Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez (2020) s01e02 Episode Script

- What you been up to?
- I'm still trying--
I'm trying to get you marketing deals.
It's not so easy, man.
I talked to Nike the other day.
They said that it's hard to put
the Nike swooshes on orange jumpsuits.
Yeah, I know. I know.
But, no. Everything is good, dude.
Everything is good.
Hey, can you get me a--
Can you get me a Smith & Wesson deal?
No, I cannot get you
a Smith & Wesson deal, you fuck.
Shit.
This was downtown Boston
in the Theater District.
Two men shot right in the middle
of the street in their car at a stop light
and it just baffled us
how we could not solve this.
Through the course of the investigation,
as the prosecutor
leading the investigation,
there were many times
where things would happen
and evidence would start to point
towards Mr. Hernandez,
and I would repeatedly say,
"No, it cannot be."
How can an individual who has
everything in the world going for him,
who has an incredible athletic
ability and career,
and everything going for him
financially and otherwise,
how could he get involved
in something like this?
Mary Saladna's live
in Foxborough tonight
where Patriots fans now know, Mary,
they were cheering on an accused killer.
That's right, Heather.
And we're across the street
from Gillette Stadium 'cause the Patriots
don't even want us on their property
when we're doing
an Aaron Hernandez story now.
Robert Kraft broke
his silence, telling reporters,
"If this stuff is true,
then I've been duped,
and our whole organization
has been duped."
I would've never expected
what he was off the field,
what Aaron was off the field,
I would've never expected that
from meeting him.
How do you know what that person is,
you know, mentally? How are they?
You don't really know.
You just see this quiet guy.
Once this whole thing came out
with the Odin Lloyd,
you started hearing all types of stuff.
Evidence for
the Boston case was discovered
during the Odin Lloyd
murder investigation.
Prosecutors in Boston claim Hernandez
drove up next to two men and opened fire
after Hernandez blamed them
for spilling a drink at a nightclub.
Allegedly, he pulls up to a car
next to him and shoots into the window.
That's no sane person.
That's no sane person.
Can we get a moment, Your Honor?
We were watching very closely
the Odin Lloyd prosecution,
and we were in regular contact
with the, prosecutors
and detectives assigned
to the Odin Lloyd case.
The prosecution was never allowed
to introduce to the jury
that Aaron Hernandez was a suspect
in a double homicide in July of 2012.
In this Odin murder,
are they gonna tie
the double murder into this murder
and have it, like, back to back?
Or they can't mention the other one
until you go to court for that one?
I'm saying that'll be
a whole different court thing.
They can't There's only certain
things you can bring into court.
But I ain't do either of them,
so I ain't worried about it.
They have to give you something.
They're not gonna let you go scot-free.
No, I'm not worried
if they give me anything.
I'm worried about doing life in jail.
Tanya Singleton was
the closest relative to Aaron Hernandez.
Despite the fact
that she was only a cousin,
he was, by his own admission on the tapes,
closer to her than his own mother,
closer to her than his brother.
She was his confidant.
She's currently battling
another round of breast cancer.
And today, she appeared frail
and had trouble standing up
to accept her sentence.
Prosecutors say the SUV used
in the double murder
was kept at Singleton's house
in Bristol, Connecticut,
until it was recovered
by a law enforcement in June of last year.
And rather than answer
one single question about the car
and how it got in her garage,
she took the contempt, and she ended up
going to jail for a number of months,
and it had a disastrous effect
on her cancer treatment.
Ms. Cumming-Singleton
was advised
that her testimony was necessary,
relative to a brutal, senseless
double homicide within the city of Boston.
She deliberately flouted that order
and refused to testify.
I do miss you
all the time though, stupid.
My God, I missed you the most
when you were in jail. I was
I was so depressed.
Really?
Yeah, 'cause I was like, she's in
jail, she can't be happy, she has cancer.
I was like, fuck, what if she
doesn't like me? I don't know, I was--
What are you talk--
Yeah, like that could ever happen. Duh.
What do you mean, you don't know?
Didn't I tell you your entire life
You have one minute left.
that I could never and would
never stop loving you, stupid?
You're like my child.
Yeah, okay, one day I hate you. No!
It was tough on Aaron
to ever be alone.
He was never more alone
than after his father died
and his brother was at college
and his mother
So there was a lot of things where no one
was more lonely at that point than Aaron.
And it's almost like every step he made
for the rest of his life,
he tried to prevent
from being alone again.
Aaron had a plan
where he was going to join DJ
at the University of Connecticut
and play football.
