With a touchdown in Super Bowl XLVI of 2012, New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez achieved a childhood dream. A year later, he was arrested for murder. What followed was one of the most publicized and mysterious crimes of the past decade, played by Ryan Murphy in the FX series. American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez.
Although the athlete did not speak about his motive for the murder of his friend – the former football player Odin Lloyd – reported the exit. Boston Globe and three Netflix documentaries The Killer Within: The Mind of Aaron Hernandezit paints Hernandez as a figure plagued by unimaginable problems. Throughout his life, he faced a history of childhood abuse, drug problems, the world’s fear of learning about his sexuality, and a post-mortem examination of what doctors called one of the worst conditions the most severe CTE in a twenty-seven-year-old athlete. old.
From Hernandez’s conviction and shocking suicide, his story is drawn from all angles. It exposed the cultural world of being closeted in gay rooms, the lack of support from his teammates, and even football injuries to the brain. He was called a “monster” (and more) by the media. Speaking about the new series created by Murphy, the main producer Stu Zicherman told Los Angeles Times that he considered Hernandez’s story a “Shakespearean tragedy.” Instead of trying to solve why the athlete killed his friend, the series wanted to follow American Crime Story a way of “taking a crime or event and making it into something bigger in the American fabric.”
Naturally, that includes footage of Hernandez’s early life in an abusive family, his struggles within the racing scene, and Lloyd’s murder. To separate fact from fiction in the series – which premieres its first two episodes on Tuesday, September 17 – follow along below.
Who Was Aaron Hernandez?
Aaron Hernandez was born in Bristol, Connecticut, on November 6, 1989. His father, Dennis Hernandez, was a former football player for Bristol Central High School. Dennis often fought with Hernandez’s mother, Terri Valentine-Hernandez, an assistant public school administrator who allegedly ran a bookkeeping job on the side. Both of his parents were arrested several times during his childhood, amid countless separations and reunions. His father was abusive to Aaron and his older brother, DJ, as well as reportedly being gay.
But Hernandez still sought his father’s approval, taking him to play football at Bristol Central. He was named Gatorade’s Football Player of the Year in his home state and began dating his future girlfriend, Shayanna Jenkins. Hernandez attended the University of Florida after head coach Urban Meyer convinced the star player’s high school principal to let him graduate early.
“He had graduated from high school a semester earlier – not because he was a good student but because he was a great football player,” Boston Globe was reported after Hernandez’s death. “The athletic gifts were obvious, but behind them was an angry teenager struggling with an abusive upbringing, a growing drug dependency, and questions that about his sexuality.”
Josh Andrés Rivera as Aaron Hernandez in American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez.
The prophecy was very accurate. The constant drug use and partying almost caused Hernandez to leave the team, and the athlete later told Earth that he was high “every time I was in the field.” If he wasn’t drafted into the NFL, then his days on the Florida football team were over. But the New England Patriots selected Hernandez in the fourth round of the 2010 NFL Draft, behind Rob Gronkowski.
The Story of American Sports shows Hernandez’s relationship with Patriots head coach Bill Belichick as strained, with the six-time Super Bowl-winning team threatening to cut its losses if Hernandez gets too tough. But he became a reliable offensive lineman alongside Gronkowski and star quarterback Tom Brady. When the Patriots reached the 2012 Super Bowl, Hernandez got the nod, though the team lost to the New York Giants. He was arguably the most successful player on the field that day besides Brady, earning himself a five-year, $40 million contract extension. Then the problems began.
Who Did Aaron Hernandez Kill?
On June 18, 2013, authorities found Odin Lloyd’s body with multiple gunshot wounds several miles from the Patriots star’s home. Lloyd was a close friend of Hernandez who was dating his girlfriend’s sister at the time. All indications pointed to Hernandez as the prime suspect. Police later found shell casings in the car he had rented before the murder, as well as security footage showing him smashing his cell phone in his lawyer’s car the next day. Hernandez pleaded not guilty but was sentenced to life in prison in 2015.
Before Lloyd’s murder, Hernandez already had a confusing collection of violent conflicts to his name. In 2007, he drunkenly refused to pay the bill at a bar in Gainesville, Florida, and hit the manager so hard on the side of his head that he burst his ear drum. In 2013, he allegedly shot Alexander Bradley, his marijuana dealer, in the eye. Although Bradley was alive, he refused to name Hernandez as the shooter until 2016. They later settled a civil case out of court. According to me EarthHernandez also had a second apartment—where he kept illegal drugs and weapons—that he hid from his girlfriend.
Hernandez in court on August 22, 2013, just two months after Odin Lloyd’s murder.
Why did Aaron Hernandez kill Odin Lloyd?
At the time, police reported that the athlete may have acted out after Lloyd discovered his sexuality. His motivation may have come from a previous double homicide in Boston, but this theory has not been confirmed. A year before Lloyd’s murder, Hernandez was investigated for the deaths of Daniel Jorge Correia de Abreu and Safiro Teixeira Furtado. They were killed in a drive-by shooting; there was no success in the case until after Lloyd’s death.
When police searched the home of Hernandez’s cousin, they found a vehicle wanted in connection with the double murder. Additionally, testimony from Bradley placed Hernandez directly with the two men at the nightclub that same day. The pro athlete was charged with two counts of murder in 2017, but was acquitted after accusing Bradley of the shooting. Hernandez hanged himself in his jail cell just five days later.
The Story of American Sports maybe he will try to make sense out of madness. If early reviews are any indication, the series shows Hernandez’s evolving sexual paranoia in public, as well as his struggles with the pressures of performing as a professional athlete. In fact, Hernandez’s motivations were not proven.
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