Sergio Brown may be in Mexico following the discovery of his mother’s dead body in a creek bed near her Illinois home over the weekend, with the former NFL safety appearing to post a series of bizarre, expletive-laden videos to Instagram from south of the border.
The videos’ authenticity has not been verified, and the Maywood Police Department, which has been searching for Brown since his mother was found and her death ruled a homicide, is investigating the matter. Brown is still considered a missing person, a department spokesperson told the Chicago Sun-Times.
The clips were posted to the Instagram Story of @intplayerwithapassport, an account purportedly owned by the 35-year-old Brown, something The Daily Beast was not able to independently confirm. The account appears to date back to 2021, with a number of photos and videos on the page featuring Brown in NFL gear.
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The first video was posted to the account’s story on Monday. 51 seconds long, it features a man who resembles Brown ranting into the camera under a thatched roof. Without explicitly referring to his mother’s death, he appears to suggest it is “fake news” masterminded by the FBI, whose agents he claims have “kidnapped” him multiple times.
“Fake news, fake news, fake news,” he says. “It has to be the FBI that came into my house on Bob Marley’s death day… unwarranted. They kidnapped me twice from home—the Maywood police department.”
He goes on to say, “It had to be the FBI or the Maywood police. I thought my mama was on vacation in Sinaloa… That’s fucking fake news, get the fuck out my goddamn of my face.”
The video was posted and then quickly deleted, possibly because it had a Mexico City location tag, Deadspin reported Tuesday. It was then reuploaded to the Story without the tag.
Another video, this one decorated with digital Finding Nemo stickers, was posted to @intplayerwithapassport on Tuesday morning. Appearing to reference concern for his disappearance, the same man jokes, “I got it! … It’s P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney! Oh my gosh!”
He then chants the “just keep swimming” refrain from the Pixar film before continuing: “What the fuck? Missing? They ain’t never seen Finding Nemo? What the fuck is going on? This is traumatic. Lucky I know how to take a joke. You—What the fuck? Just keep swimming.” He throws his head back and laughs.
Myrtle Brown’s body was discovered near her Maywood home on Saturday after relatives alerted authorities that they’d been unable to find or contact her or her son. No suspects or persons of interest had been named in the case as of Tuesday.
A neighbor told CBS Chicago on Sunday that members of Sergio Brown’s family had told him the former safety had been acting erratically. “They said he wasn’t himself the last few months. He was out of his mind,” Carlos Cortez said, adding that he had given investigators surveillance footage that apparently showed Brown’s strange behavior.
“They seen him taking out the trash, and they seen him have a bonfire where he burned all her clothes,” Cortez said, apparently referring to Myrtle’s clothes.
Nick Brown, Sergio’s brother, has repeatedly posted about the case as the search for the missing athlete drags on. Early Tuesday, he posted a photo of Myrtle on social media alongside the caption: “I’m going to keep on pushing and won’t let you down.”
A day prior, an Instagram post from Nick memorialized Myrtle and noted that Sergio was “still missing.”
“If anyone knows where he is I want him to know that I love you,” he added, “and please come home.”
Sergio Brown was signed by the New England Patriots as an undrafted free agent in 2010, going on to play stints with the Indianapolis Colts, Atlanta Falcons, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Buffalo Bills over a seven-season career.
