Former University of Miami Football Player Rashaun Jones Charged With 2006 Murder of Teammate Bryan Pata

A 15-year-old cold case that rocked the University of Miami has finally been solved with the arrest of one of its former football players.

On November 7th, 2006, University of Miami player Bryan Pata was shot in the back of the head outside a Miami apartment complex shortly after leaving football practice. Pata was just months away from likely being drafted to the NFL. His fellow teammate Rashaun Jones allegedly killed him after being embroiled in a love triangle with Pata and Jada Brody, who had dated both men at one point. The teammates had a rocky history, having gotten into physical altercations multiple times before the murder.

The day after the murder, a witness worked with a sketch artist who drew a suspect similar to Jones. The man says he saw Jones quickly walking away from the crime scene shortly after the gunshot rang out, though he did not see him shoot Pata. The same man also picked Jones’ photo out of a lineup in 2007. Yet, authorities still did not have enough to arrest him. During a court hearing last year, police stated that they knew who killed Pata but did not name Jones specifically. No witnesses ever came forward about seeing the actual killing take place.

In 2020, ESPN publicly called Jones a suspect in a piece on Pata’s unsolved murder. In 2019, he briefly spoke with the network and confessed that he knew the police and even ex-teammates suspected him in Pata’s murder but proclaimed his innocence.

“What happened 12 years ago, happened 12 years ago. It’s got nothing to do with me. I didn’t do it,” Jones stated.

On Tuesday, Jones was arrested in Lake City for first-degree murder by the Miami-Dade County police and the U.S. Marshals office. He is being held in Marion County Jail as he awaits extradition to Miami-Dade.