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Thread: Aaron Hernandez Kills Himself

  1. #21
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JimKay's Avatar
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    Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, who grew up in Bristol, was charged with murder Wednesday in what prosecutors called the "orchestrated execution" of a man whose last communication was a text to his sister letting her know he was with the now-former NFL star.

    Hernandez, 23, who was released by the Patriots shortly after his arrest, was arraigned Wednesday and held without bail. He pleaded not guilty but did not speak during his court appearance. If convicted of first-degree murder, the former Bristol [Connecticut] Central High School player faces a life sentence without parole.

    Hernandez is charged in the June 17 shooting death of Odin Lloyd, 27, of Dorchester, Mass. Lloyd was dating the sister of Hernandez's girlfriend.

    Assistant District Attorney Willam McCauley told Judge Daniel O'Shea that police used a combination of cellphone records, text messages, surveillance video — including some from the 14 cameras inside and around Hernandez's own home — and Bubblicious bubble gum to piece together the last few hours of Lloyd's life and Hernandez's role in ending it.

    The prosecutor recited a list of facts he said point to Hernandez's involvement, including Hernandez's anger toward the victim, the fact that videos show Hernandez's rented car in the area where the victim was shot and that Hernandez was seen in another video walking into his home with a gun after the homicide.

    Lloyd, 27, was shot five times, including twice in the chest while he was on the ground, the prosecutor said. The shell casings were found and all matched one gun. The gun, however, has not been found.

    According to McCauley, Lloyd's sister told investigators she saw her brother get into a silver Nissan Altima driven by Hernandez at about 2:30 a.m. on June 17. She told police there were three people in the car.

    McCauley said the two other men in the car were friends of Hernandez's from Connecticut. He had texted one of them twice earlier in the night imploring him to get to his house.

    Surveillance cameras outside Hernandez's house show his two friends arriving and the three of them leaving in the silver Altima at about 1:12 a.m., with Hernandez driving, said McCauley. They stopped at a gas station on Route 128 where Hernandez bought some blue Bubblicious cotton candy gum.

    They then picked up Lloyd in Dorchester and started driving back toward North Attleborough. McCauley said that Hernandez had a conversation with Lloyd about some things that Lloyd had said at a nightclub on the previous Friday night. McCauley said that Hernandez told Lloyd he just "couldn't trust anyone anymore." McCauley did not say how police know about that conversation.

    At 3:07 a.m., Lloyd texted his sister saying, "did you see who I am with." At 3:11 he texted "hello" and then at 3:19 his sister texted back "sorry my phone was dead."

    At 3:22 a.m. Lloyd texted his sister "NFL." His final communication at 3:23, another text to his sister, said "just so you know."

    At the same time Lloyd was sending the final message to his sister, Hernandez's car was seen on camera at the entrance to the industrial park where Lloyd's bullet-riddled body was found later that day, said McCauley.

    The cameras show Hernandez's car going down the gravel road to the industrial area and then coming back out four minutes later, at 3:27 a.m. McCauley said witnesses working the third shift nearby heard gunshots, as many as five, at the same time Hernandez's car would have been at the park.

    McCauley said state police collected shell casings from a .45-caliber handgun at the scene. Lloyd had been shot twice in the arm, once in the back and then twice in the chest. McCauley said the last two shots to the chest were fired at close range with the shooter likely standing over Lloyd's prone body.

    Surveillance video from Hernandez's house shows him returning home in the Altima at 3:29 a.m. There were only three people in the car when it got back to the house. As he got out of the car and before he went into the house, Hernandez can be seen carrying a "large, black gun," the prosecutor said.

    The victim's family wept as the prosecutor described Lloyd's last few minutes alive. Lloyd's mother left the courtroom sobbing after hearing McCauley's chilling description of a gunman standing over her son's body.

    She walked past Shayanna Jenkins, Hernandez's fiancee, who was sitting in the back row. The two women did not talk to each other.

    Jenkins sat in a back corner of the courtroom, with an unidentified man, wearing sunglasses for most of the arraignment. She broke down crying when her fiancι, the father of her 8-month-old baby, was refused bail.

    Hernandez sought her out in the crowded courtroom as the hearing was ending. Hernandez appeared to be wiping away tears as the hearing ended and sheriff's came to take him to jail.

    McCauley also went into details of how, he said, Hernandez tried to cover up the crime. He said police discovered that the six to eight hours of video surveillance around the time of the slaying from inside Hernandez's house was missing.

    McCauley said that early the next morning, Hernandez returned the Altima to the rental car company and got a new car. Police later discovered that it had been cleaned at the rental car place and the garbage from the car had been thrown into a Dumpster.

