NEW ORLEANS (June 6, 2007) -- About $16,000 worth of belongings was reported stolen from the home of the late Marquise Hill's mother while she attended the funeral for her son, a New England Patriots lineman who drowned last week, police said.
No suspects have been identified in the June 2 burglary at the eastern New Orleans home of Sherry Hill, who told police that she left for her son's funeral at 10:45 a.m. and discovered the break-in when she returned around 5:45 p.m.
"It's an open case," said New Orleans Police Department spokesman Garry Flot. "We don't know who did it."
A telephone call to Sherry Hill was not answered.
Flot said a laptop and a television were among the stolen items. A rear bedroom window was apparently pried open.
"Everybody knew his funeral was on that date," Flot said of Hill, a former LSU star who played sparingly for the Patriots.
On June 5, another police spokesman indicated that investigators had identified a suspect but Flot said that was not the case.
"We are working leads," he said, "but no arrest warrants have been issued and no one has been arrested."
Hill's family, friends and teammates gathered in New Orleans for his funeral June 2, nearly a week after he drowned in a personal watercraft accident on Lake Pontchartrain.
Besides his mother, Hill, 24, is survived by his fiancee, Inell Benn, and his 2-year-old son, Mashy.
Hill, who helped relatives rebuild in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, was home for Memorial Day weekend. He and a female friend went for a ride on the watercraft without life vests and fell into the water. The woman survived, but Hill drowned in an area of swirling currents.
