Former New England Patriots player Sergio Brown remains missing after his mother was found dead Saturday near her Maywood, Ill., home, authorities said.
Family members had notified police on Saturday that they couldn’t locate or reach Brown, 35, or his mother, Myrtle Brown, 73, police in Maywood said in a statement.
Police “initiated a missing person report and began making attempts to locate both individuals,” the statement said. “Upon conducting a second and wider search of the area, Myrtle Brown was discovered unresponsive near a creek to the rear of her residence.”
She was pronounced dead and her body was taken to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office, police said. The medical examiner ruled her death a homicide caused by “multiple injuries due to assault,” the office said.
Advertisement
“It’s a sad but hopeful time, and we will all get through this together,” Sergio Brown’s brother, Nick Brown, wrote on Facebook Sunday. “Mom always told me, ‘tough times don’t last’ and our last conversation about tough times being temporary is my beacon of hope. Mom, thank you for being strong, caring, diligent, fancy, funny, and for saving my art. I won’t let you down.”
He also urged his brother to come home.
“My brother Sergio is still missing,” Nick Brown wrote. “If anyone knows where he is I want him to know that I love you and please come home. People, please don’t approach the property, this is still an ongoing investigation by the Maywood Police Department. If you have any information on Sergio’s whereabouts please send them to the Maywood Police Department.”
Thank you, everyone, for all of your outreach, help, love and condolences. It's a sad but hopeful time, and we will...
Posted by Nick Brown on Sunday, September 17, 2023
A Patriots spokesperson said Monday that he didn’t anticipate that the team would make a statement on the matter. An NFL spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Illinois House Speaker Emanuel Chris Welch wrote Sunday on Facebook that he was “deeply saddened” to learn of Myrtle Brown’s death.
Advertisement
“This is a profound loss for our community and there are no words that will take away the pain so many are feeling,” Welch wrote. “Mrs. Brown was loved by many, and I’m personally better for having known her. I pray for swift justice so that her family, loved ones, and our community may begin to heal during this difficult time.”
Welch also said he hoped Sergio Brown would be found.
“I also want to ask for prayers for the safe return of her son, Sergio Brown,” Welch wrote. “If anyone has any information, please contact the Maywood Police Department. Nothing in life can prepare a family for pain of this magnitude, and that’s why it’s important that our Maywood community respond with the love and kindness the Brown family needs.”
Sergio Brown played seven seasons in the NFL, including two seasons with the Patriots in 2010 and 2011. His father was Mario Brown, the first Black men’s basketball player at Texas A&M in the 1970s.
Sergio Brown told the Boston Globe in 2011 that his father “was the only person I knew that really got kicked out of a football game for being too loud.”
He said coping with his father’s death from cancer in 2002 was challenging.
“I look back on it a lot,’’ Brown said. “Not having my father, it got kind of heavy. But you just keep pushing through. I had to grow up fast and take on being a man early. So that transition had to happen real fast with me stepping up to the plate.”
Advertisement
He told the Globe he carries his father’s memory with him.
“Doing a lot of the stuff that he would have wanted me to do or knowing that he’s still looking down on me,’’ Brown said. “It feels good to really be able to live a good life, carrying on with him not there.’’
Material from prior Globe stories was used in this report. This breaking news story will be updated when more information is released.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.