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The girlfriend of late Cowboys star Marshawn Kneeland is pregnant, Dallas head coach Brian Schottenheimer revealed just days after his death.
Kneeland died by apparent suicide at the age of 24 last week, roughly 48 hours after he scored his first NFL touchdown for the Cowboys against the Arizona Cardinals.
On Wednesday, Schottenheimer also announced that the team have set up a memorial fund to support his girlfriend, Catalina Mancera, and the unborn baby.
'She's pregnant and so we want to make sure she is taken care of and the baby is taken care of for the rest of their lives - it's very important to our guys and to us,' he said. 'The organization have been amazing, we've started the Marshawn Kneeland memorial fund where we can all give and support Catalina.'
It was Catalina who warned cops that Kneeland had a gun and that she feared he would kill himself after he refused to pull over over a traffic violation in Frisco, Texas.
The NFL star sent his family a group text saying 'goodbye' during the drama involving Texas Department of Public Safety troopers, according to a police audio dispatch. Cops lost sight of Kneeland, who then crashed his car into a pick-up truck and fled on foot. Officers found his body in a port-a-potty in the early hours of November 6.
Marshawn Kneeland, pictured with his girlfriend Catalina Mancera, died earlier this month
The Dallas Cowboys have set up a memorial fund to support Mancera and her unborn child
His apparent suicide came just 48 hours after he scored his first NFL touchdown for Dallas
Earlier this week, Mancera, 22, spoke to the Daily Mail of her raw agony in the wake of Kneeland's shocking death.
'It's too much,' said Mancera, who was seen leaving the apartment building in Plano, Texas where the defensive end had lived before his death.
'I'm grieving hard right now. It will be a long time before I'll feel ready to talk at any length.'
She added: 'We're still in the early stages of everything. We are working on the funeral arrangements. I don't know where it's going to be yet.'
Mancera began dating the NFL star when he was at Western Michigan University in her native Kalamazoo, his cousin Nicole Kneeland-Woods told the Daily Mail. He is from nearby Grand Rapids.
'Marshawn shared a very special relationship with Catalina, whom he had been with since his sophomore year of college,' she said. 'They supported each other through many stages of life. Catalina is an important part of our family and she's hurting deeply too.'
Mancera recently founded SZN Stitches, which produces custom game day apparel. Several of its featured designs include Kneeland's name, photo and his No 94.
Relatives who have spoken with the Daily Mail have contradicted the assertion - attributed to Catalina in police audio - that Kneeland was suffering from mental health issues.
Mancera was the one who alerted cops that Kneeland had a gun, fearing he would kill himself
Kneeland's tragic death at the age of 24 last week sent shockwaves across the NFL
The player was, however, haunted by the loss of his mother Wendy who died aged just 45 in February last year from an accidental drug overdose at her home in Buckeye, Arizona.
A medical examiner found oxycodone and morphine in her system, alongside anti-depressants and muscle relaxants.
On Wednesday, the Cowboys released a video tribute to Kneeland. 'In loving memory of Marshawn,' the team wrote alongside the 75-second clip.
Schottenheimer, meanwhile, addressed the media for the first time since the tragedy. He began his press conference with a poignant tribute to the defensive end.
'I'd like to take a few moments and offer my condolences to Marshawn's family, Catalina his girlfriend, we had an opportunity last night to celebrate Marshawn's life, tell some stories, share, laugh, cry,' the head coach said.
'Marshawn loved the words "one love." He talked a lot about love. As we grieve, I had a chance to really share a couple of things I'll miss the most about Marshawn.
'Those top couple of things was he had the most playful spirit of any young man I've been around. His smile could take you to your knees. In terms of him as an athlete, no one had a better motor than him.
'So my heart is heavy, our team's heart is heavy, we don't move on, but we do move forward.'
When asked how his team will get through this ordeal, he added: 'One day at a time.'
'Our team's heart is heavy, we don't move on, but we do move forward,' Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer said
'Because it's going to hit everybody different. I wasn't sure I could get through my part of last night - speaking at his candlelight vigil - and I did.
'You just take it one day at a time and you don't have to have all the answers. We don't have all the answers. We probably won't have all the answers.
'But you lean into one another, you love on one another. I go back to the culture and the guys in that locker room. We'll be OK because of the strength they draw from one another.
'We have some guys that have been through this. I've never been through something like this - [something] that hits this close to home.'
