{"id":809111,"date":"2026-07-18T23:27:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T23:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/809111\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T23:27:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T23:27:14","slug":"nfl-star-ray-rices-tragic-violent-life-back-in-spotlight-after-man-who-killed-father-arrested-for-second-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/809111\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL star Ray Rice’s tragic, violent life back in spotlight after man who killed father arrested for second murder"},"content":{"rendered":"

Throughout his NFL career as a running back for the Baltimore Ravens and the controversy surrounding footage of him beating his then-fianc\u00e9e unconscious in a hotel elevator, Ray Rice has spoken<\/a> about how the loss of his father to a drive-by shooting when he was just over one year old played a part in shaping his life.<\/p>\n

Rice\u2019s tragic upbringing, which he\u2019s admitted has been plagued by \u201cintergenerational traumas,\u201d has gotten new attention now that Michael Foster, the man who killed the NFL star\u2019s father 38 years ago, has been arrested again, this time for gunning down his own niece.<\/p>\n

Foster, 58, was ordered held without bail on Thursday for slaying 39-year-old Julia Anderson during a property dispute, cops said.<\/p>\n

Monday\u2019s killing was hauntingly similar to Rice\u2019s father. Both of Foster\u2019s victims were shot. And, despite the nearly four-decade gap, the two killings occurred within a half-mile of each other.<\/p>\n

\"Julia<\/p>\n

Courtesy of family<\/p>\n

Julia Anderson was fatally shot on Murdock Ave. near Nereid Ave. in the Bronx late Monday, July 13, 2026. (Courtesy of family)<\/p>\n

\u201cI have found out that he was a great guy, well known in the community. I think I\u2019m living his life for him through other people,\u201d Rice told the Baltimore Sun about his father in a 2008 interview. \u201cHe was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, shot in the back of the head. It was a tragedy, especially for my grandparents, because he was one of two children, the baby of the family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foster gunned Reed down on S. 14th Ave. near W. 3rd St.<\/a> in Mount Vernon, as his victim walked home from work on Feb. 9, 1988, according to reports. Cops at the time said the shooting appeared drug related.<\/p>\n

Reed, 19, was a supermarket stock clerk and a body builder, according to the Rockland\/Westchester Journal News.<\/a><\/p>\n

Foster was arrested about three years after killing Reed and charged with murder and weapon possession. He was just about to go to trial in 1991 when he pleaded guilty to manslaughter and criminal use of a firearm.<\/p>\n

He served seven years and three months in prison before being paroled in 1999, state Department of Corrections records show. His parole ended in 2003.<\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/p>\n

Brigitte Stelzer \/ Pool<\/p>\n

Michael Foster appears in Bronx Criminal Court on Thursday for the shooting death of his niece, Julia Anderson. (Brigitte Stelzer \/ Pool)<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes you wonder what it would be like to have your real dad,\u201d Rice said in a 2010 article on the Baltimore Ravens website<\/a>. \u201cJust for a walk in the park or just recapping our lives. That\u2019s the part that makes me think.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attempts to reach Rice regarding the new arrest were unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

Rice\u2019s mother, Janet Rice, has told reporters the absence of his father forced Rice to become the man of the house at a young age. She raised Rice, and his three younger siblings on her own in a public housing complex, nicknamed \u2018The Hollow\u2019 in New Rochelle, NY.<\/p>\n

Rice later found a father figure in his older cousin, Shaun Rice-Nichols, an up and coming rap artist known as S.U.P.E., who moved in with them after his mother died of brain cancer at 37 years old, according to reports.<\/p>\n

But tragedy struck again when Rice-Nichols died in a car crash at 21 years old, alongside his fianc\u00e9e in California on March 21, 1998. Rice was 11 years old.<\/p>\n

But his death, along with his father\u2019s, were part of what motivated Rice to strive for greatness.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen adversity struck it didn\u2019t deter me from being great,\u201d Ray said in the Baltimore Ravens<\/a> article. \u201cIt fueled me. It fueled me to be a person that wanted to leave his mark.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Rice was a Junior in high school and standout player on his school\u2019s football team, he vowed that he was \u201cgoing to the league.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018I\u2019ve got to make the league,\u2019\u201d he told his mother. \u201c\u2018I\u2019ll be glad when I can tell you, \u2018You don\u2019t have to work no more.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Rice went on to become a star running back for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and later the Baltimore Ravens, starting in 2008.<\/p>\n

