Aaron Hernandez: A Timeline of the NFL Player’s Controversial Life

CNN
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It’s been more than seven years since NFL star Aaron Hernandez was found dead by suicide in his prison cell at the age of 27.

Yet interest in his life – from his high-profile fame to his two separate murder trials – remains perhaps as strong as ever. It’s now the subject of FX’s limited series, “American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez,” a dramatized account of the athlete’s highs and traumas, including head injuries.

CNN closely covered Hernandez’s rise and fall nearly a decade ago. Here’s a timeline of some key moments, including his Super Bowl touchdown, his shocking arrest and his death.

2006: Dennis Hernandez, father of 16-year-old Aaron Hernandez, dies following routine hernia surgery.

2007: Hernandez, a tight end from Bristol Central High School, is named the Connecticut Gatorade Football Player of the Year. He attended the University of Florida to play football under head coach Urban Meyer.

2008: Led by quarterback Tim Tebow, Hernandez and the Gators win the college football national championship.

2009: Hernandez becomes the first Gator to win the John Mackey Award, given annually to the best collegiate tight end.

January 2010: After just three years in college, Hernandez announced his decision to skip his senior year at Florida and turn professional.

April 24, 2010: Hernandez, 20, was chosen in the fourth round of the NFL draft by the New England Patriots, led by coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady.

April 27, 2010: Hernandez admits he failed a drug test while playing for Florida.

2010: Hernandez and fellow rookie Rob Gronkowski combine to form one of the best tight end duos in the NFL.

2011: Hernandez finished the season with 910 yards and seven touchdowns and was named to the Pro Bowl as an alternate.

February 5, 2012: Hernandez catches a 12-yard touchdown pass from Tom Brady during the Super Bowl, but the New England Patriots lose to the New York Giants 21-17.

July 16, 2012: Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado, two immigrants from Cape Verde, are killed by shots fired into their vehicle after a night out in Boston, prosecutors say.

August 27, 2012: Hernandez signs a five-year contract extension with the Patriots worth up to $40 million.

Arrests and murder trials

June 17, 2013: A jogger finds Odin Lloyd’s body riddled with gunshots in an industrial park in North Attleboro, Massachusetts, about a mile from Hernandez’s home.

Lloyd, a 27-year-old semi-professional soccer player, was dating the younger sister of Hernandez’s fiancée, Shayanna Jenkins. Lloyd was last seen around 2:30 a.m. with Hernandez and his friends, Carlos Ortiz and Ernest Wallace, in a rented silver Nissan Altima, according to prosecutors.

June 18, 2013: Police search Hernandez’s home in connection with the murder.

June 26, 2013: Hernandez is arrested and charged with first-degree murder in Lloyd’s death, as well as five weapons-related charges. Hernandez has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail.

The New England Patriots released Hernandez less than two hours after his arrest.

October 16, 2013: Hernandez’s fiancee Jenkins pleads not guilty to perjury charges after prosecutors say she lied to a grand jury and eliminated evidence.

November 2013: Hernandez allegedly threatened a prison employee.

February 25, 2014: Hernandez was involved in an “altercation with another inmate,” according to the Bristol County Sheriff’s Department.

April 11, 2014: Ortiz and Wallace, the friends seen in the car with Hernandez the night of Lloyd’s death, are indicted and charged with murder.

May 1, 2014: Hernandez is charged with battery and threats of bodily harm in connection with the Feb. 25 jail altercation. He is also indicted for threats of assault and battery in connection with the events of November 2013.

May 15, 2014: Hernandez is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the 2012 killings of de Abreu and Furtado in Boston.

May 28, 2014: Hernandez pleads not guilty to double murder charges.

January 29, 2015: Opening statements begin in Fall River, Massachusetts, in the trial of Hernandez for the murder of Lloyd.

February 1, 2015: Without Hernandez, the Patriots beat the Seattle Seahawks 28-24 to win Super Bowl XLIX.

March 27, 2015: Jenkins, Hernandez’s fiancee, is testifying as a prosecution witness under immunity.

April 15, 2015: Hernandez is convicted of first-degree murder and weapons charges in Lloyd’s death. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

May 11, 2015: Hernandez is charged in Massachusetts with witness intimidation in the 2013 shooting of Alexander Bradley. Prosecutors believe Bradley witnessed the homicides of de Abreu and Furtado, and they say Hernandez shot Bradley after he makes a remark about the double murder.

May 15, 2015: The perjury charge against Jenkins is dropped, according to the Associated Press.

May 21, 2015: Hernandez pleads not guilty to witnessing intimidation in Bradley case. In court, Hernandez reveals a new tattoo on his neck reading “Lifetime Loyalty.”

May 2016: Wallace, one of Hernandez’s two co-defendants in the Lloyd murder case, was convicted of accessory after the fact to murder and acquitted of murder. He is sentenced to four and a half to seven years in prison, the Bristol County prosecutor said.

June 2016: Ortiz pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact in exchange for prosecutors dropping murder charges against him, officials said. He was sentenced to four and a half to seven years in prison.

March 1, 2017: Hernandez’s trial into the murders of Furtado and Abreu and Bradley’s alleged witness intimidation begins.

Prosecutors say Hernandez shot the men five times after de Abreu bumped into him at a nightclub and caused him to spill his drink. Prosecutors also say Hernandez’s tattoos, including one of a gun and five bullets, represent “confessions.”

Hernández’s defense says there is little forensic or scientific evidence to prove this charge.

April 14, 2017: Hernandez is found not guilty of the murders of Furtado and Abreu and not guilty of witness intimidation against Bradley. Of the eight charges against Hernández, he was convicted of only one: illegal possession of a firearm.

Death and what comes after

April 19, 2017: Hernandez was found hanging in his jail cell at 3:05 a.m. He was pronounced dead of an apparent suicide, according to the Massachusetts Department of Corrections.

April 20, 2017: Hernandez’s family announces plans to donate his brain to scientists to determine if he suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, the degenerative brain disease linked to a number of NFL athletes. The brain will be transferred to Boston University’s CTE Center for further examination, the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office said.

May 9, 2017: A Massachusetts judge overturns Hernandez’s murder conviction because of a quirky legal rule called “reduction,” under which convictions are overturned if the defendant dies before his appeal is heard.

September 21, 2017: Tests performed on Hernandez’s brain show he had a “severe case” of CTE, attorney Jose Baez said.

October 13, 2018: The Boston Globe Spotlight Team is publishing a six-part series on Hernandez called “Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Football Inc.” According to the report, Hernandez told those close to him that he was sexually assaulted as a child and that he had a sexual relationship with his high school quarterback.

October 30, 2018: Hernandez’s older brother, Jonathan “DJ” Hernandez, wrote a memoir, “The Truth About Aaron,” revealing that the brothers were physically abused by their father and that Aaron Hernandez said he was gay.

March 13, 2019: Hernandez’s murder conviction is reinstated after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court unanimously ruled that the statutory rule of reduction should be abolished.

September 17, 2024: FX launches “American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez,” a 10-episode series inspired by Hernandez’s life and based on the Globe series “Gladiator.”