Aaron Hernandez Case: 2012 Homicide Eyed as Motive
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John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images(BOSTON) — Investigators working on the murder case against Aaron Hernandez are focusing on whether the victim was killed because he might have had information about a double homicide in 2012 that investigators suspect might also be tied to Hernandez, sources have told ABC News.
Hernandez, a star tight end with the New England Patriots until his arrest this week, is now being investigated in connection with a July 2012 drive-by shooting in Boston that left two men dead, according to sources.
Prosecutors in Attleboro, Mass., charged Hernandez Wednesday with the execution-style murder of his friend Odin Lloyd.
In two court hearings this week, they laid out gritty details of the killing that was allegedly carried out by Hernandez and two other men, and said that bullets matching those used in the Lloyd killing were found in an apartment leased by Hernandez.
They have not, however, given any hint of a motive in the killing and have sealed documents relating to the case. Prosecutors and investigators declined to comment on the motive when contacted by ABC News.
The possible motive emerged as one of Hernandez’s alleged accomplices appeared in a Connecticut court Friday. Carlos Ortiz of Bristol, Conn., was arrested Wednesday as a fugitive on weapons charges pending in Massachusetts that investigators say are related to the killing of Lloyd.
During a brief hearing, Ortiz, 27, was turned over to Massachusetts authorities to be taken to Attleboro. Ortiz’s court appearance followed an overnight of quick-moving developments: Investigators late Thursday returned to Hernandez’s luxury home to search the building yet again, this time in the hunt for evidence associated with the 2012 double slaying, sources said.
Another man tagged an “accomplice” was apprehended Friday in Florida after prosecutors issued a wanted poster, saying he was “armed and dangerous” and wanted for “accessory after the fact of the murder of Odin Lloyd.”
Authorities said that man, Ernest Wallace, turned himself in shortly before 1:30 p.m. in Miramar, Fla., as a group of detectives from a handful of agencies in Massachusetts were developing leads on locations where he might have fled.
Bristol County Assistant District Attorney William McCauley said Thursday there is “an overwhelming amount of evidence demonstrating” Hernandez’s guilt in the June 17 killing of Lloyd.
“As the victim was shot, he attempted to defend himself by putting up his arm,” McCauley said. “The first round struck him in the outside of his forearm, traveled through the inside of the forearm and entered his body.”
Lloyd, McCauley said, “began to turn and he was shot in the back two times.”
After that, Hernandez and his two accomplices “shot him twice through the chest,” once on each side of the chest, McCauley said.
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