    Police went through the Dumpster and found one .45 shell casing that was matched to the others found at the crime scene, McCauley said. Next to the casing in the trash they found a piece of chewed cotton candy flavored Bubblicious gum.

    McCauley told O'Shea, the judge, that Hernandez should be held without bail because he orchestrated Lloyd's execution.

    "He made arrangements to meet with the victim. He orchestrated his execution. He entered his house with a gun and disposed of it,'' McCauley said.

    Hernandez also faces five firearms charges for illegal possession of weapons and carrying a weapon without a license.

    Michael Fee, Hernandez's attorney, called the state's case "circumstantial and weak" and called on O'Shea to ignore the media circus that the case had attracted and treat his client like any other defendant.

    Fee argued that given the intense media attention the case has received "it would be practically impossible to flee with any type of success." Fee said that Hernandez has no criminal record, had never been accused of a violent crime and had an 8-month-old baby waiting for him at home.

    But O'Shea sided with prosecutors and ordered Hernandez held without bail. At the end of Hernandez's court appearance the Lloyd family was led out the backdoor of the courthouse by police without commenting to the media throng waiting outside.

    O'Shea set Hernandez's next court date for July 24. At Fee's urging, the judge issued a gag order prohibiting all parties from discussing the case and sealed the arrest affidavit.

    After Hernandez's arrest, the Patriots announced they were releasing the star, who less than a year ago signed a five-year, $37.5 million contract extension.

    "A young man was murdered last week and we extend our sympathies to the family and friends who mourn his loss. Words cannot express the disappointment we feel knowing that one of our players was arrested as a result of this investigation," the Patriots said in a statement announcing Hernandez's release from the team. "We realize that law enforcement investigations into this matter are ongoing. We support their efforts and respect the process. At this time, we believe this transaction is simply the right thing to do."

    In another development Wednesday, Bristol police arrested Carlos A. Ortiz, 27, on a charge of being a fugitive from justice. Ortiz, of 78 Federal St., Apt. 6, Bristol, was being held, with bail set at $1.5 million, before he waived extradition to Massachusetts.

    Police would not confirm whether the arrest is related to the investigation into Hernandez.

    Court records indicate Ortiz has a record of larceny and criminal mischief convictions, and was on probation at the time of his arrest Wednesday afternoon. He was arraigned almost immediately at Superior Court in Bristol, before waiving extradition. Ortiz was due in court Wednesday on a probation violation charge, and a judge sealed all documents in both cases.

    http://www.courant.com/news/connecti...303,full.story

  2. #22
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JimKay's Avatar
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    Hernandez headed back to court day after arrest

    In the final minutes of his life, Odin Lloyd sent a series of texts to his sister.

    "Did you see who I was with?" said the first, at 3:07 a.m. June 17. "Who?" she finally replied.

    "NFL," he texted back, then added: "Just so you know."

    It was 3:23 a.m. Moments later, Lloyd would be dead in what a prosecutor called an execution-style shooting orchestrated by New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez because his friend talked to the wrong people at a nightclub. Hernandez was charged Wednesday with murder and could face life in prison, if convicted.

    Hernandez was cut from the NFL team less than two hours after he was arrested and led from his North Attleborough home in handcuffs, and nine days after Lloyd's body was discovered by a jogger in a remote area of an industrial park not far from Hernandez's home. The 2011 Pro Bowl selection had signed a five-year contract last summer with the Patriots worth $40 million.

    His attorney, Michael Fee, called the case circumstantial during a Wednesday afternoon court hearing packed with reporters, curiosity seekers and police officers. Fee said there was a "rather hysterical atmosphere" surrounding the case and urged the judge to disregard his client's celebrity status as he asked for Hernandez, 23, to be released on bail.

    The judge, though, ordered Hernandez held without bail on the murder charge and five weapons counts.

    Hernandez was scheduled to appear at a bail review hearing Thursday afternoon in Fall River court, according to Bernie Sullivan, spokesman for the Bristol County sheriff.

    On Wednesday, Hernandez stood impassively with his hands cuffed in front of him as Bristol County Assistant District Attorney Bill McCauley laid out a detailed timeline of the events, cobbled together from sources including witnesses, surveillance video, text messages and data from cellphone towers.

    Lloyd, 27, a semi-pro football player with the Boston Bandits, had known Hernandez for about a year and was dating the sister of Hernandez's fiancee, the mother of Hernandez's 8-month-old baby, McCauley said.

    On June 14, Lloyd went with Hernandez to a Boston club, Rumor. McCauley said Hernandez was upset Lloyd had talked to people there with whom Hernandez had trouble. He did not elaborate.

