Anthony D. McClanahan, a former Canadian professional football player who trained with the Dallas Cowboys in the 1990s, has been charged with killing his wife, prosecutors said on Monday.

McClanahan allegedly sliced his wife's neck and then crawled on the ground outside their rented Utah condominium before flagging down a police officer, officials said.

McClanahan, who played four years with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League in the mid-1990s after a collegiate career at Washington State University, initially told officers he and his wife and baby had been attacked, but investigators found no evidence of an infant at the condo, or anyone entering the unit in the Park Regency in Park City.

His wife's body was found in the condominium he had rented after someone else at the building called 911, saying he was crawling low to the ground through the hallways and calling for help. Keri McClanahan had cuts to the front, back and sides of her neck, as well as other defensive wounds and carpet burns.

The bloody scene in the ski town indicated that Keri "KC" McClanahan, 28, put up a desperate struggle before she was killed. The murder weapon was a small, sharp knife she'd worn sheathed in a nylon paracord bracelet, charging documents stated.

Police discovered McClanahan, 46, covered in blood and crawling on his stomach outside early in the morning of Nov. 2. He lifted himself up just enough to flag down a police officer, then dropped back down and began convulsing, his arms making a "snow angel motion," the officer on scene told prosecutors.

McClanahan, originally from Bakersfield, California, never played in an NFL game.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.