The family of former NFL player Marion Barber III is awaiting details about his death while navigating funeral arrangements.
Barber’s father, Marion Barber II, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Thursday that a coroner in Frisco, Texas, hopes to know more about the cause of death by Sunday as he continues the investigation, which has become complicated due to the condition of Barber’s body.
“They are just using tissue as they dig further into the cause of death,” Barber II said. “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, who played for the Cowboys from 2005-10, was found dead in his Texas apartment Wednesday at the age of 38. The elder Barber said his son’s decomposed body was found in the bathroom of his apartment and may have been there for several days with the hot shower running.
Police said in a statement that they responded to a welfare check at an apartment they believed to be leased by Barber. Foul play is not suspected.
Barber’s family will move forward with his funeral arrangements by honoring his previous request to not donate his brain for CTE research. There will also be no extensive autopsy, per his wishes.
“He was real specific in his will that he didn’t want that,” Barber II said about his son, who was reportedly hospitalized at least twice for mental health evaluations.
“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.”
Barber’s body is set to be picked up and flown to Minneapolis on Thursday or Friday to prepare for the funeral, according to the Star-Telegram.
Elsewhere, Barber’s family is also preparing for the wedding of their youngest son Thomas on June 10 — which happens to be Barber’s birthday. The date was previously chosen as a tribute to Barber, who would have turned 39 next week.
Following the impending nuptials, a memorial service is set for June 22 in the family’s hometown of Minneapolis, Barber said. A time and location have yet to be determined.
“I know it feels good to us to know that he was loved and respected that much,” Barber II said. “The responses we have seen just warms your heart. That is what my family remembers. We appreciate the Cowboys as an organization. It is really comforting to know he had that kind of support.
“Hopefully by midweek, we will have something a little more definitive in terms of a venue for his services. We got to take care of my baby and get him married off this week.”
Zoltan Papp, an attorney who represented Barber in his legal case following a 2019 arrest, told TMZ he was close friends with the running back, and that he had not shown any signs recently that he had been in any sort of trouble.
“There was no indication of any desire to end his life if that is what happened,” Papp said. “Everything was about the fight to bring justice and to help others. Marion is a person who at his core is pure good.”