    Two days later, McCauley said, on June 16, Hernandez texted two unidentified friends. He asked them to hurry to Massachusetts from Connecticut. At 9:05 p.m., a few minutes after the first message to his friends, Hernandez texted Lloyd to tell him he wanted to get together, McCauley said.

    Later, surveillance footage from Hernandez's home showed his friends arrive and go inside. Hernandez, holding a gun, then told someone in the house he was upset and couldn't trust anyone anymore, the prosecutor said.

    At 1:12 a.m., the three left in Hernandez's rented silver Nissan Altima, McCauley said. Cell towers tracked their movements to a gas station off the highway. There, he said, Hernandez bought blue Bubblicious gum.

    At 2:32 a.m., they arrived outside Lloyd's home in Boston and texted him that they were there. McCauley said Lloyd's sister saw him get into Hernandez's car.

    From there, surveillance cameras captured images of what the prosecutor said was Hernandez driving the silver Altima through Boston. As they drove back toward North Attleborough, Hernandez told Lloyd he was upset about what happened at the club and didn't trust him, McCauley said. That was when Lloyd began sending texts to his sister.

    Surveillance video showed the car entering the industrial park and at 3:23 a.m. driving down a gravel road near where Lloyd's body was found. Four minutes later, McCauley said, the car emerged. During that period, employees working an overnight shift nearby heard several gunshots, McCauley said.

    McCauley said Lloyd was shot multiple times, including twice from above as he was lying on the ground. He said five .45 caliber casings were found at the scene.

    Authorities did not say who fired the shots or identify the two others with Hernandez.

    At 3:29 a.m., surveillance at Hernandez's house showed him arriving, McCauley said.

    "The defendant was walking through the house with a gun in his hand. That's captured on video," he said.

    His friend is also seen holding a gun, and neither weapon has been found, McCauley said.

    Then, the surveillance system stopped recording, and footage was missing from the six to eight hours after the slaying, he said.

    The afternoon of June 17, the prosecutor said, Hernandez returned the rental car, offering the attendant a piece of blue Bubblicious gum when he dropped it off. While cleaning the car, the attendant found a piece of blue Bubblicious gum and a shell casing, which he threw away. Police later searched the trash bin and found the gum and the casing. The prosecutor said it was tested and matched the casings found where Lloyd was killed.

    As McCauley outlined the killing, Lloyd's family members cried and held each other. Two were so overcome that they had to leave the courtroom.

    The Patriots said in a statement after Hernandez's arrest but before the murder charge was announced that cutting Hernandez was "the right thing to do."

    "Words cannot express the disappointment we feel knowing that one of our players was arrested as a result of this investigation," it said.

    Hernandez, originally from Bristol, Conn., was drafted by the Patriots in 2010 out of the University of Florida, where he was an All-American.

    During the draft, one team said it wouldn't take him under any circumstances, and he was passed over by one club after another before New England picked him in the fourth round. Afterward, Hernandez said he had failed a drug test in college - reportedly for marijuana - and was up front with teams about it.

    A Florida man filed a lawsuit last week claiming Hernandez shot him in the face after they argued at a strip club in February.

    Hernandez became a father on Nov. 6 and said he intended to change his ways: "Now, another one is looking up to me. I can't just be young and reckless Aaron no more. I'm going to try to do the right things."

    http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...MPLATE=DEFAULT

  3. #23
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JimKay's Avatar
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    Prosecutor: Conn. man's arrest linked to Hernandez

    A prosecutor says the arrest of a Connecticut man is linked to the murder investigation involving former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez.

    New Britain State's Attorney Brian Preleski says 27-year-old Carlos Ortiz was charged as a fugitive from justice and has waived extradition to Massachusetts. Prison records show Ortiz is being held on $1.5 million bail at a Hartford jail.

    Preleski and other officials declined to release the allegations against Ortiz, who is scheduled to return to court on July 23.

    Ortiz was arrested Wednesday in Hernandez's hometown of Bristol, Conn. Preleski says the arrest came as prosecutors and Bristol police were helping Massachusetts authorities in the investigation of the shooting death of Odin Lloyd.

    Hernandez is charged with murder in Lloyd's death. His attorney calls the case circumstantial.

    http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...MPLATE=DEFAULT

  4. #24
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JimKay's Avatar
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    Aaron Hernandez Had Everything – Except Courage

    Thursday-morning quarterbacking.

    As he walked out of the front door of his $1.3 million McMansion on Wednesday morning, handcuffed under his white T-shirt, it struck me that Aaron Hernandez looked like he had alligator arms.

    For an NFL receiver, there can be no harsher assessment.

