Aaron Hernandez Investigation Details Reveal 'Secret House' Used by Former Player
Newly produced court documents related to the Aaron Hernandez murder investigation indicate that key evidence was found in a "secret house" used by the former Patriots tight end.
Police stated they became aware of the house after Carlos Ortiz, a friend of Hernandez's whom prosecutors say was with him the night they allegedly plotted to shoot Odin Lloyd.
On June 26, according to search warrant records at Wrentham District Court, police searched the residence and found a white hooded sweatshirt and a hat in a bedroom that may have been worn by Hernandez the night of the murder.
Police stated that surveillance video showed Hernandez wearing a similar sweatshirt the night Lloyd was killed, records stated. Prosecutors say Hernandez was upset at Lloyd for talking to certain people at the nightclub.
"The white sweatshirt could be used ... to assist in linking Hernandez to the scene of the crime," wrote Trooper Michael Bates, in an affidavit in support of one of the search warrants.
"The baseball hat could help provide the whereabouts of Hernandez on the Friday night before the homicide," Bates wrote.
Hernandez pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and five firearms charges, more than a week after the body of Odin Lloyd, 27, was found near his Massachusetts home. A judge ordered him held without bail.
Hernandez "drove the victim to the remote spot, and he then orchestrated his execution. That's what it was," First Assistant District Attorney William McCauley said in Attleboro District Court at the time of Hernandez's arraignment.
"As (Lloyd) tried to turn, he was shot in the back, and the defendant and his confederates stood over him and delivered the two fatal shots," McCauley said, adding: "He orchestrated the crime from the beginning and took steps to conceal and destroy evidence."
The body of Lloyd, 27, was found June 17 in the woods near Hernandez's home.