the NFL.
According to police in the town of Maywood – about 12 miles (19km) west of Chicago – officers investigating a missing persons report filed by family members discovered Ms Brown “unresponsive near a creek to the rear of her residence”.