That plan changed
after Dennis Hernandez passed away.
After Dennis' death, Aaron decides to take
a visit to the University of Florida,
which was never part of the plan.
But you had an incredible program
and he gets down there
and commits, right during that weekend.
The news is a stunner to his family.
His mother had no idea it was coming.
His brother didn't know.
UConn didn't know.
It was a It was a quick turn.
I'm Aaron Hernandez
from Bristol, Connecticut.
I play at Bristol Central High School.
And I'm gonna be a Gator.
He had left for college
before we actually graduated.
So he was kind of a step ahead
of everyone.
Florida knew
what they were getting.
They do their due diligence,
and they knew that they were getting
an unbelievable player
that was very, very young
with some traumatic, emotional, you know,
things that are going to come with him.
University of Florida Gators,
at that time,
it was the number one program going.
This was the highest level
of college football you could get.
There were a lot
of elements to the University of Florida
football program that were attractive.
You know, you've got the cheerleaders,
the packed stadium,
you've got people chomping their arms.
You know, the town and the city,
the whole region, is all in.
Urban Meyer is this young,
aggressive coach
who is pursuing perfection.
Get the ball, let's go!
Let's see how hard we can go today!
Get in the end zone! What are you doing?
His number one thing when you talk
to Urban Meyer about recruiting
is he wants a competitor.
Then he'll deal with how good
of a player you are.
You have got to compete,
and you have to win to survive.
Hey, let's go! Get in here!
Get in here right now! Get in here!
Hey! We got 30 minutes
for the rest of our lives!
Tim Tebow was the guy
that you heard about as a player.
Tim Tebow!
- Tim Tebow!
- Tim Tebow!
Come on, Tebow!
Tebow! Tebow! Tebow! Tebow!
The national narrative at that point
is that Urban Meyer and Tim Tebow
are this uber-competitive pair
that are going to lead the Gators
to the national championship.
I wanna personally thank Coach Meyer
for giving me the opportunity
to be a Gator. I love him.
He's like a father figure to me.
And not only are
they gonna win,
but they're gonna do it
with their families around
and surrounded by faith
and there's gonna be this clean image
for the University of Florida
as they take on
the college football world.
I also wanna thank my Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ, for putting me here.
Tim Tebow's religion is known
to everybody, his deep faith.
He writes John 3:16 on his eye black.
It's visible to millions of viewers
every weekend.
And then you have Aaron Hernandez.
A 17-year-old fresh off
the death of his father,
trying to establish himself
all those miles south in Florida.
And if you're in Florida,
you know who the best players are
in Georgia and vice versa.
But if you're coming from,
you know, Connecticut,
they don't know who we are.
So, he had to prove himself
every day on the football field
knowing full well
that there was another guy
just about as capable
who could take his spot.
And Florida wouldn't miss a beat.
Nice job on catching the ball
from a very talented
freshman tight end, Aaron Hernandez!
Tim, you look like
you were looking at
Aaron Hernandez a lot during practice.
With a group of unproven receivers,
are you gonna look to him more?
I think he'll be, without a doubt,
one of the
Our main guys in offense.
So yeah, I'll be looking for him.
Aaron Hernandez
had that rare combination
of speed and size
and ability to catch the ball.
in the endzone, Hernandez!
Great catch!
He was a tremendous player
at the University of Florida.
Hernandez, 15, 10, five.
Touchdown! There it is!
He establishes himself as part
of the Florida machine
that's gonna be pursuing these titles.
He was a guy that you would go
into the game saying,
"He's one of the best players in America.
Give him the ball." He was that good.
Football meant everything to him.
He was very committed to it.
His focus was on point, loved the game.
They were an absolute powerhouse.
They won game after game after game.
But the stress of doing that
was also very difficult.
If the success
of your team If winning is predicated
on having this kid out on the field,
and if you don't win, your school
is gonna lose millions of dollars
That's a tremendous amount of pressure.
At Wisconsin, I was taken
aback by how serious practice was taken.
I was playing on every special team.
I was running scout team.
I was running with our twos on defense.
Objectively, just, like, too much
of a load for anybody.
And I saw, you know,
a line of our upperclassmen,
with their pants to their knees just
waiting to get their Toradol injection.
And I didn't know this at 18.
I thought, "My God!"
You know, "These 15 upperclassmen starters
are taking steroids before the game!"
Like Just completely naive.
Um, and I later found out it was Toradol,
this painkiller that our team docs
would administer
so guys could play
with whatever they had going on.