    Alligator arms is a football term that speaks to a lack of personal courage, a lack of commitment to your team. To pull in your arms, to fail to extend yourself and be willing to take a hit to make a play for the team, speaks to a certain cowardice and selfishness.

    So, in a real-life sense, a real-life horrible sense, those alligator arms fit the gifted tight end from Bristol perfectly as he was escorted away from his home in North Attleborough, Mass., in red shorts and a long face at 8:47 a.m.

    When the Patriots announced less than two hours later they had released Hernandez, there was considerable focus on how swiftly the team had reacted, before the system's scales of justice had tipped to guilt or innocence. In the statement, the Patriots concluded, it "is simply the right thing to do."

    It was, in truth, the only thing to do. By 2:45 p.m., six and a half hours after he had been put through a front lawn perp walk in front of the nation's television cameras, he was being charged in Attleboro District Court in the murder of Odin Lloyd, a friend who was dating the sister of his fiancee.

    Six years out of high school, three years in the NFL, stacked financially with a $40 million contract, including a fat $16 million guaranteed as a signing bonus, Hernandez has lacked the courage to separate himself from the bad influences in his life. He has lacked the moral commitment to put substance to all those words he spouted about making the right choices and becoming a Patriot.

    Worse than allegedly destroying home surveillance cameras and obstructing justice to cover up for the murder of Lloyd by his so-called friends — something many of us thought would happen — prosecutor William McCauley charged that Hernandez "orchestrated the execution." Whether he ultimately is found guilty or innocent of murder, Hernandez — sadly — has shown himself to be a thug with alligator arms.

    A jury will decide the six charges, which include five weapons charges. I already got him guilty of stupidity and cowardice. Hernandez has plenty of tattoos to explain what he has been through in life. Tattoos he once told me were about good days, bad days and at the end, heaven. What Hernandez lacked was the gravitas to walk the walk that his tattoos talked.

    "[Patriots owner Robert Kraft] trusts my character, and the person I am," Hernandez said last summer after he signed the contract. "I just feel a lot of respect and I owe it back to him. I have a lot more to give back. All I can do is play my heart out for them, make the right decisions, and live life as a Patriot."

    Bull.

    I do not claim to know Hernandez. I've talked to him a couple of times at length, once over the phone in 2007 when he dedicated a national high school all-star game to his dad, Dennis, on the first anniversary of his death. Several times, I've gathered around his locker with others at Gillette Stadium. I stood for an hour at his 2012 Super Bowl week interview. I asked him about dropping in the 2010 draft because he'd reportedly flunked marijuana tests and there had been questions about his character.

    "Some of that was my fault," Hernandez said. "I also knew once I got here, I'd have an opportunity to prove myself. It was in my hands."

    In January 2007 after talking to Hernandez, I wrote our little state has produced the likes of Steve Young, Floyd Little, Andy Robustelli, Bill Romanowski and Dwight Freeney. And that Hernandez may have the talent to one day stand with those names. Three of them are in the Hall of Fame. Freeney should join them. Yes, Hernandez had the talent to be enshrined in Canton. Instead, he is looking at being incarcerated in prison.

    Always, in recent years, it was about how he was going to prove himself, how he was going to make the right decisions, how he was going to live life as a Patriot. Yet the news stories show little indication he had outrun the old stories. The obscure references to gang associations in Bristol seemed like hyperbole — at least in the Hollywood sense — but he clearly lacked the maturity, the good sense, the courage to get away from trouble.

    There was Alexander S. Bradley, a Connecticut man who filed a civil lawsuit against Hernandez recently. He alleged a gun — in Hernandez's possession — went off and hit him in the face during a car ride after the two had gotten into an argument at Tootsie's, a Miami strip club. Bradley, who has lost use of his right eye, according to the suit, was convicted of selling narcotics in 2006, according to state records.

    There was the incident last month in Providence after a Jets fans taunted Hernandez outside Viva, an east side bar. As police arrived, they saw a heavyset black man put a handgun under a vehicle, which McCauley said police recovered. McCauley said that one of the people seen the night of the murder matched the heavyset man's description. Also, McCauley said, a .22-caliber gun found this past week in a search turned up a gun sold at the same Florida gun store as the gun in the Providence incident.

    If Hernandez spent as much time reading as he did at strip clubs and night clubs, the man would be in Mensa instead of jail without bail. Although Hernandez's defense team insists prosecution had a flimsy circumstantial case, it sure seems like Hernandez thought he was the only one in the world with security cameras. He must have forgotten about cellphone towers, too, because he was charted electronically all over the place in the late hours of June 16 and early June 17.

    According McCauley, Hernandez texted Lloyd at 9 p.m. to set up a meeting, and then texted friends in Connecticut to "get up here." Surveillance cameras at Hernandez's own house showed him leaving with a gun, according to McCauley, and Hernandez was upset enough to say, "You can't trust anyone anymore."

