Aaron Hernandez was a former NFL star tight end for the New England Patriots who became infamous after being convicted of murder and later dying by suicide in prison.

Quick Scoop: What did Aaron Hernandez do?

From NFL star to murder conviction

  • Aaron Hernandez was a talented tight end who played college football at the University of Florida, earning All-American honors and winning a national championship before joining the New England Patriots in 2010.
  • With the Patriots, he quickly became a key offensive player, forming a high-profile tight end duo with Rob Gronkowski and signing a major multi‑year contract extension in 2012.

The Odin Lloyd murder

  • In June 2013, Hernandez was arrested and charged with the murder of Odin Lloyd, a semi‑professional football player who was dating the sister of Hernandez’s fiancée.
  • Prosecutors said Lloyd was taken to an industrial park in Massachusetts and shot multiple times; Hernandez was identified as the central figure in planning and carrying out the killing.
  • In April 2015, he was found guilty of first‑degree murder and weapons charges and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Other shootings and legal troubles

  • Hernandez was also indicted in connection with a 2012 drive‑by shooting in Boston that killed Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado, though he was later acquitted of those murder charges in a 2017 trial.
  • Even after the acquittal in the double‑homicide case, his life sentence for the Odin Lloyd murder remained in place.

Death in prison

  • On April 19, 2017, at age 27, Aaron Hernandez was found dead in his prison cell; his death was ruled a suicide.
  • After his death, examinations of his brain revealed severe chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which sparked debate about how repeated head trauma may have affected his behavior, though this did not change his criminal responsibility in court.

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