The sheriff in suburban Tampa, Florida, has revealed the likely cause of Vincent Jackson’s sudden death at age 38.
Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister told the “MJ Morning Show” that “we got the autopsy report that will be released today, [which] showed, unfortunately, he suffered from chronic alcoholism. Just tragic!”
Jackson’s body was found by a housekeeper at the Homewood Suites in Brandon, Florida, about 20 miles east of Tampa. The sheriff’s office is trying to determine why Jackson was living at the hotel since Jan. 11, 2021. Family members filed a missing person’s report a month later on Feb. 11, but when officers caught up with Jackson and accessed his situation, they canceled the missing person’s report. Tragically, Jackson died just days later on Feb. 15.
Chronister, who is mourning Jackson’s death along with the family because of Jackson’s ardent advocacy of, and donations to, the local police and military veterans, said an official report will be ready once the toxicology report is completed in a few weeks.
The sheriff also added that Jackson had “long-standing health conditions that contributed to his passing because of some alcohol abuse,” he told the radio station.
Fans and officials wonder why Jackson chose to live in isolation in a hotel, despite being a spectacular and highly-decorated wide receiver for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who made a total of $70 million before his retirement in 2016. The sheriff has a theory.
“Well this is true speculation but what the family is telling me is that he suffered from CTE. They believe he had a lot of concussion problems and when you suffer from that, you’re not yourself,” the sheriff said of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative and fatal brain disease associated with repeated brain trauma. CTE often happens with multiple concussions associated with repeated blows to the head that often happens in the game of football.