For real, weed and Toradol.
That's all you need, baby!
I'm telling you, bro,
they cancelling all the Toradols.
They don't want to give you
no Toradol shots no more.
For the players,
if a player, like, you know
what I mean by a player like you,
- you know what I'm saying?
- Yeah.
If players want it, man,
they're getting that.
To see that at 18,
that was really enlightening
to just how seriously it's taken.
Kind of my first glimpse at,
"This is very real. It's a big industry,
and they're willing to put in
basically kids, young men,
in situations that'll compromise
their long-term health
just to beat Northwestern."
Semi-pro was a way for us
to keep living our dreams.
Most of us, we just dream about it.
We live it out on the semi-pro field,
and we pay for that experience alone.
Yeah, we pay to play.
We pay to play.
We're all supposed to pay
about 75 to 100 bucks each,
just so we can pay the referees,
pay the trainers and EMTs
that come out and tape us up.
When I broke my arm,
be there for us to say, "Hey, I got you.
No worries, we'll get you right."
Definitely different paradox
than what Hernandez
or somebody would be going through.
But again, you can't put a price
on what we developed as brotherhood.
Like I said, Odin played outside
linebacker. He played right behind me.
First time I met him, I said,
"Who the fuck is that?"
I turned to Mike Branch, and Mike,
like a proud father or uncle
Mike's sitting there like,
"You like him, right?"
'Cause he played high school football
under Mike Branch.
And next thing you know,
we got this stud of a football player.
Odin Lloyd had to borrow
somebody's jersey
because he didn't put his money
in the pot at one point.
Odin was always one of them dudes
that we never thought would be
on either end of the gun.
We were supposed to be protected
'cause we were football players.
The most vile gangsters in these streets
knew not to fuck with us
'cause we were football players.
And it's so ironic
that a fuckin' football player
that wanted to be a fake fuckin' gangster
killed my boy.
This was an incredibly
sloppy crime.
There's now a grisly murder in a field
right next to Aaron Hernandez's home
in a town where these types of things
don't happen.
There just aren't shootings and killings
in North Attleboro.
Obviously, the first suspect that
they're gonna have is Aaron Hernandez.
He's the only person in North Attleboro
that Odin Lloyd knows.
The prosecution had
no murder weapon, no clear motive.
The prosecutors were able to collect
a mountain of evidence.
They had cell phone tower
evidence and various surveillance videos.
The cell towers tracked
their movements
all the way to a stop at a gas station
which was right off of Route 128.
One of the more jarring images
is of him dancing at the gas station.
He seems to be impaired.
Obviously, there's a lot of testimony
he'd been smoking
almost nonstop that weekend.
But here's a guy who just minutes later
will pick up a friend of his
and then drive him directly to a spot
where he murders him.
2:10 in the morning, they stop.
The defendant bought gas,
bought two other items.
Bubblicious blue cotton candy gum
and Black & Milds,
which are rolling papers for marijuana.
There was a blunt that was located
to the right of the deceased body.
Again, close proximity to him.
The DNA profile
from Aaron J. Hernandez
matched the deduced DNA profile
from this item.
Some of the evidence they find
is just amazing.
He returns the car the next day,
and there's still gun shells
in the Enterprise Rent-A-Car.
And who's the car registered to?
Aaron Hernandez.
I found a piece of chewed
Looked like blue Bubblicious gum.
And then when I moved the seat forward,
I looked up and I saw
what I thought was a bullet.
Prior to him leaving,
did he offer you something?
- He did.
- And what was that?
He offered me a piece of gum.
And did you see the gum
he was offering you?
It looks like it would've been
blue Bubblicious.
Investigators say they matched
shell casings from the murder scene
to one.45 caliber shell
found in Hernandez's rental car.
Did you form an opinion, sir,
as to whether or not the 2012 Nissan
made the imprint from the scene?
- I did.
- And what was that?
It made the impression.
There were tire tracks,
text messages
My opinion was
the footwear impression
was similar in manufacturing and design
and were consistent
with a retro 11 Air Jordan, size 13.
You name it, Hernandez was
linked to that scene indisputably.
The amount
of circumstantial evidence
continues to escalate, and it is clear
that Aaron Hernandez is guilty
of something significant.
What specifically that is pertains
to who pulled the trigger and who didn't.
If the charges are correct, he had,
you know, a mini arsenal of guns.
He carried them around.
If again the charges are correct,
his You know
If his feelings were hurt
or he felt personally dissed,
it seems at least on three instances,
he took it out by pulling out a gun
and shooting people.
