The fall of Aaron Hernandez remains one of the most jarring sequences in American sports history. One minute, he’s a Pro Bowl tight end for the New England Patriots, catching touchdowns from Tom Brady in a Super Bowl. The next, he’s being led out of his North Attleboro mansion in handcuffs, wearing a white t-shirt tucked over his arms to hide the shackles. People still ask who did Aaron Hernandez killed because the legal timeline got messy, spanning multiple cases and different outcomes that don't always align in the public memory.
Honestly, it’s a story about two very different worlds colliding. You had the NFL stardom and the $40 million contract, but underneath that, there was a deeply paranoid man tethered to a life of street violence that he never quite let go of.
Odin Lloyd: The Conviction That Ended Everything
When we talk about who did Aaron Hernandez killed, the name that carries the most weight is Odin Lloyd. He wasn't a stranger. He was a 27-year-old semi-pro football player for the Boston Bandits. More importantly, he was dating Shaneah Jenkins, the sister of Hernandez’s fiancée, Shayanna Jenkins. They were practically family, or at least they were supposed to be.
On June 17, 2013, Lloyd’s body was found in an industrial park in North Attleboro, Massachusetts. He had been shot multiple times. The evidence against Hernandez wasn't just a "smoking gun"—it was a trail of breadcrumbs that led directly back to his front door.
- Investigators found shell casings in a rental car Hernandez had returned.
- Home security footage showed Hernandez walking through his house holding a Glock pistol just minutes after the murder.
- Cell phone pings placed Hernandez, Lloyd, and two other associates—Ernest Wallace and Carlos Ortiz—at the scene of the crime.
What was the motive? Prosecutors argued that Hernandez was upset with Lloyd for talking to certain people at a nightclub a few nights prior. It felt senseless. It was senseless. In April 2015, a jury found Hernandez guilty of first-degree murder. That conviction carried a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. For the legal system, that was the definitive answer to the question of who he killed.
The Double Homicide: Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado
While Hernandez was sitting in a cell awaiting trial for the Lloyd murder, prosecutors dropped a second bombshell. They indicted him for a 2012 double homicide in South Boston. The victims were Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado.
This case was even more chaotic. According to the prosecution, the whole thing started over a spilled drink. Imagine that. You're at a club called Cure, someone bumps into you, splashes a little bit of a drink on your arm, and that’s it. That’s the "disrespect" that leads to a drive-by shooting at a red light later that night.
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The star witness was Alexander Bradley, a former friend of Hernandez. Bradley testified that Hernandez fired the shots into the victims' car from a silver SUV. It was a harrowing account, but the defense team—led by the high-profile Jose Baez—did a number on Bradley’s credibility. They pointed out his own criminal history and inconsistencies in his story.
In a move that shocked many following the case, the jury acquitted Hernandez of these murders in April 2017. He was found guilty only of an illegal firearms charge. So, while many associate these names with Hernandez, he was never legally convicted of their deaths.
The Gray Areas: Jordan Miller and the Rumors
If you dig into the darker corners of the Hernandez saga, you'll find names that never made it to a formal indictment in connection with him. One name that often comes up in true crime circles is Jordan Miller.
Miller was killed in 2010, shot through a window in his home. He lived in the same area where Hernandez frequented, and some investigators reportedly looked for links between the two. However, no charges were ever filed. It’s one of those "what if" scenarios that haunts the periphery of the case.
There were also rumors about his involvement in a shooting in Gainesville, Florida, during his college days at the University of Florida. In 2007, a man named Corey Smith was shot in the back of the head while sitting in a car. Hernandez was questioned, but again, nothing stuck. He was a star athlete, and at that time, stars often got the benefit of the doubt.
The Role of CTE and the Final Act
The story doesn't end with a verdict. Days after he was acquitted in the Boston double murder trial, Hernandez was found dead in his prison cell. It was a suicide.
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Because of an old Massachusetts legal principle called abatement ab initio, his conviction for the Odin Lloyd murder was initially vacated because he died before his appeals were exhausted. It was a gut punch to the Lloyd family. However, the state’s highest court eventually reinstated the conviction in 2019, ruling that the doctrine was outdated. Legally, he died a convicted murderer.
After his death, researchers at Boston University examined his brain. The results were staggering. Hernandez had Stage 3 Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). Dr. Ann McKee stated it was the most severe case they had ever seen in someone his age.
Does CTE excuse what he did? No. But it provides a terrifying context for the impulsivity, the rage, and the paranoia that defined his final years. It’s a piece of the puzzle that explains how a man who had everything could throw it away over a perceived slight at a club or a conversation he didn't like.
Understanding the Legal Reality
When people ask who did Aaron Hernandez killed, the answer depends on whether you're looking at court records or the broader investigative narrative.
- Odin Lloyd: The only victim for whom Hernandez was legally convicted of murder.
- Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado: Victims of a shooting where Hernandez was the primary suspect and went to trial, but was ultimately acquitted of the murder charges.
- Alexander Bradley: He wasn't killed, but Hernandez allegedly shot him in the face in Florida to silence him about the Boston murders. Bradley survived but lost an eye. Hernandez eventually settled a civil lawsuit with him.
The tragedy isn't just about the loss of a football career. It’s about the families of these men. Odin Lloyd’s mother, Ursula Ward, became a fixture in the media, showing a level of grace that was hard to fathom given the circumstances.
The story of Hernandez is a cautionary tale about the intersection of brain trauma, untreated childhood trauma, and a "tough guy" culture that rewards aggression on the field but offers no roadmap for handling it off the field. He was a man living a double life. One life was under the bright lights of Foxborough; the other was in the shadows of Bristol and Boston, fueled by a hair-trigger temper and a collection of illegal handguns.
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How to Dig Deeper into the Case
If you're looking to understand the full scope of the Hernandez investigations, there are a few primary sources and deep-dive materials that avoid the sensationalism of tabloid coverage.
First, the Netflix documentary series Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez provides a lot of the actual audio from his jailhouse phone calls. Hearing him talk to his mother and his fiancée gives you a chilling look at his mental state.
Second, the Gladiator podcast by the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team is arguably the best investigative work on this topic. They don't just look at the murders; they look at his upbringing in Bristol, Connecticut, and the culture at the University of Florida under Urban Meyer. It’s an uncomfortable look at how institutions often look the other way when a player is producing results.
Actionable Steps for Further Research:
- Review the Court Documents: If you want the facts without the media spin, the Massachusetts trial transcripts for the Odin Lloyd case are public record. They detail the forensics of the shell casings and the silver Honda used in the crime.
- Study the CTE Findings: Read the report from the Concussion Legacy Foundation regarding Hernandez’s brain. It’s a landmark study in sports medicine that changed how we view the physical toll of football on the frontal lobe, which controls decision-making.
- Follow the Civil Litigation: Many people forget that while criminal trials have a high bar for "beyond a reasonable doubt," civil trials use the "preponderance of evidence." The settlements and filings from the Lloyd and de Abreu/Furtado families offer different perspectives on the financial and emotional aftermath.
The legacy of Aaron Hernandez is a permanent scar on the NFL. It’s a reminder that we often don't know the people we cheer for on Sundays. For the families of the victims, the answer to who he killed isn't just a name in a headline—it's a permanent void that no court verdict or medical diagnosis can ever truly fill.