Jovan Belcher shot his girlfriend Kasandra Perkins dead before shooting himself because she told him he was not the father of their baby daughter, it was revealed today.
The Long Island mother of Kansas City Chief’s player, Cheryl Shepherd, said the couple argued over the paternity of their three-month-old daughter right before the murder suicide at her son’s home in Missouri.
Cheryl Shepherd was in the home when her son shot Kasandra Perkins, 22, nine times before fleeing. He is believed to have kissed her dying body and their baby daughter goodbye before he left.
A source told the New York Post: “The mother believed that there was an issue over whether [Belcher] was the father. She said he believed he wasn’t necessarily the father of the child.”
A Kansas City law-enforcement source confirmed: “She told police there was a question about the paternity.”
It is unclear if the paternity issue was the reason why the rocky relationship ended in such a violent and tragic way.
The source added: “The implication was that paternity was what the two of them were fighting about – that the baby might not have been his.”
The couple had been receiving counseling for relationship and financial problems, police said.
A spokeswoman said she would not comment on the doubts raised over baby Zoey’s paternity.
According to the New York Post, she is set to receive more than $1 million over the years until she reaches 18. It is not clear if this was based on the results of a pregnancy test.
Jovan Belcher’s beneficiary will also get $600,000 in life insurance, a $100,000 retirement account and $200,000 for each of the four seasons played.
A Kansas City police spokeswoman said the baby’s paternity wouldn’t be part of the department’s murder-suicide probe.
“That would not be something they’re going to investigate,” said Sgt Marisa Barnes.
“It’s a <<he-said, she-said>> so there’s no way to investigate. It would be nothing more than a civil matter.”
Jovan Belcher was memorialized as a “humble, kind young man” at his funeral on Wednesday – despite the brutal murder of the mother of his child and shooting himself in front of his coaches.