Aaron Hernandez gets to campus
down in Gainesville.
He goes out on a Friday night
with Tim Tebow,
and he's at a bar called The Swamp.
He's underage,
so he shouldn't even be there.
But he is served two alcoholic drinks
that night,
and he thinks that there's no bill.
He thinks life's on scholarship.
The manager comes up to him,
and waves the receipt at him
and says, "What about this?
What about this?"
And Hernandez sucker punches him
right in the ear,
and he bursts his ear drum.
He's acting in a manner that,
you know, makes no sense.
A guy's asking him to pay his bar tab.
The manager declined to pursue charges,
and he was never charged
with a crime on it.
And is that the first taste of
"I can get away with this down here"?
Is this Hernandez stepping outside
of the Bristol Central star role
and saying, "From this day forth,
I'm not to be tested"?
My first shock when Aaron went down
to the University of Florida
was that he put on, like, 10 or 15 pounds.
And then, the tattoos started pouring on
as the years went on
at the University of Florida.
We did have all of his tattoos
analyzed and were told what they meant.
These weren't just art to Aaron Hernandez.
These tattoos meant a lot to him.
They were essentially his life.
There was a huge tattoo
that was memorializing his father,
who in many ways, meant the world to him.
Yeah, it's a quote my father
always used to give me.
"If it is to be, it is up to me."
Basically saying,
whatever I want my life to be,
it's up to me to make it out that way.
His father, he told me,
kept him in check.
It's clear that his core discipline
really came
from the guidance his father gave him
when his father was here.
Once his father passed, he basically lost
the ballast that kept him on course.
Tebow jump pass, third time.
He's done it!
Third time he's gotten a touchdown!
My nigga.
My nigga, boy, I know you were
thinking about that shit all night, boy!
Hey! Word to everything.
I was just telling niggas,
if you got to do one thing in the world,
nigga, you gotta go to Tootsie's, man.
Like, they don't 'Cause strip
clubs up here, there be aight bitches,
but there don't be bitches like that.
Them bitches look way better
than my wifey, you know what I'm saying?
There must've been a lot going on
in Aaron's head of what he was doing,
what the decisions
and just everything that was in there.
It must've been a difficult time
to figure out who he was
or what is gonna make me happy.
That's where the duality
started to surface.
My first thought
process to him getting all the tattoos
was he's trying to hide his sexuality.
He's down at Florida He's down there
with a different crew of people
that I mean, you have to do whatever
you can to mask the other side of you.
Moving into a premier football program
like Florida,
he probably felt a lot of shame
about his own sexuality
and about the things that he did,
and he certainly knew that he needed
to keep those things under wraps.
A lot of people would think,
you know, gay men
drink martinis, and they're thin
and neat and fit.
So, I gained a lot of weight,
I started chewing tobacco,
I drank a lot of beer, and so I kind of
flipped all those stereotypes.
And at one point in college,
I got up to a little over 370.
You know, I was trying to be
a stereotypical, sloppy, straight guy.
My coaches were pleading with me
to lose weight,
and they were making me
come in there at 6:00 a.m.
and ride the bike before class
and do these extra things
but, you know,
I couldn't tell them why I was
trying to be as unattractive as possible.
'Cause in my mind, I thought
if I'm unattractive as possible,
that takes the pressure off of having
to answer, "Why aren't you dating a girl?"
I be sitting in my cell, nigga,
and songs be coming back
because they have back in the day songs,
shit from like when we was in college.
And nigga,
they be playing that shit.
I be thinking of so many memories.
Word to everything, man.
Down in Gainesville,
there's a ton of distractions,
and head coach, Urban Meyer, knows this.
Urban is very involved,
works long hours,
meets with all of his different players
at all times.
Aaron would come over
to the family dinners. They would meet.
Urban said they would have
Bible studies together.
He was trying to mentor
and guide him
and be a kind of spiritual presence.
Aaron Hernandez was in my home
many, many times
sitting with my kids,
playing with my kids.
Just excruciatingly sad
to see a kid that we know
that was part of our family
make decisions that are just horrible.
That's not the Aaron Hernandez I know.
There's these people in this
jail Well, I can't see from my window,
but all these people, like,
will start laughing and shit
because there's one of those
on the other side of the jail in a unit.
Obviously, a male unit,
it's a male jail. In the window--
Don't you guys You guys
have a level of females, don't you?
Um, no, not in this jail.
I think Are you sure?
Are there any females
in this jail? No, right?
