Cullen Finnerty, a 30-year-old former star quarterback at Grand Valley Community College (GVSU), was found dead in the woods in northern Michigan, Tuesday night. He went missing Sunday, while fishing on Baldwin River, close to his family cottage.
His body was discovered after an extensive search by the Lake County Sheriff's Office, state police, fire-fighters, alumni including former football players, current students and staff from the University.
An autopsy will be ordered to determine the cause of his death. "There was nothing obvious to us, to the view, of anything that would have caused his death," Sheriff Robert Hilts said.
"The Grand Valley community is saddened to learn of the death of former Laker quarterback Cullen Finnerty," the college said in a statement.
Hilts said that Finnerty went fishing Sunday evening. His last contact was apparently with his wife, when he called her on Sunday night and said that he was in danger.
"He left his equipment and ran off into the woods," Hilts said.
Finnerty's family members told investigators that he was worried about something, which might have caused him some kind of a mental episode.
His father-in-law, Dan Brink, said that Finnerty spent the holiday weekend with family near Baldwin.
"We had brats and hamburgers on Saturday and grilled chicken on Sunday," Brink said. "Everything was cool. It was a great weekend. We had a lot of smiles, a lot of laughs. There were no indications. There were no problems."It was a nice night on Sunday and we thought, 'there is a nice stretch of the river,' and he got himself one of those boats and he had been practicing on it. It's a river boat, a raft."
The rescue personnel used dogs, helicopters and even drove through the woods on ATV vehicles.
Later, the rescue team discovered a small pontoon boat, he had been using in Bray Creek, suspended on the Baldwin River's stoney coast.
"He's a big character kid and had a lot of friendships," Mitchell said in a video posted on Grand Valley State's website. "I think that's the only reason why so many people are coming to his aid," head football coach Matt Mitchell said.
GVSU has overall achieved four NCAA Division II national titles, out of which three were won during Finnerty's stay at the college in 2003, '05 and '06. He posted a 51-4 record during his four years as a starter in Allendale, Mich.,
For a very short period of time, Finnerty was a member of the Baltimore Ravens and later the Denver Broncos and played two games with the Ravens, 2007.
