Former NFL player Sergio Brown pleaded not guilty to murdering his mother during an arraignment Wednesday.

Brown was charged with first-degree murder for the September death of his mother, Myrtle Simmons-Brown, who prosecutors said he lived with in Maywood.

The 35-year-old who played for seven seasons as a safety for the New England Patriots, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars and Buffalo Bills was also charged with concealment of a homicidal death, court records show.

He pleaded not guilty to the concealment charge and the two murder charges he faces Wednesday, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office said.

The disappearance of Brown after police discovered his mother’s dead body wrapped in a sheet near a creek close to their home drew national attention. Brown resurfaced days after the gruesome finding in expletive-filled social media posts calling reports tying him to his mother’s death “fake news.”

Three weeks after police found Simmons-Brown’s body, Mexican authorities detained the former Proviso East High School and University of Notre Dame football player in Mexico City and deported him to San Diego, where he was held in custody, prosecutors said in October.

According to an autopsy performed by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office, Simmons-Brown died of blunt-force trauma.

A search of Brown’s residence revealed Ajax in a bathtub drain, indicating the tub had recently been cleaned, prosecutors said. His mother’s iPad, credit cards and phone were missing, but her cigarettes were left behind, court documents said.

Cameras in the area captured Brown burning items in a fire pit the evening of Sept. 14, and police later found burned fabric inside of the pit.

Cellphone activity was discovered during the investigation and showed both cellphones of the mother and son pinging together Sept. 14 and 15, before they stopped pinging altogether, prosecutors said. When Brown was extradited U.S. Border and Customs Patrol found his mother’s cellphone, iPad and credit cards in a bag Brown was carrying, prosecutors said.

Brown is next scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 24.

jsheridan@chicagotribune.com

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