\"Ray<\/p>\n

Ned Dishman\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Ray Rice of the Rutgers University Scarlet Knights celebrates victory with his mom against the University of Louisville Cardinals on November 9, 2006 at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey. (Photo by Ned Dishman\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The former NFL player was caught on video in February 2014 brutally beating his then-fianc\u00e9e in an elevator of an Atlantic City hotel, knocking her unconscious. Other released video showed him dragging his unconscious girlfriend out of the elevator. The NFL briefly suspended Rice, who was charged with assault. The charges were ultimately dropped<\/a> by the fianc\u00e9e who he later married. The two have two children together.<\/p>\n

Since the scandal, Rice has mostly kept a low-profile, but in May\u00a0Rice shared a post on Facebook<\/a> celebrating the completion of the degree he started at Rutgers University before he was drafted into the NFL.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to acknowledge my father, Calvin Reed, who was tragically shot and killed when I was just 13 months old,\u201d Rice wrote. \u201cI never got the chance to truly know him, but I carry his name, his blood, and his spirit with me every day. I\u2019m sure he would be proud of the man I\u2019ve continued to become and proud that I finished this journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rice told the Star Ledger<\/a> he fulfilled a promise he made to his father\u2019s parents, James and Amelia Reed, that he\u2019d get his college degree.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got this Reed side of me that no one really knows about,\u201d Rice told the paper. \u201cIt\u2019s just beautiful to be able to do something that I felt like it was for them, but really, it\u2019s for all of us. It\u2019s for my kids, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of my biggest achievements outside of sports and being a father and a husband,\u201d he said about earning his degree. \u201cAnd I think that it\u2019s (a reminder) that you gotta stick to your word. I made a promise, and I said, I gotta finish.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rice told the Star Ledger he has faced what he called the, \u201cintergenerational traumas\u201d of his life to become a better man.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors made mention of Reed\u2019s murder at Foster\u2019s arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the second person he has killed, Your Honor,\u201d Assistant District Attorney Burim Namani told Judge Cary Fischer.<\/p>\n

Foster ambushed his niece just before midnight Monday, firing two shots at her as she stepped into her car outside the group home where she worked. The violent execution was sparked by a nasty real estate dispute<\/a> the two were embroiled in.<\/p>\n

\"NYPD<\/p>\n

Barry Williams\/ New York Daily News<\/p>\n

NYPD detectives are pictured at the scene after Julia Anderson was fatally shot on Murdock Ave. near Nereid Ave. in the Bronx late Monday, July 13, 2026. (Barry Williams\/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Foster was ordered held without bail Thursday after pleading not guilty to murder, manslaughter and weapon possession.<\/p>\n

Foster and Anderson lived in the family\u2019s two-story Mount Vernon home with Anderson\u2019s mother, police said. Foster was upset his niece had inherited the family home, which, according to online records, has an estimated value of $568,000.<\/p>\n

The dispute led to Anderson\u2019s arrest last year after Foster accused her of forging his signature on a deed for the property, according to a Rockland\/Westchester Journal News report. The charges against Anderson were dropped months later, according to the outlet.<\/p>\n

Anderson then filed a pro se lawsuit against Westchester County alleging malicious prosecution. She claims in the suit that the district attorney brought charges against her \u201cnot through evidence or probable cause but through the unvetted statements of a known felon with a violent criminal history and a personal vendetta.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit was pending at the time of her murder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Throughout his NFL career as a running back for the Baltimore Ravens and the controversy surrounding footage of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":809112,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,9278,21850,176067,3914,2289,1025,1026,384026,44,593,384025,85,384027],"class_list":["post-809111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-city","tag-county","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-county","tag-news","tag-nfl","tag-nyc-crime","tag-sports","tag-sub-county-region"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=809111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/809112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=809111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=809111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=809111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}