Accidents? Mysterious circumstances? Lifelong brain trauma? What really drove
Aaron Hernandez to do what he did? These autopsies tell the whole disturbing story.
Glenn Foster Jr. was once a promising player for the New Orleans Saints, but his life came
to a tragic end on December 6, 2021, while in police custody. He was arrested on December 4
for "reckless endangerment and resisting arrest" following a high-speed chase,
which ended in a crash, according to Nola.com. He was taken in by the Pickens
County Sheriff's Office and placed into a jail cell. The following day,
the charges were changed to "simple assault and robbery," according to CBS affiliate 4WWL.
Foster died the next day while still in police custody. An autopsy was performed, and it found
that the 31-year-old defensive lineman died from "neck compressions and strangulation," according
to his legal team's statement. His death was further reported to not be from natural causes,
indicating that he may have been strangled at some point while in custody.
Because Foster died in jail, Alabama state authorities began an investigation to determine
the cause. Per The Washington Post, at the time of his death, Foster was being transported
via police cruiser to a medical facility, where he arrived in an unresponsive state.
Cullen Finnerty had a promising career ahead of him as a football quarterback,
having been signed by the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent in 2007.
He had years of playing ahead of him when he went on a fishing trip and never returned.
Finnerty was reported missing in May 2013. He'd been fishing on the Baldwin River in Michigan,
and a search was conducted. Two days after his disappearance,
he was found nearly a mile from his boat. There were no signs of trauma to his body,
and an autopsy was conducted to try and determine what happened to the 30-year-old football player.
Finnerty's autopsy report was released a few months after his death. According to the AP,
It indicated that he "died of pneumonia caused by inhaling his vomit after he became disoriented,
possibly because of painkillers combined with having a degenerative brain disease."
Though the report didn't conclusively indicate chronic traumatic encephalopathy,
or CTE, as the cause of death, it was believed that Finnerty became disoriented through a
combination of oxycodone and CTE, which was confirmed to be present at the time of his death.
According to Boston University's Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy,
Finnerty's CTE was moderate, and it "possibly affected his judgment,
insight, and behavior." Common in football, CTE is caused by
repeated head trauma that causes the brain to literally degrade over time.
This condition has been linked to personality changes, violent tendencies, and death.
Zyrees Oliver played football at his Georgia high school,
and he was only 17 years old when he died after drinking a fatal amount of water and Gatorade.
Oliver was taken to a hospital via helicopter, and after five days without any brain activity,
he was taken off life support, ending his life. The coroner's report indicated that Oliver
died from "dilutional hyponatremia," which essentially means that he took in too much
water without balancing it out with electrolytes, resulting in what is called "water intoxication."
"The high school football player died after drinking too many fluids during practice."
If there was ever an athlete whose body was the epitome of physical perfection,
it was Bruce Lee. The man was so toned and in such great shape,
nobody could have imagined he'd die long before his time. Sadly, that's precisely what happened
in mid-1973, after Lee collapsed and was diagnosed with a cerebral edema.
Lee died on July 20, 1973, and news of his passing shocked the world. An autopsy was conducted to see
how the otherwise healthy man died. It was found that his brain had swollen by 13 percent because
of an allergic reaction to a painkiller. The official documents indicated Lee's passing came
from "death by misadventure," and the conspiracies that sprung up in the media ran rampant.
Theories have popped up over the years, trying to determine how he could have died
so suddenly from an allergic reaction. Matthew Polly's biography "Bruce Lee: A Life" posits
that Lee died from over-exertion and heat stroke, which wasn't well understood in 1973.
Polly posited that because Lee had his underarm sweat glands removed in 1972, he overheated,
resulting in heatstroke, which exacerbated the cerebral edema. If that's true, Lee's death came
about via a confluence of events that shouldn't have happened and were probably preventable.
Mike "Iron Mike" Webster was a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame after being
inducted in 1997. He took part in four Super Bowl victories over the course of his long career,
and many have dubbed him the greatest center to ever play the game. In 2002,
Webster had a heart attack, resulting in his death at the age of 50. Sadly, it's not unheard of for
someone to die from a heart attack at 50, but his death became noteworthy for something else.
