Louis Nix III, a former college football standout who went missing last week, was found dead on Saturday in his hometown of Jacksonville, Florida. The family of the 29-year-old confirmed his death to CBS Sports and local media in Jacksonville. 

Stephanie Wingfield, who reported her son as a missing person on Friday, said the former athlete usually communicated with his loved ones frequently. But the family hadn't heard from Nix since he left his father's house in Jacksonville on Tuesday.

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said the former Notre Dame defensive lineman was found when authorities pulled a vehicle out of a pond outside his apartment complex on Saturday, The Florida Times-Union reported. The car matched the description of Nix's vehicle, information which was provided in a call earlier that day as the search continued for him. 

Wingfield said police didn't provide details about what happened to her son.

"They did say that it didn't look like foul play," she told The Times-Union on Sunday.

According to News4Jax, the family said Nix had planned to meet his brother at his dad’s house on Tuesday. But the former football star left before his brother arrived and didn’t say where he was going.

“We kind of missed each other because once he got there, I had left to get something to eat, and I was on the way back, but he had already left by then,” Nix's brother said. 

Ketarah Reed, Nix’s girlfriend, said her boyfriend was on his way back home on Tuesday night after hanging out with a friend. But she never heard from him again.

“The intentions were he was coming back here so we could just hang out, but he just never made it here,” Reed said. “I texted and I was, like, ‘Are you good,’ and he never texted me back, so I start calling and then his phone was ringing, and it just completely went out.”

Earlier that day, the couple were talking about how much they loved each other. Reed said everything appeared normal before her boyfriend went missing and it was very unusual for him to lose contact with his loved ones. 

“I’m with him every single day,” she said. “I’ve been with him since 2017. I know how he is.”

The three-year NFL veteran had undergone surgery in December after he was shot while putting air in his tires during a gas station robbery.

"I just got shot and robbed while I was putting air in my tires," the athlete said in a video posted to social media. "If I do not make it, I really love everybody. I can't contact nobody right now."

Former Notre Dame DL Louis Nix III just posted this video on Instagram. Pray for him please.
(IG/1irishchocolate) pic.twitter.com/LxGfc2rpA7

— InsideTheIrish (@Insidetheirish) December 9, 2020

The family said the shooting doesn't appear to be connected to his death. However, Nix's mother said her son had been apprehensive about leaving his house after the shooting and he was carefully watching his surroundings. She adds that the athlete could have suffered a heart attack or some other medical emergency related to being shot. 

“He just got shot by some random people in December,” Reed said. “We still are recovering from that, and then this happens.”

The Notre Dame standout, who left the school in 2013, played with four teams after he was selected by the Houston Texans in the third round of the 2014 NFL. He most recently played for the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2016.