Nancy Armour

USA TODAY Sports

The NFL said Friday it found no evidence that a video of Ray Rice punching his fiancée was delivered to its headquarters, refuting a report late Thursday in which a law enforcement official told The Associated Press that he sent the video to the attention of league security chief Jeffrey Miller in April.

The AP, which said the official spoke on condition of anonymity because he isn't authorized to talk about the case, reported that the person who sent the tape said he received a voicemail from an unidentified woman in NFL offices who confirmed the tape had been received.

The NFL said it found no evidence to confirm the report.

"Our office has found absolutely no evidence to support the claim of the anonymous 'law enforcement source' that he sent a video to us or that he received a telephone call to his 'disposable cell phone' from an unidentified female using an NFL line," league spokesman Brian McCarthy told USA TODAY Sports in a statement.

The league also reiterated the statement it issued Thursday from Miller, the league's senior vice president of security: "I unequivocally deny that I received at any time a copy of the video and I had not watched it until it was made public on September 8."

The league's handling of the Ray Rice matter has sparked a firestorm over its approach to disciplining players implicated in domestic abuse incidents. Rice was initially suspended two games by the league, but that was before the graphic video showing Rice inside an elevator punching his future wife, Janay, was released earlier this month by TMZ Sports.

As the video exploded on social media, the Baltimore Ravens cut Rice and the league suspended him indefinitely.

The NFL has maintained no league employees saw the Rice video before it was released on TMZ.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced earlier this month that former FBI Director Robert Mueller and his team are conducting an independent investigation into the NFL's pursuit and handling of evidence in the Ray Rice matter, and the league has said it will make the report public.