Marion Barber III’s family is awaiting word from the coroner in Frisco, Texas, about how the former NFL running back died. Barber was found in his apartment Wednesday but is believed to have died days earlier, Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports.
Frisco police were called to Barber’s apartment for a welfare check after residents reported water leaking from the unit. Foul play is not suspected, according to Hill.
“They are just using tissue as they dig further into the cause of death,” Barber’s father, Marion Barber II, told Hill. “They are ruling out things. They haven’t seen any trauma, no foul substances in his body. His lungs were in working order. The heart and veins around the heart were good. They are ruling things out. Right now, we are just waiting.”
Barber was 38.
He would have turned 39 on June 10, the date of his youngest brother Thomas’ wedding. Thomas selected the date as a tribute to his brother, and the family will proceed with the wedding before a memorial service for Barber on June 22 in his hometown of Minneapolis, Barber II told Hill.
Barber had some mental health challenges since retiring from the NFL after the 2012 season. His family, though, will not donate his brain for CTE research, Barber’s father told Hill, in order to honor Barber’s wishes.
“He was real specific in his will that he didn’t want that,” Barber II said. “We are going to respect that. But in the condition his body was in, according to the examiner, that probably would have been a moot point because of the decomposition.”