The Aaron Hernandez murder case began with the June 2013 killing of Odin Lloyd in North Attleboro, Massachusetts, and ended with a 2019 ruling from the state’s highest court that changed how Massachusetts treats convictions when a defendant dies before their appeal is decided. In between came a first-degree murder conviction and life sentence for Hernandez, a separate acquittal in a 2012 Boston double homicide, his suicide in prison at age 27, and a posthumous diagnosis of severe chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
The Killing of Odin Lloyd
Odin Lloyd’s body was found on June 17, 2013, in an industrial park less than a mile from Hernandez’s home. He had been shot multiple times with a .45-caliber Glock. Lloyd was 27, played semi-professional football for the Boston Bandits, and was dating Shaneah Jenkins, the sister of Hernandez’s fiancée Shayanna Jenkins. That family tie is how Lloyd came into Hernandez’s circle.
Prosecutors argued the killing was driven by paranoia. Two nights earlier, Hernandez and Lloyd had been at Rumor Nightclub in Boston, where, according to the state’s theory, Hernandez grew angry after seeing Lloyd speak with people he associated with a separate 2012 double homicide he was already being investigated for. The night before the killing, Hernandez texted associates: “You can’t trust anyone anymore.” The theory was that Lloyd knew too much and had become a liability.
The evidence was almost entirely circumstantial but voluminous. Hernandez’s home security system captured much of the timeline: his associates Ernest Wallace and Carlos Ortiz arriving around midnight, Hernandez leaving the house, and Hernandez returning while apparently carrying a firearm. The three men then drove off in a rented silver Nissan Altima. Lloyd was shot roughly two hours later. Cell tower data, rental records, and surveillance video from businesses near the industrial park filled in the movements. The murder weapon was never recovered, and there were no eyewitnesses to the shooting itself.
The 2015 Trial and Life Sentence
Hernandez was tried at Bristol County Superior Court in Fall River beginning in January 2015. He faced first-degree murder under Massachusetts law, which covers killings committed with premeditation, extreme cruelty, or during another serious felony,1General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Code Chapter 265 Section 1 – Murder Defined along with firearms charges.
Because prosecutors could not prove which of the three men in the car fired the shots, they relied on the joint venture doctrine. Under Massachusetts law, a defendant can be convicted of murder without pulling the trigger if the state proves the defendant knowingly participated in the crime and shared the intent to make it succeed, whether by planning it, assisting it, or standing by to help. Mere presence is not enough.2Mass.gov. Model Jury Instructions on Homicide – II. Joint Venture The defense pressed the gaps: no weapon, no eyewitnesses, no motive strong enough to explain a killing of someone tied to Hernandez’s own family.
On April 15, 2015, after more than six days of deliberation, the jury returned a guilty verdict on first-degree murder. That charge carries a mandatory sentence of life without the possibility of parole in Massachusetts,3General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Code Chapter 265 Section 2 and the sentence was imposed the same day. The New England Patriots had released Hernandez within hours of his June 2013 arrest, walking away from a five-year, $40 million extension the team had signed with him the year before.
What Happened to Wallace and Ortiz
The two men on the surveillance footage were also charged with first-degree murder, and both cases resolved separately. In May 2016, Ernest Wallace was acquitted of murder but convicted of being an accessory after the fact, drawing four-and-a-half to seven years. The following month, Carlos Ortiz pleaded guilty to the same accessory charge in exchange for dismissal of the murder count and received the same sentence range.
The 2012 Double Homicide Acquittal
While serving life for Lloyd, Hernandez was tried on a separate indictment for a drive-by shooting outside the Cure Lounge in Boston’s South End on July 16, 2012. Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado, both Cape Verdean immigrants, were killed when someone opened fire on their car as they left the club. Hernandez faced two counts of first-degree murder and three counts of armed assault with intent to murder.4Boston 25 News. Aaron Hernandez Indicted on Two Counts of First Degree Murder 2012 Double Homicide
The prosecution’s case turned on Alexander Bradley, a former associate who testified that he had been in the car and that Hernandez was the shooter, angered inside the nightclub when someone bumped him and spilled his drink. Defense attorney Jose Baez attacked Bradley’s credibility, arguing Bradley himself was responsible for the killings and was testifying to save himself. On April 14, 2017, the jury acquitted Hernandez on both murder counts and both armed assault counts, convicting him only on a single count of illegal firearm possession. Because he was already serving life without parole, the firearms conviction had no practical effect.
Death in Prison and the CTE Finding
Five days after the acquittal, on April 19, 2017, Hernandez was found hanged in his cell with a bedsheet. He was 27.
That September, researchers at Boston University’s CTE Center announced that a posthumous examination of his brain showed Stage 3 chronic traumatic encephalopathy, on a scale where Stage 4 is the most severe. Dr. Ann McKee, the neuropathologist who led the examination, said it was the most severe case her team had ever seen in someone Hernandez’s age.5Boston University. BU CTE Center Statement on Aaron Hernandez CTE is a degenerative disease linked to repeated head impacts and can only be diagnosed after death. It cannot be used retroactively to explain or excuse specific criminal acts.
How the Lloyd Conviction Stands Today
Hernandez’s direct appeal of the Lloyd conviction was still pending when he died, and that timing set off the most consequential legal aftershock of the case. Under a longstanding Massachusetts common-law rule called abatement ab initio, a defendant who died before their appeal was resolved had their conviction erased entirely, as though the trial had never happened.6Justia. Commonwealth v. Hernandez A Superior Court judge applied the doctrine and vacated the conviction. The Bristol County District Attorney appealed.
On March 13, 2019, in Commonwealth v. Hernandez, 481 Mass. 582, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court abolished abatement ab initio, calling it “outdated and no longer consonant with the circumstances of contemporary life.” The court did not simply reinstate the conviction. It set out a new procedure: when a defendant dies while a direct appeal is pending, the appeal is dismissed as moot, and the trial record notes that the conviction removed the defendant’s presumption of innocence but was “neither affirmed nor reversed because the defendant died.”7Justia. Commonwealth vs. Aaron J. Hernandez 481 Mass. 582 The Lloyd conviction stands under that notation, and the rule now applies prospectively to every Massachusetts case that follows.
The Estate and the Civil Suits
The families of Odin Lloyd, Daniel de Abreu, and Safiro Furtado all filed wrongful death claims against Hernandez’s estate. Lloyd’s mother, Ursula Ward, reached an undisclosed settlement.
By 2020, court filings described the estate as effectively worthless, with “no monies available and no identifiable personal assets.” The North Attleboro house had sold in 2017 for $1 million, roughly $300,000 below asking price to expedite the sale, and the proceeds were consumed by more than $100,000 in unpaid property taxes to North Attleboro, significant IRS debt, and administration costs. About $6 million remained on Hernandez’s original Patriots contract at the time of his death, but the team had severed the deal on his arrest. What had begun as a $40 million NFL contract ended as an insolvent estate.