Kansas City Chiefs football player Jovan Belcher dead after apparent murder-suicide

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      The Kansas City, Missouri police has revealed that Jovan Belcher, a 25-year-old linebacker with the Kansas City Chiefs, is dead after killing his girlfriend.

      He reportedly killed himself in front of his coaches and general manager Scott Pioli in a parking lot near Arrowhead Stadium.

      Belcher, a Long Island, New York native, went to college in Maine and joined the Chiefs in 2009.

      The murder-suicide came on the same day as Vancouverites are gathering at the public library's central branch to commemorate the National Day of Remembrance & Action on Violence Against Women.

      Comments

      6 Comments

      iSheep

      Dec 1, 2012 at 12:23pm

      This is a sad tragedy for all involved especially the families of both young people who are left to pick up the pieces.

      This young man seemed to make it finally only to go off the deep end psychosocially.

      There are well documented brain damage in athletes who take part in contact sports like Hockey and Football.

      No doubt any Brain trauma is a contributing factor that is there is more to this story than someone making millions waking up one day and committing murder and than suicide with no prior warning.

      Senseless and tragic.

      Invisible Hand

      Dec 1, 2012 at 6:15pm

      Hey iSheep,

      You can't assume that brain damage was a factor before the investigation report comes out. It could have been related to drugs, alcohol, depression, or something else.

      A large bank account does not guarantee immunity from depression.

      iSheep

      Dec 2, 2012 at 1:41pm

      Brain Damage is a given in Contact Sports for Pro Athletes like the NFL and/or NHL.

      Well Documented and always a contributing factor in any suicide by them.

      On another note you state to wait for the 'investigation report' than in the very next paragraph you state 'Depression' referring to this subject.

      In a report published in the Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology in 2009, the Boston researchers described five cases in football players as well as more than 30 in boxers. They noted that gridiron players appeared to die at younger ages, around 44, than boxers, who typically died at 60. The football players also died after shorter symptom duration -- six years rather than 20.

      As with the earlier patients, symptoms included severe mood disorders, memory loss, aggressiveness, and four of the five had died tragically -- two from suicide, one during a high-speed chase by police, and another of an accidental gunshot wound.

      Echoing the earlier observations of Omalu, the Boston researchers explained that they found neurofibrillary and astrocytic tangles, as well as other abnormalities, in numerous areas of the players' brains, including the dorsolateral frontal and parietal and inferior occipital cortices.

      "The patchy, irregular location of the cortical [neurofibrillary tangles] and astrocytic tangles suggests that the distribution is related to direct mechanical injury from blows to the side or top of the head," they wrote.

      Are you disputing current Medical Research?

      iSheep

      Dec 2, 2012 at 2:13pm

      Suicide in Professional Athletes: is it related to the sport?
      J. John Mann M.D., Columbia University and New York State Psychiatric Institute

      ....

      Two other former NFL players also died by suicide recently. In April, 2012 former Atlanta Falcons safety Ray Easterling’s death at age 62 was ruled a suicide. And in 2011, former Chicago Bears safety Dave Duerson committed suicide. Easterling is reported to have suffered from depression and insomnia, and then dementia that progressively worsened.

      He and Duerson each died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Tellingly, Duerson shot himself in the chest and in his suicide note made it clear that he did so to preserve his brain so that it could be studied by researchers investigating brain damage in NFL players.

      Like Easterling, Duerson described a progressive deterioration in his memory and difficulty stringing words together. More than 1,500 former players are now suing the league, claiming that, for years, it ignored evidence that repeated blows to the head trigger chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a progressive neurodegenerative disease caused by repetitive trauma to the brain which has been linked to dementia and depression.

      Invisible Hand

      Dec 2, 2012 at 4:37pm

      iSheep,

      Depression is not always caused by brain damage but brain damage can result in depression. Your documentation may apply to some athletes but it does not apply to every single football player and hockey player.

      The 'lawsuit' (if any) by the ex pro football players is ridiculous because when a pro football player signs a contract to play on a football team, the player is legally willing to risk getting injured (including head injuries) during a football game, thus the player cannot sue the league because he has basically signed a waiver that prevents him from doing so.

      Please, Please, Please

      Dec 3, 2012 at 11:04am

      iSheep
      "Are you disputing current Medical Researh"

      Not when it comes from you because you clearly dont understand it past the headline.

      It is clear from your comments that taking medical advice from you would be just as useful as taking it from my cat.

      Comparing the brain of a 25 year old football player with less than three full seasons in the NFL is not the same as comparing the brains of multiple players who played much longer, and lived much longer after their careers were over.

      "Brain Damage is a given in Contact Sports for Pro Athletes like the NFL and/or NHL"

      No, it isnt. Its more likely, but it isnt a "given" any more than its a "given" that an individual that commits domestic abuse is male; its simply more likely, it isnt a fact that can be assumed to be true. There are a lot of women on probation and/or with arrest records for domestic violence as well.