A lifetime of lost promise
Nov. 6, 1989: Aaron Hernandez is born in Bristol, Conn., to Dennis Hernandez and Terri Valentine-Hernandez. Here is a glimpse of his violently short life:
SEPTEMBER 2004: He enrolls at Bristol Central High School, where he plays wide receiver, tight end and defensive end on the football team.
2007: He is selected as Connecticut’s Gatorade Football Player of the Year after setting state records for receiving yards (1,807) and touchdowns (24).
2007: He enrolls at the University of Florida, where he ultimately helps the Gators win the 2009 BCS National Championship and wins the John Mackey Award.
June 8, 2010: The New England Patriots draft Hernandez in the fourth round, 113th overall.
JAN. 1, 2012: He sets a career best with 138 receiving yards in a win over Buffalo.
JULY 16, 2012: Two men, Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado, are shot to death in their car as they wait at a red light in the South End.
AUG. 27, 2012: Hernandez signs a five-year, $40 million contract with the Patriots.
FEBRUARY 2013: An associate, Alexander Bradley, is shot in the face in Florida. Bradley files a lawsuit alleging that Hernandez shot him after they argued at a strip club.
JUNE 17, 2013: The body of Odin L. Lloyd, a semi-professional football player who was dating the sister of Hernandez’s fiancee, is found about a mile from Hernandez’s mansion in North Attleboro.
JUNE 26, 2013: Hernandez is arrested on a murder charge in Lloyd’s slaying and taken from his home in handcuffs. He later pleads not guilty. The Patriots release him hours after his arrest.
MAY 15, 2014: Hernandez is indicted on two counts of first-degree murder and other charges in connection with the shootings of de Abreu and Furtado. His lawyers say he is innocent.
MAY 28, 2014: Hernandez pleads not guilty to charges in connection with the deaths of de Abreu and Furtado. A prosecutor says Hernandez was angry because de Abreu accidentally bumped into him at a nightclub while dancing, spilling his drink.
JAN. 9, 2015: Hernandez goes on trial for murder in Lloyd’s killing.
APRIL 15, 2015: Hernandez is convicted of firstdegree murder, which carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment.
FEB. 14: Hernandez goes on trial for murder in the 2012 killings of de Abreu and Furtado.
APRIL 14: Hernandez is acquitted of murder in the 2012 killings of de Abreu and Furtado.
YESTERDAY: Hernandez is found hanging by a bedsheet in his prison cell, pronounced dead at hospital.