ACCOKEEK, Ga. (TCD) — A 43-year-old award-winning football coach is in custody after allegedly confessing to killing his 38-year-old girlfriend inside her home.
According to a news release from the Prince George’s County Police Department, on Saturday, Feb. 17, shortly after 9 a.m., Carl Kearney Jr. went into the Division V Clinton police station and said he strangled his girlfriend, Patrina Best, in her home in the 800 block of St. James Court. Patrol officers responded to the residence, where they found Best unresponsive and pronounced her dead at the scene.
Kearney reportedly told detectives he strangled Best during a dispute. He was charged with first- and second-degree murder, as well as other related charges.
The victim’s family told WXIA-TV that around the time of her death, Kearney was helping Best pack up belongings from her place to move for a new travel nurse assignment. Best had reportedly earned her nursing degree from Georgia State University and worked as an operating room nurse.
In a statement obtained by the news source, Best’s family said, “Patrina was a fun-loving, warm-hearted person and made friends easily everywhere she went. The outpouring of love and support from her friends and colleagues is a testament to the amazing person she was.”
According to WANF-TV, Kearney worked as a high school football coach at Spalding High School and was recently awarded the Georgia High School Football Daily’s Class 4A coaches award for most improved winning team.
Kearney remains held in the Department of Corrections.
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