Friends Aaron Hernandez Allegedly Called Before Murder in Custody
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John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images(BOSTON) — A day after Odin Lloyd — the semi-pro football player whose June 17 execution led to the arrest of former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez — was laid to rest, the three men who are accused of driving him to his death are in custody.
Bristol County District Attorney Sam Sutter said the men were all captured on a wide array of surveillance videos collected by investigators that show Lloyd in a vehicle as it entered a remote industrial park where he was shot dead. They are now facing charges in connection with his murder, the prosecutor said.
Sutter and “his investigative team now believe that the three people in the silver Nissan Altima when Odin Lloyd entered it, are in custody,” Sutter’s spokeswoman, Yasmina Serdarevic, said.
Hundreds attended Lloyd’s funeral on Saturday, many heartbroken that his friend Hernandez is involved in the case.
Lloyd, 27, became friends with Hernandez, 23, two years ago when he began to date the sister of the NFL tight end’s fiancée.
Meanwhile, Hernandez remained at a Dartmouth jail after he was denied bail at his arraignment on Wednesday, and at a bail hearing requested by his lawyer the following day.
Also on Wednesday, a man described as a longtime friend of Hernandez, Carlos Ortiz, 27, was arrested in Bristol, Conn., and was arraigned on Friday at Attleboro District Court on a charge of carrying a firearm without a license, a spokeswoman for Sutter said in a release.
Ortiz is being held without bail and another hearing is scheduled for him on July 9, the district attorney’s office said. It remains unclear what his alleged role in the murder was.
A third man, Ernest Wallace, described by Bristol County prosecutors as “armed and dangerous,” turned himself into police in Florida on Friday.
If Wallace waives extradition, he could be arraigned in Attleboro District Court this week.
Sutter’s spokeswoman called the case “a very active investigation.” Last week, ABC News reported that Hernandez is also being eyed in an unsolved triple shooting that took place when a car was ambushed in Boston in July 2012. Two men were killed and another was wounded in that case.
Sources also told ABC News that Lloyd may have had information about those slayings, one of the possible motives for his execution.
Hernandez is also being sued in a civil suit filed by a former friend who said Hernandez shot his eye out.
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