'Cryptic Writing' Found in Home of Ex-NFL Player Who Killed 6

Investigators trying to figure out why former NFL player Phillip Adams killed six people, including a prominent doctor and his two grandchildren, say they found strange writing in notebooks at his home. A search warrant released Friday by authorities in South Carolina states that "numerous notebooks were located with cryptic writing with different designs and emblems" at Adams' home, CNN reports. "Detectives had also learned that Phillip Adams had been acting differently and possibly following a new religion or ideology," though it's not clear if that was a potential motive, Deputy Devin Askew wrote in the search warrant. Police say Adams killed five people at the home of Dr. Robert Lesslie in Rock Hill, SC on April 7 before returning home and killing himself in his bedroom. A sixth victim died the next day.

In the search warrant, police say Adams was quickly tracked down because he left his phone at the scene. Sister Lauren Adams says the 32-year-old, who retired from the NFL in 2015, had been struggling with his mental health over the last couple of years and family members were very worried. She tells USA Today that he never said anything about a new religion, though he had told her he was writing a book. She says that when she caught glimpses of his journal over his shoulder, she noticed that his handwriting had "changed drastically." "Just makes me think more that something was going on inside his head," she says. "It was almost like another person was writing." (Adams' family allowed authorities to test his brain for CTE.)