Friend Of Jovan Belcher Says Head Trauma, Substance Abuse, Domestic Tensions Played Role In Murder-Suicide

A friend of Jovan Belcher speculated that the linebacker’s recent head trauma, as well as his ongoing substance abuse and domestic problems with his girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins, led to the murder-suicide that occurred Saturday.

In email messages to Deadspin, the unnamed friend said that a “combination of alcohol, concussions, and prescription drugs” caused Belcher to kill his girlfriend and then himself.

The friend also wrote that after the last game Belcher played in — the Chiefs’ November 18 game against the Bengals — the linebacker “was dazed and was suffering from short-term memory loss. He could not remember the events that had taken place prior to that game or what he had said to get Kasi [Kasandra Perkins] to return home.”

“If you review the footage of the Cincinnati game, he took a few hits to the head directly,” the friend said.

The friend also said that Belcher drank “ALOT. On a nightly basis” and was using prescription medications heavily. He said Belcher was “very young and immature,” and that “combined with other factors led to this tragedy.”

The friend speculated that the tensions were the result of Perkins taking the couple’s young daughter, Zoe, to a relative’s house without telling Belcher and refusing to come home. He then said it was clear that Perkins was going to try to get as much money from Belcher as possible through child support payments. The friend also said Perkins was failing her college classes that Belcher was paying for and that she was just after his money. He said Perkins was “the catalyst to this incident.”

The friend said he did not know whether the prescription drugs Belcher was using were authorized by the team or not, but he did know that he was using narcotics for pain.