An ex-NFL player was charged Thursday with murdering his girlfriend, who vanished last year after a house party in a Houston suburb.
Kevin Ware, who played tight end for two seasons for the Washington Redskins and San Francisco 49ers, faces life in prison if convicted of murder in the death of Taylor Pomaski. The 29-year-old woman was missing for months after having been last seen alive at an April, 2021 party. Her remains were found last December.
“We encourage anyone who has knowledge about what happened between Kevin and Taylor to come forward,” said Harris County Assistant District Attorney Lacy Johnson.
BREAKING: Former NFL player Kevin Ware Jr. indicted by a grand jury for the death and disappearance of his girlfriend Taylor Pomaski in April 2021.
Sources close to the case tell @abc13houston he is charged with felony first degree murder and tampering with a corpse. pic.twitter.com/QXuX3O4AGq
— Shelley Childers (@shelleyabc13) July 28, 2022
The pair had been dating for about a year before Pomaski went missing after the April 26, 2021 party at their home in the Houston suburb of Spring. Ware, 41, who has been jailed since June 2021 in Montgomery County on unrelated drug and gun charges, has been under suspicion for over a year.
Remains were discovered by Harris County Sheriff’s investigators working with Texas EquuSearch, a Houston nonprofit that helps crime victims and their families. Details were scant, but the remains were buried at a site in the northern part of the county that authorities said was “tied” to Pomaski’s disappearance. They were positively identified in April.
“Prosecutors presented the evidence to a Harris County grand jury, which determined there was sufficient evidence for criminal charges,” said Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg. “We will follow the evidence wherever it leads and apply the law equally to all.”
Eric Zulegar, a former boyfriend of the dead woman, told the Daily Mail he had been in touch with her in the weeks before her disappearance.
“She was in danger, she was in trouble,” Zulegar said. “There was violence, she referenced a gun being pulled on her. She was very scared, very nervous.”
Ware had been arrested a week before Pomaski’s disappearance after he was allegedly found with cocaine, methamphetamine, and a loaded AK-47.
Ware, a 6-foot, 3-inch, 260-pound tight end who played college ball at University of Washington, signed with the Redskins in 2003 as an undrafted free agent. He caught three passes for 17 yards as a rookie, then moved on to the San Francisco 49ers for the 2004 season, his last in the league.