Police: Aaron Hernandez involved in 2012 double homicide

[jimmy olsen]

There've been lots of rumors about this for a while, but this is the first solid information about this that I recall.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/01/16/new-documents-police-believe-aaron-hernandez-may-have-been-shooter-double-murder-boston-south-end/6C4FQYXbYmP2cmMXuskaGL/story.html?s_campaign=sm_tw

The investigation into the July 16, 2012, fatal drive-by shooting of Daniel Abreu and Safiro Furtado had gone cold by the time the bullet-riddled body of Odin Lloyd was discovered in North Attleborough nearly a year later.

Police quickly linked New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez to Lloyd's slaying, charging him a week later with first-degree murder.

Now police say Hernandez is also responsible for the drive-by shooting, firing the shots that killed Abreu and Furtado.

Court documents released Thursday show that days after Hernandez's arrest in Lloyd's killing, a tipster phoned police, advising them to look into the NFL star's ties to the unsolved drive-by. Within days, police recovered the vehicle and unearthed video footage allegedly showing Hernandez stalking the victims. Two months later, they recovered what they believe to be the weapon.

There is "probable cause to believe that Aaron Hernandez was operating the suspect vehicle used in the shooting homicides of Daniel Abreu and Safiro Furtado and may have been the shooter," detectives wrote in a June search warrant affidavit, which persuaded a judge to allow investigators to examine an SUV seized from the Bristol, Conn., home of Hernandez's uncle for gunshot residue and search a duffel bag they believed contained the clothing Hernandez wore on the night of the double homicide.

"Gunshot residue may still exist in the vehicle, since there is reason to believe that the vehicle has remained untouched and stored in an enclosed garage for close to a year," investigators wrote.

The document did not reveal what police found in the search. That would normally be disclosed on a search warrant return, a separate document that has not been released.

Investigative documents paint a narrative of the shooting, in which the two victims were gunned downed after a night of partying at a popular Boston nightclub.

Police say video from both inside and outside the club shows Hernandez and an accomplice — believed to be Alexander Bradley, a friend of Hernandez — entering Cure nightclub, directly behind the victims. Ten minutes later, after Hernandez is seen quickly throwing back two drinks, he and Bradley are seen leaving the club and returning to a silver SUV about 1:17 a.m.

The victims left the club around 2:10 a.m., and video shows Hernandez's silver SUV circling the block as the victims make their way to their BMW.

Moments after the victims enter their car, they pull up to a stoplight.

Two men who were driving in the area at the same time told police that a silver SUV pulled up next to them at a red light. They told police they saw a Hispanic man with short dark hair driving and a black man with braids in the passenger seat. The men said the SUV ran the red light and sped up to the next intersection, where the BMW was stopped.

Moments later, the men told police, someone in the SUV fired shots into the BMW before speeding off.

That account matched one provided to police by another man, who was riding in the BMW with the victims of the shooting. He told police the BMW was at a stop light when a silver SUV pulled up next to them on the passenger side. Moments later, gunshots rang out, killing Abreu and Furtado.

Attorneys for Hernandez and Bradley did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.

Police are in the process of obtaining recordings of jailhouse phone calls made by Bradley, which they believe may shed light on what he knows about the slayings. Bradley is being held in Connecticut for ignoring a grand jury summons related to the case.

Assertions made in the affidavit again raise the possibility Hernandez played the 2012-13 football season — during which he tallied 51 receptions for five touchdowns in just 10 games and pocketed nearly $10 million in salary and bonuses — after killing two people.

Legal experts have said that prosecutors have a strong circumstantial case against Hernandez in the Lloyd killing and that the case against him in the double homicide seems to be building.

However, defense attorneys not involved in either case said Hernandez's defense team has several options.

"What is missing is real, solid evidence that proves Hernandez committed these crimes," said Barry Slotnick, who successfully defended Bernard Goetz, the "subway vigilante" who in 1984 shot and killed four teens who attempted to mug him in New York City.