    After the three picked up Lloyd in Dorchester at 2:30 a.m. June 17, according to McCauley, Hernandez told Lloyd he was upset that he had been talking with people he had problems with at Rumor nightclub when they had been together a couple of nights earlier. McCauley said Lloyd texted his sister at 3:07 a.m., saying "Did you see who I'm with." Minutes later, he texted, "NFL" and "Just so you know," McCauley said.

    Given that, according to prosecutors, he was killed by bullets minutes later, "just so you know," will stand as perhaps his final words.

    The two men who were with Hernandez the night Lloyd died were not identified in court. We know the group stopped at a service station for what McCauley said was "blue cotton candy Bubblicious gum and Black & Mild cigars, which are used as rolling papers for marijuana." And at the risk of saying a bubble popped the shell casing and a piece of chewed blue gum, according to McCauley, was found in the rental car spotted by all the surveillance after Hernandez returned it. And we do know, according to McCauley, the three returned to Hernandez's house, and surveillance cameras showed one of the men carrying a gun.

    Chilling.

    Six years ago, I talked to Hernandez about his dad going into the hospital for a simple hernia operation and dying unexpectedly at 49 of a bacterial infection. A few years ago, I talked to his former Bristol Central basketball coach, Peter Wininger, about the emotional blow that death dealt Hernandez and how he had talked to Hernandez seconds after it happened, and how Hernandez was screaming over the phone, "He just died! He just died!"

    I want to blame, at least in part, life's unfairness.

    And I want to blame the Patriots for having not seen more. Bill Belichick and the team have taken a lot chances in recent years … Corey Dillon, Randy Moss, Brandon Spikes, Albert Haynesworth, Chad Johnson, Alfonso Dennard, Brandon Meriweather. These NFL teams have former law enforcement people in their employ, so much intelligence, if they were going to spill all that long-term money on Hernandez, didn't the Patriot Way have 40 million reasons to make sure of its investment?

    In the end, however, it falls on Aaron Hernandez. He might be cleared of murder or he might go away for a very long time, but he clearly lacked the courage to disassociate himself from the bad characters and keep the commitment to the good and prove to people he wasn't half as bad as they feared. As he sits in jail without bail, he may want to reflect on that.

    http://www.courant.com/sports/other/...6641953.column

  5. #25
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JimKay's Avatar
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    Source: Hernandez being looked at in connection to Boston double-homicide

    FOX 25 has learned exclusively that investigators are looking into Aaron Hernandez in connection to a double homicide that happened on July 16, 2012 in downtown Boston.

    According to the Boston Police blog from that date, officers responded to the intersection of Shawmut Avenue and Herald Street just after 2 a.m. When they arrived, they found three people had been shot, two fatally, as they sat in a car at a traffic light.

    The men were identified as Safiro Furtado and Daniel Abreu. The FOX 25 source said the men, who worked at a cleaning company in Dorchester, had just left a bar in the area.

    Furtado and Abreu were sitting in the front seat of the vehicle when witnesses said the occupants of a gray or silver SUV with Rhode Island plates opened fire on it. The surviving victim was in the back seat. Investigators believed two others in the car fled the scene.

    The source said that investigators were looking into Aaron Hernandez in connection to the killing.

    On Wednesday, Hernandez was charged with murder in the death of 27-year-old Odin Lloyd, of Dorchester.

    An investigation is ongoing.

    http://www.myfoxboston.com/story/227...double-killing

  6. #26
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    In Bristol, Hernandez Arrest Brings Sadness, Disappointment

    Residents reacted to hometown hero Aaron Hernandez's arrest on murder charges with sadness and disappointment Wednesday.

    George Torres, 36, said he's saddened by the news. A Bristol resident and barber at Boss House Cutz & Styles on West Street, Torres said many in town have been talking about the case.

    "A lot of people know him here, a lot of my clients know him. They're in shock," Torres said.

    Hernandez was a star at Bristol Central High School before attending the University of Florida. He was released Wednesday by the New England Patriots after his arrest. He is charged with murder in relation to the June 17 shooting death of the boyfriend of his girlfriend's sister.

    Students from area schools and colleges come to Torres for haircuts, he said, including football players from Bristol Central.

    "I cut the whole football team; they all come together and they all talk about him," Torres said. After Hernandez signed with the Patriots, "They were saying, 'Wow, a guy from Bristol made it.'"

    "Not too many Puerto Ricans make it to the NFL, he's one of the few," Torres said. "As a Puerto Rican, I'm disappointed."

