Lawrence Phillips, a former NFL and Nebraska running back, was found dead in his prison cell at Kern Valley State Prison in California. Officials suspect a suicide.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a press release that the 40-year-old was found unresponsive in his cell at 12:05 a.m. Wednesday morning. He was rushed to an outside hospital, but pronounced dead at 1:27 a.m.
Phillips was facing a death penalty charge for allegedly killing his cellmate in April 2015. He was charged with murder in September and had been isolated since April.
Prior to that incident, Phillips was serving a 31-year, four-month sentence for domestic violence.
Phillips was a star running back for the University of Nebraska during the ‘90s, but only played three seasons in the NFL. He was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the first round of the 1996 draft and was out of the NFL by 1999. He last played professionally in the Canadian Football League in 2005.
Tony Zane, Phillips’ high school football coach in Southern California, told USA Today that he recently received a letter from Phillips and it included no indication that he was suicidal.
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