Cops: Ala. Booster's Death An Accident, Not Murder

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – A University of Alabama football booster died when he hit his head in an accidental fall at home, rather than being slain as first thought, the police director said Thursday.

Police initially described the death of 65-year-old Logan Young as a bloody slaying after a fierce struggle but quit calling it a homicide a day later.

"He fell in his house, hit his head on a metal stair railing and died from that injury," Memphis Police Director Larry Godwin said at a news conference.

Young, who was convicted last year of bribing a high school football coach to steer a top recruit to Alabama, was found dead at his Memphis home Tuesday. No arrests had been made and no suspects had been identified although family members and friends had been questioned.

Crime scene crews spent most of two days in Young's house, where police said blood or traces of blood were found in several rooms.

Lt. Joe Scott said Thursday that investigators determined that after Young fell, he lay on the floor awhile before getting up and walking into several rooms and then upstairs to his bedroom.

Young's body was found on the floor beside his bed Tuesday morning by his housekeeper. Scott said police still aren't sure when Young died but he was seen Monday evening by his pool boy.

Young, who was divorced, lived alone much of the time in his stone Tudor home. His son, Logan Young III, an only child, apparently had been staying with him off and on recently, police said.

Logan Young III was not at the residence when his father's body was found by a housekeeper. He was located several hours later and taken to police headquarters for questioning. There, he voluntarily gave DNA samples to investigators, including fingernail scrapings, his lawyer, Steve Farese, said.

The elder Young's conviction for money laundering and racketeering conspiracy capped a scandal that put Alabama on NCAA probation and cost Young his favored standing among the university's big-money boosters.