On June 26, 2013, the nation awoke to the sight of a star player on one of the NFL’s model franchises being escorted out of his house by police, a T-shirt pulled over his cuffed wrists. New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez was charged later that day with the murder of Odin Lloyd, whose body had been found six days earlier near Hernandez’s home.
Since that day, before he was found dead in his prison cell on April 19, 2017, Hernandez was charged with two previous murders and implicated in the shootings of three other people in two separate incidents dating back to his college days.
Here’s a timeline of what news involving Hernandez has emerged since 2012.
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Sept. 30, 2007 — Two men are shot in Gainesville, Fla., and four Florida football players are questioned, including freshman tight end Aaron Hernandez. He was never charged, but he remained a person of interest until March 2017, when Gainesville police closed the case after a witness who had identified him recanted.
July 16, 2012 — Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado are killed in a drive-by shooting in Boston’s South End. Police initially had no suspects. The Boston Globe reports the incident, which at the time had no immediate connection to Hernandez.
Aug. 27, 2012 — Hernandez, a rising star with the New England Patriots, signs a $41 million contract, the second-largest ever for a tight end. He donated $50,000 to a charity, touching the heart of the team’s owner.
Feb. 13, 2013 — Alexander Bradley is found shot in Riviera Beach, Fla., hours after spending an evening with Hernandez at a Miami strip club.
June 17, 2013 — The body of Odin Lloyd, a semi-pro football player, is found in an industrial park in North Attleboro, Mass., near Hernandez’s home.
June 18, 2013 — Police search Hernandez’s home.
June 21, 2013 — Video surfaces placing Hernandez and Lloyd together the night of the murder; Hernandez’s trips to lawyers and a gas station are tracked by media helicopters.
June 22, 2013 — A civil suit is filed against Hernandez by Alexander Bradley for shooting him in Florida in February.
June 23, 2013 — Hernandez’s home is searched again, this time with dogs assisting the search, for four hours by investigators.
June 26, 2013 — Hernandez arrested at his North Attleboro home, charged with murder of Odin Lloyd. Patriots release him.
June 27, 2013 — Investigators first suggest that Hernandez might be connected to the 2012 double murder in Boston.
June 28, 2013 — Police recover the silver Chrysler they believe Hernandez, Lloyd and two other men were in the night of Lloyd’s slaying.
July 3, 2013 — Gainesville police release the 51-page report on the 2007 double shooting in which Hernandez was questioned. Shooting may have been sparked by an argument about a gold necklace.
PHOTOS: Aaron Hernandez investigation
July 9, 2013 — Text messages between Hernandez and Lloyd on the night of the murder surface in documents unsealed by law enforcement.
July 24, 2013 — Grand jury in Suffolk County, Mass., begins hearings on the 2012 double murder.
July 25, 2013 — Surveillance video from Hernandez’s house, made public for the first time, appears to show him holding a gun.
July 30, 2013 — Police divers search a lake in Bristol, Conn., for the murder weapon in the Lloyd slaying, but find nothing.
Aug. 19, 2013 — Police in Springfield, Mass., find the gun used in the 2012 double murder in Boston.
Aug. 22, 2013 — Grand jury in Bristol County, Mass., indicts Hernandez in the murder of Lloyd.
Aug. 27, 2013 — The NFLPA files a grievance against the Patriots in their attempt to get back bonus money they paid Hernandez.
Sept. 6, 2013 — Hernandez pleads not guilty to Odin Lloyd murder indictment.
Sept. 19, 2013 — Hernandez associate Ernest Wallace charged as an accessory after the fact in Lloyd’s murder.
Sept. 27, 2013 — Hernandez associate Carlos Ortiz charged as an accessory after the fact in Lloyd’s murder.
Nov. 27, 2013 — Hernandez pleads the Fifth Amendment in response to alleged shooting victim Alexander Bradley’s lawsuit.
Dec. 19, 2013 — Family of Odin Lloyd files wrongful death suit against Hernandez.
Jan. 16, 2014 — Boston police documents connect Hernandez to the 2012 double murder for the first time.
April 11, 2014 — Charges against Carlos Ortiz and Ernest Wallace in Odin Lloyd’s death are upgraded to murder.
May 1, 2014 — Hernandez charged with assault in fight with fellow jail inmate.
May 15, 2014 — Hernandez indicted for murders of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado.
May 16, 2014 — Florida state attorney says Hernandez is still a person of interest in the shooting of two men in Gainesville in 2007.
May 28, 2014 — Hernandez pleads not guilty in 2012 double murder. Reason for the murders: Prosecutors claim crime stemmed from a spilled drink.
June 16, 2014 — Tentative trial date of Oct. 6 set for case of Odin Lloyd’s killing.
June 24, 2014 — Trial date on 2012 double murders in Boston is set for May 2015.
