A Phoenix Police Department case report says former NFL defensive end Josh Mauro had been snorting cocaine during a four-day bender before his accidental overdose death in April at age 35.
The report, first obtained by the California Post, says Mauro was with several women, including a dancer, in the hours before he died at his Arizona home on April 23. According to the account, he had met the dancer a week earlier and later invited her, a friend, and two other women to a gathering at his house in the early hours of that morning.
The woman told police that Mauro and his friend began snorting cocaine while “all of them” drank tequila and listened to music. She said she and the other women went upstairs to sleep “after a few hours,” while Mauro and his friend stayed downstairs.
When she woke up, she found Mauro alone and apparently dead on the floor. She tried to revive him and called emergency services. The woman also told police that Mauro had said he’d been on a “bender for four days” before she arrived, and said she noticed he would get frequent nosebleeds and sweat after snorting cocaine.
The report says investigators found a bottle cap with a white substance near Mauro’s body, along with a white powdery substance near a rolled-up dollar bill, tissues with apparent blood on them, and a syringe in a trash can.
The Maricopa County Medical Examiner had already listed Mauro’s death as an accidental overdose. That report found “traces of fentanyl, cocaine and ethanol” in his body, along with “cannabinoids and caffeine”.
Mauro’s death was first announced by his father, Greg, who wrote: “With many tears and broken hearts, yet anchored in the unshakable certainty that our precious Josh Mauro is now healed and made new - living in the presence of the Lord - we humbly covet your prayers as our family walks through the devastating loss.
It added that Mauro “breathed his last breath on this earth and his first breath in heaven.”
Born in St Albans near London, England, Mauro moved to the United States when he was three and grew up in Texas. He went on to play college football at Stanford University after becoming a standout in high school.
Mauro went undrafted in the 2014 NFL Draft and signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers as an undrafted free agent, but his time there was short-lived after he was released during final roster cuts.
He later found his footing with the Arizona Cardinals, where his NFL career really took shape. Mauro spent four seasons with Arizona from 2014 to 2017, then returned for a second stint from 2020 to 2021.
Across his time with the Cardinals, he became a rotational defensive lineman and occasional starter. In 2016, he started 13 games and posted a career-high 42 tackles.
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