OKEECHOBEE COUNTY, Fla. The father of a Cincinnati Bengals player who went missing for days has been found alive.
Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Michele Bell said Jean Alexandre was found Thursday morning after walking to the field guard station in Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park. Bell said Alexandre is in good health and was reunited with family members.
In a statement, Sheriff Oelechobee County Noel Stephen said:
“Great results through great teamwork! Thank you to every agency, department, group and individual who helped us.”
Alexandre’s son, Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Mackensie Alexander, was arrested in Florida the same day he left the team while authorities searched for his missing father.
The 26-year-old Immokalee resident left for his training camp on Tuesday father disappeared while picking palmetto berries with another man in Okeechobee County.
According to the Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Office, Alexandre, 65, was on a prairie in the northwestern province on Monday when his partner left him behind.
NFL.com reports on Wednesday, Alexander confronted the man who left his father, which led to his arrest.
Alexander was arrested Tuesday on a battery charge, according to Collier County jail records.
Mackensie Alexander arrested after father disappeared in Okeechobee County
An arrest report from the Collier County Sheriff’s Office revealed that Alexander and another man, Evins Clement, went to the victim’s Immokalee home on Tuesday “to discuss an incident” from the previous day.
The victim told deputies that Alexander and Clement, 28, confronted him about what happened, but he refused to leave with them when asked for “fear of retaliation.”
According to the report, Alexander then threatened the victim and told him he had a gun in his car. When the victim still refused to leave with the men, Clement held him down while Alexander punched him several times in the face, the report said.
The victim’s son called 911 from his Fort Myers home and told the dispatcher that two people had killed his father.
“There was already an incident that happened yesterday,” the victim’s son told a dispatcher in the 911 call. “I think someone was missing and he was with the man.”
Alexander signed in March with the Bengals after spending his first four seasons with the Minnesota Vikings.
Authorities have been searching for Alexandre since Tuesday.
GALLERY: Chopper 5 above looking for Jean Alexandre
A view from WPTV Chopper 5 on Wednesday showed a helicopter from the Sheriff’s Office of Collier County and several people searching for Alexandre on the ground via horse and off-road vehicle.
WPTV
The massive search included the Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Office, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, and St. Louis Sheriff’s Office. Lucie County, Sheriff’s Office of Collier, Florida Highway Patrol, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida Forest Service and more.
Mauricet Etienne was the last known person to see Alexandre. He and his son, Mowendy Etienne, joined the search on Wednesday.
“They went out and, you know, they pointed to where they should be, you knew, looking,” Mowendy Etienne said.
Search for Bengals’ father in Okeechobee County
Mowendy Etienne said his father had nothing to do with Alexandre’s disappearance, emphasizing that five other people were also in the group picking bones.
“He did not leave him behind,” Mowendy Etienne said. “He’s actually gone.”
Mowendy Etienne was seen on the search page with a blister on his lip from where he said Alexander hit him.
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