Webster's autopsy revealed significant CTE in his brain, and he became the first former
NFL player to be diagnosed with the condition. This raised awareness that football can – and
apparently often does – lead to significant damage to the brain over long periods of time.
"I'm really wondering if every single football player doesn't have this."
As the first former football player to be diagnosed with CTE,
Webster became a symbol for the trauma NFL players often suffer,
which has led to further studies and ongoing debates over player safety in the long term.
As The Atlantic wrote, Webster's diagnosis, quote, "opened a new chapter in football history."
A few years before he died, Webster was diagnosed
with brain damage due to repeated concussions throughout his career.
"Playing football killed Mike Webster."
Owen Thomas was only 21 years old when he died by suicide. As the Concussion Legacy
Foundation's website remembered, the University of Pennsylvania footballer
was a hard-working student-athlete as well as a team captain of the Quakers.
Thomas' behavior leading up to his death, as well as the death itself,
necessitated an autopsy and further analysis. Despite being only 21 at the time of his death,
Thomas' brain was determined to have been damaged via "mild chronic traumatic encephalopathy."
Aaron Hernandez was a tight end for the New England Patriots with one Super Bowl
appearance under his belt before his career came to an abrupt end. In 2013,
Hernandez shot and killed Odin Lloyd, a linebacker for the semi-pro team the
Boston Bandits. As The Boston Globe reported at the time, the Patriots dropped Hernandez
within 90 minutes of his arrest, and Hernandez became the primary suspect in the murder trial.
He was found guilty and sent to prison for life without the possibility of parole.
In April 2017, Hernandez committed suicide.
Following his death, Hernandez's brain was found to be significantly affected by CTE.
His brain was also described as, quote, "the severe end of the spectrum," and for his age,
he was the worst case of CTE ever studied. Because the 27-year-old's brain was so damaged by CTE,
researchers from Boston University noted that his decision making would've been impacted.
Dr. Ann McKee, the head of Boston University's CTE Center, told the Boston Globe:
"We can't take the pathology and explain the behavior,
but we can say collectively that individuals with CTE of this severity have difficulty
with impulse control, decision-making, aggression, often emotional volatility,
and rage behavior. [...] In every place we looked, it was classic CTE."
Phillip Adams played football for several NFL outfits,
including the San Francisco 49ers, the New England Patriots, and the Atlanta Falcons.
His career was the culmination of years of playing the game, both in high school and college.
On April 7, 2021, Adams shot and killed six people. He committed suicide following
a standoff with the police the next day. Following the horrific tragedy,
Adams' father told NBC affiliate WCNC that he believed, quote, "football messed him up."
Per the AP, Adams' autopsy found that he had stage 2 CTE,
with an "unusually severe" degradation in the frontal lobe.
Vincent Jackson played 12 seasons in the NFL as a wide receiver. He had a long and
successful professional football career, but it all came to an end in February 2021,
when he was found dead by a housekeeper in a hotel room near Brandon, Florida, per CNN. There were no
signs of trauma to the body when he was found, and the room showed no indication of foul play.
The Hillsborough County sheriff's office reported Jackson's death was likely due to
chronic alcoholism compounded by CTE. Because CTE can only be properly diagnosed by biopsying
the brain, the diagnosis wasn't confirmed until after his death. The autopsy determined
that Jackson died from complications related to alcoholism and stage 2 CTE.
Despite the presence of CTE, the Hillsborough County Florida Medical Examiner came to the
conclusion that Jackson's death was the result of chronic alcohol use, per ESPN.
When the coroner's report was finalized,
Jackson's family donated his brain to Boston University's CTE Center for further study.
Jimmy Hayes, a former right wing for the Boston Bruins and New Jersey Devils,
died suddenly at the age of 31. Per The Boston Globe, he was found dead inside his home,
and the news of his passing shocked the professional hockey community.
The cause of Hayes' death was made clear through an autopsy, which was performed two days after
his death. The toxicology report from that procedure determined that Hayes died from,
quote, "acute intoxication due to the combined effects of fentanyl and cocaine."
Hayes had a history of drug use regarding pain medication but had gone
through treatment before he died. The Boston Globe reported that his wife
"was completely shocked," as she believed his death "had nothing to do with drugs."
She further went on to say that he showed no signs of drug use at home.
If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues,
help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).