The murder of former Philadelphia Eagles defensive lineman Kevin Johnson may be connected to three separate murders of homeless people living in encampments along the Los Angeles River near Willowbrook, sometimes called Compton Creek, sources tell our sister station KABC-TV.

Johnson's body was found at a homeless encampment next to Compton Creek on Jan. 21. His cause of death was listed as "blunt head trauma" and "stab wounds," and the manner of death was ruled a homicide, according to L.A. County Medical Examiner records.

Johnson was 55 years old.

RELATED | Former Philadelphia Eagles player found dead at homeless encampment in Los Angeles

According to sources close to the investigation, the string of murders in the Compton Creek area began on Oct. 5, 2025, when a woman, identified as 52-year-old Michelle Steele, was shot in the head. She died in the hospital on Nov. 12, 2025.

Three weeks later, on Dec. 4, a homeless man identified as 52-year-old Octavio Arias was murdered in the same area. According to L.A. County Medical Examiner records, Arias died from head and neck trauma.

The fourth victim, following the murder of Kevin Johnson, was identified as Mauro Alfaro, also in his 50s. According to sources, Alfaro was killed on Jan. 26, and the cause of death was blunt force trauma.

Sources inside the L.A. County Sheriff's Homicide Bureau tell KABC that investigators are now looking into the possibility that all four murders were done by the same killer. A suspect has not been identified.

Detectives are still trying to determine motives in the killings and trying to figure out if the suspect is someone who is upset with homeless people being in that area, or if drugs or gangs may be involved. Sources say there is no concrete evidence linking the cases together.

Anyone with information should call homicide detectives at 323-890-5500.

Investigators believe the former football player had been living at the encampment.

Friends say Johnson had health issues later in life that led him to live on the streets, but they called him a wonderful friend who still made an impact on his community.

"He was my best friend. I was best man at his wedding. Great guy, fun-loving. The community is going to miss him," Bruce Todd told KABC-TV.

His friends said Johnson had health problems that they believe might have been the result of CTE.

Johnson, a native of Los Angeles, played for the Philadelphia Eagles and Oakland Raiders from 1995-1997.

After his career in the NFL ended, he played in the Arena Football League with the Orlando Predators and L.A. Avengers.

A Santa Clarita girls hockey team chose to play through their pain after they were involved in a deadly crash in Colorado, and now they're bringing home a trophy.

The Santa Clarita Lady Flyers won the Western Girls Hockey Championship over the weekend, just days after a snowplow lost control, crashing into one of their team vans in Colorado on Thursday.

The father of one of the players, identified as Manny Lorenzana, was killed. He was the driver behind the wheel of the team van.

Several others were taken to the hospital, including one girl who was critically injured. She is expected to be OK. The team says one mother of a player is still in the hospital in Colorado.

A father was killed and several members of a Santa Clarita girls hockey team were injured when a snowplow hit their van in Colorado.

The Santa Clarita Lady Flyers returned to their home rink on Monday night to be celebrated as champions. A memorial outside of the rink celebrates their big accomplishment, but also recognizes the pain of several families who were involved in the deadly crash.

The girls decided they were going to continue on with the tournament and play for their peers who were involved in the crash. They went on to win six games and walked away as Western Girls Hockey Champions.

The team captain said it was about a two and a half hour conversation between the teammates, ages 10 to 13 years old, about whether or not they wanted to proceed.

"We all got around in a circle and we all kind of just talked about if we should play or not, and our decision was that we should play, not for ourselves, but for Manny, who was the father, and for our girls," said Sophia Boyle, the team captain.

The head coach said it was a very special moment when the player whose dad passed away returned to the team.

"We had a short bench, and on the fourth game, the young girl whose father who passed away actually showed up on the bench, game four, scored about 40 seconds into the game. As the girls were cheering, she was walking onto my bench with a helmet on. And all the girls hopped over, were giving her hugs because that was the first time we saw her. And I think that just gave all the girls that inspiration to continue on," said head coach Todd Stelnick.

An online fundraiser to help the victims has been created. A GoFundMe was also set up to cover funeral expenses for Lorenzana and support his family. Collectively, the two fundraisers have raised over $120,000.