Aug. 26, 2014 — Bristol County Superior Court Judge E. Susan Garsh throws out evidence from two cell phones and three tablets taken from Hernandez’s home during the investigation of Lloyd’s death. She says there were problems with the warrant.
Oct. 2, 2014 — Garsh throws out several pieces of evidence that prosecutors concede was gathered improperly: Ortiz’s cell phone, boxes of .45-caliber ammunition and a Glock .45-caliber magazine loaded with ammunition whose brands matched the brands of ammunition found at the scene of Lloyd’s shooting.
Oct. 10, 2014 — Garsh denies a defense motion to throw out Hernandez’s cell phone as evidence. The judge says Hernandez’s legal team “freely and voluntarily” gave investigators the phone.
Oct. 30, 2014 — Garsh rejects a defense motion for a change of venue.
Nov. 25, 2014 — The trial for the 2012 slayings is delayed indefinitely.
Dec. 12, 2014 — Garsh rules that prosecutors cannot present evidence in the 2012 killings during the trial for Lloyd’s slaying.
Jan. 7, 2015 — Shayanna Jenkins, Hernandez’ fiancee, reportedly seeks immunity from prosecution in exchange for testimony against Hernandez.
Jan. 9, 2015 — Hernandez’s trial for the shooting death of Odin Lloyd begins in Fall River, Mass.
Jan. 29, 2015 — After missing-juror delay, Hernandez’s trial for shooting death of Odin Lloyd opens with murder scene details.
Feb. 10, 2015 — Garsh approves the prosecution’s request to grant immunity to Hernandez’s fiancee, Shayanna Jenkins, should Jenkins be called to testify in the former Patriots tight end’s murder trial.
March 4, 2015 — Prosecutors in the Lloyd trial try to introduce the Florida shooting into the case, although the judge had ruled before the trial began that the case could not be brought up. Hernandez’s lawyers file a motion to have it kept out.
April 15, 2015 — Hernandez found guilty of first-degree murder in the June 17, 2013 shooting death of Odin Lloyd. The conviction carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.
May 11, 2015 — Hernandez indicted on a charge related to the shooting of Alexander Bradley in 2013.
May 15, 2015 — District attorney in Suffolk County, Mass., says Alexander Bradley was a “percipient witness” to the double murder in Boston that Hernandez was charged with committing in 2012.
May 21, 2015 — The attorney representing Aaron Hernandez in civil court says the former Patriots tight end, who three years prior signed a lucrative $40 million NFL contract, has run out of money.
Aug. 27, 2015 — Alexander Bradley, a friend and former assistant of Aaron Hernandez, has received immunity from prosecutors in connection with a double murder case against the former Patriots tight end.
Dec. 4, 2015 — Guards at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Lancaster, Mass., find a shank in Hernandez’s cell during a search of his prison block. After the incident, he was taken out of the general population and put in an isolated unit.
May 12, 2016 — Ernest Wallace, a friend of Aaron Hernandez, is acquitted of murder in the 2013 killing of Odin Lloyd. But Wallace is found guilty of being an accessory after the murder.
June 8, 2016 — Jose Baez, the noted Florida attorney who defended Casey Anthony in 2011, is retained to serve as lead counsel for Hernandez during the former NFL star’s double-homicide trial.
Dec. 20, 2016 — Hernandez identified as trigger man in 2012 shooting of Daniel de Abreu, Safiro Furtado.
April 14, 2017 — Hernandez found not guilty in his double-murder trial in Suffolk (Mass.) Superior Court. Hernandez had pleaded not guilty to killing Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado in a drive-by shooting in Boston’s South End early July 16, 2012.
April 19, 2017 — Hernandez found hanging by a bed sheet in his cell at the Souza Baranowski Correctional Center just after 3 a.m. ET. Hernandez, 27, was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 4:07 a.m.
MORE: NFL community reacts to Hernandez’s death
April 19, 2017 — Aaron Hernandez’s agent and lawyer question whether his death was a suicide.
April 20, 2017 — Aaron Hernandez’s death officially ruled a suicide.
April 21, 2017 — Judge orders all evidence be preserved in Aaron Hernandez’s suicide.
April 24, 2017 — Court allows Aaron Hernandez’s family to see alleged suicide notes, including the one he left for fiancée Shayanna Jenkins.
May 9, 2017 — Massachusetts judge vacates Aaron Hernandez’s conviction in the 2013 murder of Odin L. Lloyd, following the state’s legal precedent that erases convictions if a defendant dies before all appeal possibilities are exhausted.
Sept. 21, 2017 — Boston University’s center for the study of chronic traumatic encephalopathy announces that a study of Hernandez’s brain indicated he had Stage 3 CTE, one step short of the most severe level.
March 13, 2019 — Massachusetts’ Supreme Judicial Court reinstates the late Aaron Hernandez‘s first-degree murder conviction. The state’s legal precedent vacates convictions if a defendant dies before all appeal possibilities are exhausted, which returned Hernandez’s case to its pretrial status.
Contributing: David Steele
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