OAKLAND, CA - 2005: Kevin Ware of the Oakland Raiders poses for his 2005 NFL headshot at photo day in Oakland, California. (Photo by Getty Images)
Former NFL player Kevin Ware Jr. reportedly murdered his girlfriend and burned her remains, and is now facing murder and tampering charges after leaving her body so burnt that it took authorities a year to identify her.
Ware, who previously played for the San Francisco 49ers and Washington Commanders, was initially a person of interested after his girlfriend, Taylor Pomaski, 29, went missing back in April 2021, according to the Houston Chronicle.
After a widespread search, her remains were eventually found eight months later in a ditch in Harris County, Texas in December, which police reported to be severely burned.
Pomaski was last seen at a party held at her Texas home with the 41-year-old Ware, where witnesses said the two had gotten into a heated argument. She was never seen or heard from again, the Chronicle reports.
Her body was not positively identified until April, 2022, a full year after being found and nearly two years following her disappearance, according to Fox 5 New York.
In June, Ware was arrested by U.S. Marshals for an alleged bond violation before being indicted by a Harris County grand jury a month later for murder and tampering with evidence in Pomaski’s death.
He was transferred from Montgomery County to Harris County Jail this week.
Ware is scheduled for his next court appearance on September 26. Prosecutors had requested his bond to be set at $1 million, however no judgment has been made as of Friday regarding any kind of bail release.
He faces 15 years to life if found guilty.
Ware has quite the extensive criminal history, spanning both before and after his football playing days, per court and arrest records.
In 2002, while a student at the University of Washington, Ware pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and received a suspended sentence, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
In 2010, he was charged in two separate incidents in Houston for theft and with evading arrest after an assault, the Chronicle reports.
Then in December 2018, Ware was sentenced to two years in prison for intent to manufacture or deliver a controlled substance, a first-degree felony.
On April 19, 2021, the same month his girlfriend went missing, Ware was stopped for speeding in Magnolia, Texas, with a car search turning up cocaine, methamphetamine, marijuana and Xanax, alongside a loaded AK-47 and a loaded 9mm pistol.
He was arrested and charged with two counts of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance as well as unlawful possession of a firearm as a felon, which is a third-degree felony in Texas.
Ware was released from jail the next day after posting a $23,000 bond, according to the Montgomery County Police Reporter.
The former NFL tight end played 11 games for the Washington Redskins in 2003 and five games for the San Francisco 49ers in 2004 before being released from the league in September of that year
He played 16 games total as a professional football player, and made four receptions and 26 receiving yards during his time in the NFL.
