Jailed NFL player found hanged in his cell
A FORMER star player with this year’s Super Bowl-winning American Football team has killed himself in prison, where he was serving a life sentence for murder.
Aaron Hernandez, 27, was found dead yesterday morning in Shirley, Massachusetts, having hanged himself.
His death was all the more poignant given that yesterday his former New England Patriots team-mates were at the White House to celebrate their Super Bowl win. Hernandez, one of the youngest ever players drafted into the NFL, played with the team from 2010 to 2013. In 2012 he signed a seven-year, $40 million (£31.1m) contract extension including a $12.5 m (£9.7m) bonus.
His family were quick to question the suicide, and his former agent, Brian Murphy, tweeted: “Chico was not a saint, but my family and I loved him and he would never take his own life.”
In June 2013, semi-professional player Odin Lloyd was found shot dead and police accused Hernandez of orchestrating his murder. Hernandez was immediately cut from the team by the Patriots and in 2014 he was accused of a separate double murder in Boston.
In the following year, he was found guilty in the Lloyd case and sentenced to serve life in prison without parole.
He had been appealing against the sentence for Mr Lloyd’s murder, and last Friday was acquitted of the Boston murders.