Newly released warrant brings new information to light in Aaron Hernandez murder investigations
 |
| Mike George/ Reuters |
According to the warrant, police strongly suspect Hernandez was in a Toyota 4Runner which circled the block of Cure Lounge in Boston, waiting for the apparent targets to enter their vehicle, before stopping alongside them at a red light and opening fire.
Security footage shows the aforementioned 4Runner, containing Hernandez and Alexander Bradley (who has since filed a civil suit accusing Hernandez of shooting him in the eye this past Februrary) arrive at a Boston parking garage. Shortly after, footage shows Hernandez and Bradley enter Cure Lounge immediately after the eventual victims, Daniel Abreu and Safiro Furtado. Hernandez and Bradley where only in the nightclub for about 10 minutes, during which time Hernandez downed two drinks.
Hernandez and Bradley are next found in security footage leaving the parking garage at 1:30 am, with Hernandez driving and Bradley in the front passenger seat. It's unclear where they went or what they did for the next hour, but the Toyota reappears in Cure's security footage when the eventual victims left the nightclub, slowly circling the block in the lane closest to the sidewalk. Once Abreu, Furtado and three other people entered their vehicle, the 4Runner pulled up alongside them at a red light before opening fire.
Police responded to a call reporting the shooting at 2:32 am. The descriptions given by several bystanders who called in to report the crime matched those of Hernandez, Bradley and the car.
Bradley was charged last fall as a fugitive witness at the Hartford Correctional Center after dodging attempts to subpoena him into appearing before a grand jury in the double murder investigation. Police also obtained via warrants recordings of phone calls Bradley made from prison between October 4 and 15 after a Department of Corrections official tipped them off that he had been discussing details of the investigation on the phone.
The Toyota 4Runner has since been found in the garage of a relative to Hernandez, where it appeared to have been idle for about a year. Police also recovered a .38-caliber pistol, proven to be the murder weapon by ballistics testing, from Bristol native Jailene Dias Ramos, who allegedly told police it belonged to a friend "Chicago" who was a football player.
Another interesting nugget from the warrant reveals how police tied Hernandez to the 2012 case, which was in danger of becoming cold. According to the warrant, police reopened the case after receiving a tip on June 22 from Sharif Hashem, a security supervisor at Rumor nightclub. Hernandez was at Rumor with Odin Lloyd two days before Lloyd's body was found in a Industrial Park less than a mile from Hernandez's North Attleboro home. According to Hashem, a patron at Rumor "accidentally spilled the beans in front of me", referring to Hernandez's.
While not foolproof (at least in a court of law), this information certainly supports law enforcement's suspicion that Lloyd was murdered due to his knowledge of Hernandez's involvement in the 2012 murders. It also strongly suggests that Hernandez played the 2012 season for the Patriots after being intimately involved in a double homicide, unbeknownst to his teammates, coaches and fans.
Read the full story here at the Hartford Courant