    Hernandez signed a $40 million, five-year contract extension with the Patriots in August 2012. Torres, who grew up playing football himself and saw friends struggle to overcome racial prejudice in their quest to play professional football, said Hernandez should have used his wealth and influence to set an example for young players, instead of continuing to frequent strip clubs and associate with criminals.

    "He made it, he did, come on man, give to the community, help your race out," Torres said. He listed several local services organizations that need help, and gestured up the street to a sign announcing the future home of the Bristol Boys and Girls Club.

    "Why didn't he go to the Boys and Girls Club and help the kids?" Torres said. "Just a person who made it from this type of environment, to be successful. … Get yourself involved in the community, do things positive, say, 'I made it, you can make it too.'"

    Torres acknowledged that Hernandez is still a young man, "but once you make it to a certain status people are going to try to bring you down. You're under scrutiny. … You've got to live your life right."

    "He had a chance to do more positive things and he just blew an opportunity," Torres said. "If you make it out of here, you need to do things different, change your life."

    At another Bristol barbershop, several people who had gathered to watch Hernandez's arraignment expressed shock and sadness as the prosecutor detailed the case against him. The group declined to give their names, saying they are too close to Hernandez's family and know many of his acquaintances. But several said they are surprised and disappointed and that the state's evidence appears to be damning.

    Another Bristol resident who declined to give his name said he went to school with Hernandez and was in the same gym class with him.

    "Some people change, some people don't," he said. "It's a shame; it's a waste of talent."

    James Stamatopoulos, owner of LJ's Pizza on Federal Hill, called Wednesday "A sad day for Bristol and a sad day for the Hernandez family."

    Before he signed with the Patriots, Hernandez showed up at the shop, Stamatopoulos recalled.

    "He picked up a couple pizzas. I didn't recognize him, but he had a credit card that said Aaron Hernandez and then I knew. I didn't say anything – I'm not for bothering celebrities."

    Stamatopoulos recalled going to a local bar with a friend to celebrate Hernandez signing with the Patriots.

    "Brent raised a toast 'to Bristol's latest millionaire,' and we were all proud and wanted good for him," he said. "Now, I hope he didn't do it, I hope he's acquitted, but …."

    A group of four 14- and 15-year-old boys walking on Queen Street in the area where Hernandez's girlfriend once lived said Hernandez still has a reputation at Bristol Central.

    "He was popular," one teen said. While Hernandez's name does not come up often at the school these days, "Everybody's talking about him now," he added. "He's blowing up on Twitter."

    Another teen said he was surprised at the details of the case against Hernandez, including surveillance video showing him returning to his home carrying a gun.

    "I don't know why he would do it in front of his house when he knows he got cameras," the teen said. "It just doesn't make sense to me."

    One thing the group agreed on was that regardless of the outcome of the case against him, it's unlikely Hernandez will return to professional football.

    "His career's probably over," one teen said.

    http://www.courant.com/news/connecti...,5057791.story

  7. #27
    Moderator MRBAM's Avatar
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    That double murder happened on the other side of my neighborhood - Boston's South End last year. That area where it took place is right on the edge of where Chinatown and the Theater District are. Not much else over there except the on ramps to 93 South - aka how you'd get down to N Attleboro and RI. Just sayin........

  8. #28
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    Hernandez probed in 2 more murders

    (More details)

    Former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez is being investigated in connection with a 2012 double murder on Shawmut Avenue, according to two law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation.

    Investigators believe a fight broke out at Cure, a club in the South End, between two men and a group that included Hernandez.

    The two men, Daniel Abreu and Safiro Furtado, friends who grew up in Cape Verde, left the club with three other men in a BMW sedan.

    Abreu, who was driving, stopped at a traffic light on Shawmut Avenue, about to make a left onto Herald Street, when a silver or gray SUV with Rhode Island license plates pulled alongside the sedan. Someone from the SUV opened fire, killing Abreu, 29, and Furtado, 28.

    The men who were with them survived the attack and the killings were left unsolved.

    The officials said investigators now believe that Odin Lloyd, the man Hernandez is charged with killing in a North Attleboro industrial park June 17, may have had information about Hernandez’s role in the double slaying.

    “The motive might have been that the victim knew [Hernandez] might have been involved,” one of the officials said.

    The new revelations raised the specter that Hernandez may have been playing football games last season with the Patriots after he had participated in a double murder.

    The attack on Shawmut Avenue occurred just after 2 a.m. on July 16. Police said the shooter fired numerous times into the car, striking Abreu and Furtado, who was in the passenger seat.

    One of the back-seat passengers was shot three times in the arm but survived. He was rushed to Tufts Medical Center and was treated and released. The other two occupants fled the car and were unharmed.

