Harriet Ryan

He just kept telling relatives that he really wanted to come home, that he was really unhappy, that he felt like he couldn't leave because his mother had so much financially on the line with him being there, but he desperately wanted to leave.

After he sent all these panicked and upset messages to his relatives in Northern California, unannounced, five of them from both sides of the family drove down and went to his school.

And when he saw them outside, he said, you guys are going to get me in trouble.

And they went to a restaurant and they talked and he just said, like, I can't go back with you.

I can't go back with you.

And he had a lot of concerns about the amount of money his mom was making.

He was concerned about her health.

She had diabetes.

He didn't want her to work too much.

Or, you know, he said she was having trouble.

And he just, you know, said he was going to stay down there.

And from interviews and court records, I can tell you that they had really deep concerns about what kind of state of mind she was in and her situation.

She was having bad money problems, and they believed she was using drugs.

And they were concerned about that.

Money in the black market shattered his family.

So what happened is in the spring of his junior year, his family is living in an apartment near a school and they're not paying their rent and they haven't paid in a long time.

And so their landlord keeps asking for the money and they're not paying.

And finally, the landlord just locks the doors like they can't get in.

You're done.

So on that day when the landlord locked the doors, word goes out through the football community in Southern California, Phillip Bell's senior year is for sale.