Slotnick and other attorneys say that as a celebrity, Hernandez may be able to successfully argue that he was set up to take the fall by someone jealous of his fame or wealth

Slotnick said much of the prosecution's case in either shooting could rely on the testimony of other suspects, whose credibility could be questioned.

"You're dealing with informants who may not be the most credible in the world," Slotnick said

[DGuller]

Wow, Bernie Goetz was a better shot than I was led to believe. 

[DGuller]

Why would a football player earning millions go around shooting people?  Couldn't he hire people to do that, if he really wanted those people dead so badly?  I guess Aaron Hernandez is like those car guys who refuse to take their car to the mechanic and insist on fixing it themselves.

[Ed Anger]

Why would a football player earning millions go around shooting people?  Couldn't he hire people to do that, if he really wanted those people dead so badly?  I guess Aaron Hernandez is like those car guys who refuse to take their car to the mechanic and insist on fixing it themselves.

I saw what you did there.

[11B4V]

Why would a football player earning millions go around shooting people?  Couldn't he hire people to do that, if he really wanted those people dead so badly?  I guess Aaron Hernandez is like those car guys who refuse to take their car to the mechanic and insist on fixing it themselves.

sure, suppose.

[Capetan Mihali]

Wow, Bernie Goetz was a better shot than I was led to believe. 

Seriously, it's pretty ridiculous for the Boston Globe to be printing that Bernie Goetz "killed four teens."

[Neil]

Why would a football player earning millions go around shooting people?  Couldn't he hire people to do that, if he really wanted those people dead so badly?  I guess Aaron Hernandez is like those car guys who refuse to take their car to the mechanic and insist on fixing it themselves.

I would imagine that, in both cases, you can't trust the person you're hiring to do the work.

[KRonn]

Why would a football player earning millions go around shooting people?  Couldn't he hire people to do that, if he really wanted those people dead so badly?  I guess Aaron Hernandez is like those car guys who refuse to take their car to the mechanic and insist on fixing it themselves.

I guess because the guy's a thug and even with a great and lucrative career going he still held onto the thug/hood side of himself. Pats knew it, other teams also knew what he was like, but the Pats took a chance on him.

[garbon]

Why would a football player earning millions go around shooting people?  Couldn't he hire people to do that, if he really wanted those people dead so badly?  I guess Aaron Hernandez is like those car guys who refuse to take their car to the mechanic and insist on fixing it themselves.

I guess because the guy's a thug and even with a great and lucrative career going he still held onto the thug/hood side of himself. Pats knew it, other teams also knew what he was like, but the Pats took a chance on him.

[Kleves]

Pretty soon the Boston cops will be pinning every unsolved murder in the city on Hernandez.

[jimmy olsen]

He has been indicted.

http://espn.go.com/boston/nfl/story/_/id/10935628/aaron-hernandez-indicted-double-murder-2012

BOSTON -- Aaron Hernandez ambushed and shot to death two men after a chance encounter inside a Boston nightclub, prosecutors said Thursday as they announced new murder charges against the former NFL star, who was already awaiting trial in another shooting death.

The victims in the 2012 killing, Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado, were shot to death in a car as they waited at a red light on a July night in Boston's South End neighborhood.

Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley would not elaborate on what happened in the nightclub, other than saying that the encounter "triggered a series of events that ended in the murders." But he said that after the men left, Hernandez followed in an SUV, then pulled up alongside the vehicle and fired multiple shots from a .38-caliber revolver into the passenger's side, killing de Abreu and Furtado, and wounding a third man. Two other passengers in the car were uninjured.

Conley said there was no evidence that Hernandez knew the victims prior to that evening.

Weeks after the double shooting, Hernandez signed a five-year deal worth about $40 million with the New England Patriots and went on to play in 12 games that season. A spokesman for the Patriots said the team had no comment.

Hernandez is already awaiting trial in the June 2013 shooting death of 27-year-old Odin Lloyd near Hernandez's North Attleborough home and is being held without bail after pleading not guilty to murder in Lloyd's death.