    The two men’s deaths at the time were a mystery to their families and police, who said they had no ties to criminal activity.

    Furtado was a tour guide on the idyllic island of Boa Vista in Cape Verde, where he led a mostly European clientele on jaunts along silky sand dunes, whispering palm trees, and world-class beaches, his family said. He arrived in Dorchester five months before he was killed to reconnect with his mother and sister, whom he had not seen in a decade.

    Abreu grew up in Cape Verde, where he worked as a police officer there. He arrived in Dorchester around 2008 and became friends with Furtado. The two men were working together for a cleaning company based on Hamilton Street in Dorchester at the time of their deaths.

    Authorities never found the SUV tied to the shooting.

    http://www.telegram.com/article/2013...130629772/1052

  9. #29
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JimKay's Avatar
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    Criminal complaint online:

    http://s3.documentcloud.org/document...andez-case.pdf

    Count 1: On 6/17/2013 did assault and beat Odin Lloyd with intent to murder such person, and by such assault and beating did kill and murder such person, in violation of GL c265 para 1

    Count 2: On 6/17/2013 did knowingly have in his or her possession or under his or her control in a vehicle, a firearm as defined in GL c 140 s 121, or a rifle or shotgun, not then being present in his orher residence or place of business, and not having in effect a license to carry firearms or otherwise being authorized by law to do so, in violation of GL c 269 s 10(a)

    Count 3: On 6/22/2013 did knowingly have under his or her control in a vehicle, a large capacity weapon or large capacity feeding device therefor, the defendant not then possessing a valid Class A or Class B license to carry firearms issued under GL c 140 sub-paragraph 131 or 131F, not being exempted by statute and being so permitted or otherwise provided for under GL c 140 or GL c 269 para 10(m)

    Count 4: On 6/22/2013 did knowingly have under his or her control in a vehicle, a large capacity weapon or large capacity feeding device therefor, the defendant not then possessing a valid Class A or Class B license to carry firearms issued under GL c 140 sub-paragraph 131 or 131F, not being exempted by statute and being so permitted or otherwise provided for under GL c 140 or GL c 269 para 10(m)

    Count 5: On 6/22/2013 did own, possess or transfer a firearm, rifle, shotgun or ammunition without complying with the requirements relating to the firearm identification car as provided for in GL c 140 para 129C, in violation of GL c 269, para 10(h)(l)

  10. #30
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JimKay's Avatar
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    Jun 2013
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    ortiz.jpg
    Carlos Ortiz


    Aaron Hernandez fails in second attempt to get bail

    Police on Wednesday found .45-caliber bullets in a condo rented by former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez and in a car linked to him, the same caliber ammunition Hernandez allegedly used to shoot and kill Odin L. Lloyd in a North Attleborough industrial park on June 17, a prosecutor said today.

    The new disclosure about a possible forensic link between Hernandez and the murder of Lloyd, a 27-year-old Dorchester man, was made in Bristol Superior Court, where attorneys for Hernandez asked Judge Renee P. Dupuis to allow him to be freed on bail while he fights a first-degree murder charge.

    Defense attorney James Sultan said in court that law enforcement has so far failed to produce strong evidence connecting the former professional football player to the death of Lloyd, an acquaintance of Hernandez’s.

    “This is a case where as far as we know, there is no eyewitness testimony, there are no inculpatory admissions, there has been no indications, any direct evidence, as to who shot the decedent, who was present when the decedent was shot, whether there was a plan to kill the decedent, and any other indication that if there was such a plan, Mr. Hernandez was part of it,’’ Sultan said. “They may have such evidence, they may not, Your Honor. But they haven’t shown it to us as yet at this early stage of the case.”

    But Dupuis, after hearing from Bristol First Assistant District Attorney William McCauley, who gave a lengthy recitation of the state’s evidence, denied the bail request.

    From the bench, Dupuis said she considered the case against Hernandez to be “circumstantial, to be sure, but very, very strong.”

    Sultan said outside the courtroom that he felt the decision was unfair, and the defense team was considering an appeal.

    “He’s a very strong young man, and he’s doing the best he can,” Sultan said.

    Hernandez, who was cuffed and wore a green jail uniform during the court appearance, showed no obvious emotion as he was led out of the courtroom by court officers. Hernandez, who was living in a rambling home in North Attleborough with an in-ground pool until his arrest on Wednesday, will now be returned to the Bristol County jail, where he will be held without bail.

    At his arraignment Wednesday in Attleboro District Court, Hernandez pleaded not guilty to murder and five firearms-related charges.

