A former Dallas Cowboys player has been arrested on suspicion of his wife's murder after her body was found in a Utah condo.

Anthony Darnel McClanahan, 46, is believed to have stabbed 28-year-old Keri 'KC' McClanahan repeatedly in the throat in the Park Regency Resort condominiums on Thursday.

And on Friday, charges were filed against him for allegedly kidnapping his son from school last month - behavior that he had allegedly tried to blame on injuries from his NFL days, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

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Anthony Darnel McClanahan (right), 46, is accused of murdering his wife Keri (left) at around 1:30pm on Thursday at a condo in Park City, Utah. She was found stabbed in the throat

McClanahan was signed to the Dallas Cowboys in 1993 but released before the season began in 1994. He then signed on to the Calgary Stampeders (McClanahan pictured right)

Police said that they were called to the Park Regency at around 1:30am on Thursday after another occupant complained of a 'ruckus' in the building.

At roughly the same time, McClanahan himself flagged down a police car, Fox 13 Salt Lake City reported.

When police entered the condo they found Keri's body lying in her bed, with knife wounds on her throat.

McClanahan has been charged with first-degree murder in Keri's death. She had two children, aged 7 and 9, with another man. It's not known what his motive may have been

Keri, who was the mother of a nine-year-old girl and a seven-year-old boy with another man, was a 'beautiful spirit' who was 'instantly loved' by people, according to her sister, Heather Gauf.

'She was such an amazing mother and such a beautiful humanitarian,' she said.

She dded that she was worried that it will 'deeply affect my little niece and nephew, to know that their mother was murdered.'

McClanahan was signed to the the Dallas Cowboys 1993, but was dropped before the season began, according to a 1994 report by NewsOK.

He went on to play for the Calgary Stampeders, and calls himself a 'sports performance consultant'.

McClanahan was also charged Friday with kidnapping his son from another relationship at the boy's school.

He is alleged to have snatched his eight-year-old son from a school in Maricopa County, Arizona, on October 3.

According to court documents, the boy's mom, Donna May, found McClanahan the following day and, with the support of police, demanded him back - but the ex-player refused.

McClanahan reportedly flagged down a police car after Keri was killed. He was also arrested for allegedly kidnapping his son, aged eight, from a school in Arizona in October

McClanahan had his son (seen right in a video posted during the alleged kidnapping) with a previous partner, Donna May. She now has the child back

She emailed him a court order demanding the boy back the following day, the documents say, but lost contact.

In the days that followed McClanahan posted photos and videos of himself with his son on Facebook; in one of the videos they give supplies to a group of homeless people.

He was found on October 12 and arrested on a fugitive warrant and locked up in Salt Lake City Jail; he paid $150,000 bail on October 19 and was released. The boy was returned to May.

The alleged kidnapping is not believed to be directly related to the Kari's death, but Gauf said that McClanahan had blamed his reportedly unusual behavior on injuries sustained while playing football.

It's not clear quite what was meant by that, but it's possible that McClanahan had intended to blame CTE - the degenerative brain disorder blamed for Aaron Hernandez's violent impulses.

Hernandez killed himself in prison in April while serving time for murder; an autopsy revealed that his brain had been severely damaged by CTE, which has been linked to repeated blows to the head.

McClanahan has been charged with first-degree felony child kidnapping and first-degree murder, and the case will be heard next week.