Carl Kearney Jr: Former Georgia football coach confesses to strangling girlfriend to death after argument
Warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised
PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY, MARYLAND: A coach from the Griffin-Spalding County School System was detained and charged with his girlfriend's murder in Maryland.
On Saturday, February 17, in Prince George's County, Maryland, authorities took Carl Kearney Jr, 43, of Griffin, into custody who is the head coach of the Spalding High varsity football team.
Kearney's girlfriend was pronounced dead at the scene
Kearney entered the Division V Clinton police station at around 9.20 am and admitted to strangling his girlfriend after they got into a fight inside a house in the 800 block of St James Court, according to the police.
Before leaving the scene, he told officials he tried to "bring her back" by slapping her in the face. When officers checked on Patrina Best, 38, of Accokeek, Maryland, they discovered that she was not responding.
At the scene, she was pronounced dead. Kearney faced charges relating to first- and second-degree murder.
The Homicide Unit of the Prince George's County Police Department reports that he is being held in custody in Maryland. According to his friends, Best attended Georgia Southern University and graduated.
Online condolences for her and her family flooded in as soon as word of the incident spread. Kearney grew up in Griffin, Georgia, and graduated from Griffin High School.
Before being signed as a wide receiver by the New York Jets in 2004, he also attended and competed for Georgia Southern University.
Team records show that he did not participate in any regular season games, but he did play in the Jets' preseason in 2004 and 2005. Kearney was a coach at Griffin before joining Spalding in 2020.
Spalding High School's community praised Coach Kearney as a 'father figure'
When word spread that Coach Kearney had been arrested, the Spalding High community was stunned. FOX 5 Atlanta reported receiving messages from parents and students, many of whom said they looked up to him as a father figure.
"Hurt. Shocked. It was like disbelief because I didn't want to believe that what they were saying was true," said Lariquia McCord, mother of former player of Kearney's football team.
"It hits hard. It takes your breath." McCord claimed Kearney regularly helped her son out. She went on, "He was more of a father figure for him."
"A lot of times he encouraged him when he was really, really low," she added.
Former student manager of the football team Camri Johnson got in touch with FOX 5 to report on the advancements made by the team under Kearney's leadership.
"He came to Spalding High School my sophomore year and pretty much turned this program around," Johnson said.
Despite the accusations, McCord told FOX 5 that she still thinks Kearney is a "standup guy for even turning himself in because he's still teaching the guys to be men and accountable for their actions."
