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More fuel to the concussion fire. This, combined with the rumor that Michigan's head coach put a player back in the game after suffering a concussion is going to make for an interesting week.
Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher, who shot and killed his girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins, in December 2012 before taking is own life hours later, was likely suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
This latest development comes from the Kansas City Star, which notes that an analysis of Belcher's brain "was performed in New York at the request of lawyers representing Zoey Belcher, the daughter of Belcher and Perkins. The results can be used in ongoing litigation."
Belcher's body was exhumed in December at his family's request in hopes that it would lead to answers about why he shot Perkins nine times before turning the gun on himself.
Dozens of former NFL players have been diagnosed after their deaths with CTE, a neurodegenerative disease caused by repeated head injuries.
Belcher, who played four NFL seasons, didn't have a documented history of concussions. But Kash Kiefer, a former teammate at Maine and close friend, told Bleacher Report in November that "Jovan suffered multiple concussions. But in football, you don't complain. You play. That was Jovan. He played."
And the Star reported in December 2013 that Belcher's behavior had become erratic before his death: "Other stories emerged that Belcher had become unpredictable and irritable in the months leading up to the murder-suicide and was beginning to drink more -- an autopsy showed his blood-alcohol level on the morning of the murder-suicide was more than twice the legal limit in Missouri. These stories matched a lot of what we know about the effects of CTE."
This latest development comes from the Kansas City Star, which notes that an analysis of Belcher's brain "was performed in New York at the request of lawyers representing Zoey Belcher, the daughter of Belcher and Perkins. The results can be used in ongoing litigation."
Belcher's body was exhumed in December at his family's request in hopes that it would lead to answers about why he shot Perkins nine times before turning the gun on himself.
Dozens of former NFL players have been diagnosed after their deaths with CTE, a neurodegenerative disease caused by repeated head injuries.
Belcher, who played four NFL seasons, didn't have a documented history of concussions. But Kash Kiefer, a former teammate at Maine and close friend, told Bleacher Report in November that "Jovan suffered multiple concussions. But in football, you don't complain. You play. That was Jovan. He played."
And the Star reported in December 2013 that Belcher's behavior had become erratic before his death: "Other stories emerged that Belcher had become unpredictable and irritable in the months leading up to the murder-suicide and was beginning to drink more -- an autopsy showed his blood-alcohol level on the morning of the murder-suicide was more than twice the legal limit in Missouri. These stories matched a lot of what we know about the effects of CTE."