Lawrence Phillips, a former running back athlete in the NFL, is a suspect in the killing of his 37-year-old prison cellmate Damion Soward at the Kern Valley State Prison in California.

Soward was found unresponsive Saturday morning and was later pronounced dead in their cellblock according the prison spokesperson, Lt. Marshall Denning. Damion was to serve 82 years to life in prison for first-degree murder. Meanwhile, Phillips is to serve 31 years or more in prison for violent behavior including assaulting his girlfriend in 2005 for driving his car into a crowd and injuring 3 teenagers.

Furthermore, the prison spokesperson has also reported that a similar incident had happened with a different prisoner murdering his cellmate on the same day. However, further investigations are underway as it is unclear if both cases are related. Phillips has now been moved to segregation in Kern Valley State Prison.

The former running back athlete had first started out in the collegiate division for Nebraska Cornhuskers and was drafted for the St. Louis Rams in 1996. Later on, the team had released him for personality issue especially insubordination. He was then recruited to play for Miami Dolphins and San Francisco 49ers after his split with the Rams. He never stayed for long in a team, Phillips tried to continue with Arena Football League, NFL Europe, and the Canadian Football team.

With all his criminal issues, it is unclear if Phillips has gotten himself a lawyer for his defense. TMZ was able to dig up interesting information about Phillips alleged victim, Damion Soward.

TMZ had a chance to interview Soward's grandmother where she had mentioned that her grandson had recently done 9 months in a hole in another prison for illegal possession of a weapon and that that Soward is 1^st-degree cousin with NFL wide receiver R. Jay Soward, first-round pick for the Jaguars in 2000.