"Under our system of justice, Aaron Hernandez is innocent of these charges, and he looks forward to his day in court," said his lawyers, Charles Rankin and James Sultan, in a statement. Alluding to a news conference held by Conley to announce the charges, the attorneys said they would not try the case in the media.

Conley said the investigation of the Boston killings moved forward after the Lloyd case, which will be tried separately in another Massachusetts court. He noted the discovery in Bristol, Connecticut, of the car Hernandez was driving the night the men died and the recovery of the alleged murder weapon from an unnamed person with ties to Hernandez.

Conley declined to say whether authorities suspected any connection between the Boston and North Attleborough shootings.

Hernandez is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and three counts of armed assault with intent to murder, as well as unlawful possession of the gun used in the attack.

Conley said the notoriety surrounding the former tight end played no role in the way the case was investigated.

"This was never about Aaron Hernandez. This case was about two victims who were stopped, ambushed and senselessly murdered on the streets they called home," he said.

Tanya Singleton, Hernandez's cousin, was charged with criminal contempt of court in the indictment returned by a Suffolk County grand jury. Singleton was given immunity to testify before the grand jury but refused, Conley said.

A message left with Singleton's lawyer was not immediately returned.

Families of the victims have filed civil lawsuits in February against Hernandez seeking $6 million for the wrongful deaths of the two men.

He is expected to be arraigned on the new charges in Suffolk County Superior Court next week.

Hernandez was cut by the Patriots hours after his arrest in the Lloyd case, and coach Bill Belichick later said he was "shocked and disappointed" upon learning of the criminal investigation.

Thursday's indictment raises the possibility that Hernandez played the 2012 NFL season after killing the two men.

Six weeks after allegedly committing the murders in July 2012, Hernandez received the lucrative contract extension from the Patriots and talked about being inspired by his family to make smart decisions.

"I called [my family] and told them obviously what the contract was, and the basics about it," he said at the team's annual charity gala on Aug. 27, 2012. "They were all crying. I was crying right with them. This is probably one of the best days of my life. I'll remember this day forever. I just hope I keep going, doing the right things, making the right decisions so I can have a good life, and be there to live a good life with my family."

Upon receiving the deal, Hernandez donated $50,000 to a fund Patriots owner Robert Kraft set up to honor his late wife, Myra, and told reporters he would "live life as a Patriot."

"[Kraft] didn't need to give me the amount that he gave me, and knowing that he thinks I deserve that, he trusts me to make the right decisions, it means a lot," Hernandez said then. "It means he trusts my character, and the person I am, which means a lot, because my mother, that's how she wanted to raise me.

"They have to trust you to give you that money. I just feel a lot of respect and I owe it back to him. Not only is it $50,000 ... it's more, I have a lot more to give back, and all I can do is play my heart out for them, make the right decisions, and live life as a Patriot."

Also Thursday, Ernest Wallace, an associate of Hernandez, pleaded not guilty to murder in the shooting death of Lloyd.

[KRonn]

Indicted, no surprise. What a thug and foolish jerk. He had so much going for him but he couldn't let go of the thuggery.

[jimmy olsen]

The trial for the Odin Loyd murder started last week and there's been some funny things coming out, the blunt master defense in particular, but this latest revelation is so eye poppingly stupid I had to share.

https://twitter.com/ESPNMichele/status/566242001029713920

@ESPNMichele
Wow - Hernandez dismantled his personal phone in a car parked in a police parking lot - so he was caught doing so on surveillance video

https://twitter.com/ESPNMichele/status/566240799038648320
Trial resumes-prosecutor describing video that shows AH breaking his phone into 3 pieces, handing it to lawyers, who then give him new phone

[jimmy olsen]

Convicted of the original murder charge and will get life in prison, what a fall.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/aaron-hernandez/aaron-hernandez-murder-trial-jury-reaches-verdict-n341986

[alfred russel]

It is good to see a murdering thug get his due, but it is just a start. The rest of the Patriots organization remains free.