    In his hometown of Bristol, Conn., a car with the special license plate of HERNDZ was parked in the driveway of the home of Hernandez’s mother, Teri. A woman told a Globe reporter to “please get off my property.’’

    The disclosure about the ammunition came as a second man has now been connected by authorities to the death of Lloyd, who was acquainted with Hernandez because the two men were dating sisters.

    Carlos Ortiz, a 27-year-old man who lives in Bristol, Conn., Hernandez’s hometown, was arrested Wednesday in Connecticut, waived extradition, and now faces charges of carrying a firearm without a license in Attleboro District Court.

    In court papers unsealed this afternoon, State Police said they interviewed Ortiz in Bristol Tuesday. During the questioning, Ortiz allegedly admitted that he was in North Attleborough on June 17 – the day Lloyd was murdered -- and that he was armed with a firearm at that time.

    After Lloyd was shot five times early on the morning of June 17, prosecutors say, the surveillance cameras at Hernandez’s home captured images of him and another man entering his house while both held firearms in their hands.

    In court papers, Ortiz is accused of illegally possessing the gun while at Hernandez’s home at Ronald C. Meyer Drive in North Attleborough.

    There is no mention in the court papers of Lloyd’s killing.

    The new developments came as the Globe reported today that Hernandez is also being investigated in connection with a 2012 double murder in Boston.

    Over the past two days, McCauley has outlined, in unusual detail, the case against Hernandez.

    In today’s Bristol Superior Court hearing, McCauley said Hernandez and two friends drove into the industrial park early on June 17, where Lloyd was shot five times. Lloyd raised his arm in a futile attempt to ward off the bullets and was shot as he lay, helpless and wounded, on the ground, McCauley said.

    “The defendant and confederates advanced on him and shot him twice,’’ McCauley said.

    McCauley, in addition to laying out the new evidence obtained Wednesday in the case, said Hernandez might run, if freed on bail.

    “He is a flight risk,” McCauley said. “He has the means and the motivation to flee the jurisdiction.”

    McCauley also said Hernandez had instructed his girlfriend to stop talking with investigators, destroyed evidence himself, and helped his two accomplices flee the area.

    Asked by the judge about a motive for the slaying, McCauley reiterated a prior account that Hernandez was angry at Lloyd for talking with people he had problems with at a Boston nightclub on June 14.

    Neither McCauley nor Bristol District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter addressed a Globe report today that officials believe Hernandez may have wanted to silence Lloyd because he had knowledge of the football star’s alleged connection to a double murder in Boston in 2012.

    McCauley repeatedly described the evidence against Hernandez as “overwhelming,” and said that of all the people tied to Lloyd’s death, only the ex-Patriot had a relationship with him.

    “He was the one who was in control the whole time,” McCauley said.

    During both court hearings, McCauley said footage gathered from several security cameras showed Lloyd getting into a car with Hernandez and arriving at the industrial park near Hernandez’s home with Hernandez.

    During the trip from Boston to North Attleborough early that day, Lloyd texted his sister moments before he was shot multiple times with a .45-caliber handgun.

    “Did you see who I am with?” Lloyd wrote after 3 a.m., minutes later offering the answer: “NFL.” And then following up with a final text: “Just so you know.”

    The Patriots cut Hernandez after his arrest and removed his name from the team’s website.

    Prosecutors said Hernandez summoned friends from his hometown in the hours before Lloyd was murdered.

    A search of online court records revealed a number of listings for a man matching Ortiz’s name and birth year in Connecticut, starting in 2003 when Ortiz pleaded guilty to larceny and was given a 90-day suspended sentence and one-year probation.

    In 2007, Ortiz was convicted for threatening, and was placed on probation for 18 months; he later served four months in jail for violating the probation.

    Then, in July 2010, Ortiz was sentenced to nine months in prison for a third-degree assault charge, the records show. In May 2011, he was arrested once more, and given a 30-day sentence for a breach of peace conviction, records show. And in June 2012, he was given another 30-day sentence following a conviction for criminal mischief, records show.

    Ortiz’s last known arrest in Connecticut took place in Bristol, where police charged him with resisting arrest, a charge that has not been resolved, records show.

    Three attorneys who previously represented Ortiz could not be reached for comment today.

    Hernandez’s arraignment Wednesday in the killing of Lloyd came after a week of suspense in which media had camped out in front of Hernandez’s home and followed his car by helicopter, in a futile search for details from tight-lipped law enforcement officials.

    Residents and sports fans in Massachusetts and beyond have been riveted by the story of a young, talented, and highly paid professional athlete who may have squandered his bright future.

    http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2013...WSI/story.html
    Last edited by JimKay; 06-27-2013 at 03:51 PM. Reason: Add Carlos Ortiz mugshot

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