Is this an all-male jail?
Yeah, besides those things?
Yeah, well, there's a--
Stop calling them
"those things." Stop it. That is so rude.
No, they got titties.
I don't care!
They're called transgender.
They're called transgender!
Don't call them "those things."
Well, in jail,
that's what they call 'em. Things.
Well, don't be Stop hopping
on the bandwagon. Be a leader.
I'm not hopping.
That's what they are.
- We just don't say transgenders.
- They're not things.
They're humans, just like you.
I understand that.
I need to teach you so much.
No, I've got so much better.
I just sit and think sometimes,
like I can't wait to be free.
I'm gonna be free soon,
just to let you know.
He was what we call
a crash dummy.
That's what we call them, crash dummies.
What's a crash dummy?
Somebody who's literally ready to crash
into the wall to impress somebody else
and improve their chances
to be more popular.
They don't have any savoir faire.
They don't have nothing other than
the ability to just do something brash
or arrogant
or really off-the-wall to get attention.
But then when you look in
that SEC football in Florida,
you're almost to the top of the mountain.
So I can see him getting away
Like, getting away
with a lot of stuff down there,
and the more you get away with shit,
the more you feel untouchable.
If he was hanging with guys like us,
this shit would've never happened.
'Cause we'd be the first motherfuckers
to say, "We know what happens
on that side of the fence. Motherfucker,
you better pick a side,
'cause it can't be both sides.
'Cause sooner or later, you're gonna be
called to both sides at the same time,
and you can't split yourself in half."
There is an open case
in Gainesville where one night,
a couple guys got in a fight
with some football players, they believed.
As they're pulling away,
they say they saw a muscular man
who fits Aaron Hernandez's description
shoot into their car.
Both men were shot. They got away.
He mentioned something
about that over the shooting,
which was his freshman year of college.
I don't even think he was 18 years old.
I think he was still 17
when that had happened.
Like, he didn't have to do
a police report or nothing,
but I don't know much about it.
Who was involved in that
officially remains a mystery
in Gainesville.
Does not take any college
football star long before they realize
they operate at a different standard.
Charges can disappear
in these college towns,
and there's reluctant witnesses.
That's how these college towns work.
It's a part
of a way of life.
Football's very, very important
and very, very powerful.
It's incredibly profitable.
It makes tremendous amounts of money.
It's a system where the
marketing arm is the athletics department,
and they want to have these images.
Aaron Hernandez, to some degree,
clearly was allowed to continue playing
without any repercussions
for what he had done,
as long as he excelled
on the football field.
Congratulations
to the University of Florida Gators,
who have won the school's
third National Football Championship!
Aaron told people
that Urban Meyer instructed him
not to come back for his senior year.
That meant Aaron needed to enter
the NFL at the age of 20.
Well, he expected to be
a first round draft pick.
You know, I think You know,
that's what we all expected him to be.
You know, I think
his play on the field showed that.
Come on, Aaron! Let's go!
Draft picks are
extremely valuable.
These are million-dollar decisions
that can shape the direction of a team.
They don't leave anything up to guessing.
Aaron was enough
of a question mark character-wise
that NFL teams
hired private investigators.
They did behavioral analysis.
His score for maturity
was the lowest possible.
They did reveal failed drug tests.
Aaron was absolutely operating
on the edge.
Aaron knew that the NFL
was aware of his past issues.
To combat that, his agent and Aaron
composed a letter
to the New England Patriots
and other teams
that he was willing to be drug tested
during season, more than any other player.
They wanted as much money as he could get,
which is what you get
when you're a top draft pick.
The 2010 NFL Draft
is officially open.
I remember watching the draft.
I was very proud,
and I was very happy for him,
and I was very excited to see
the future for him.
The first round goes by.
The second round goes by.
With the 42nd pick in the 2010 NFL Draft,
the New England Patriots select
Rob Gronkowski, tight end, Arizona.
And then
the third round goes by.
And I'm like, "What is happening?
When is this gonna stop?"
You know, "When is my buddy
gonna make a team?"
With the 15th pick
of the fourth round,
the New England Patriots select
Aaron Hernandez, tight end, Florida.
Here's a kid that has the talent
of a first rounder,
but doesn't go until the fourth round.
And then the red flags start to come up.
Why is that?
We got off to a good start
with Aaron Hernandez.
He was a player that frankly
we were surprised that he was
That we had the opportunity to draft him
there in the fourth round,
but, you know, glad we did.
Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft
have a relationship with Urban Meyer,
and they leaned on him for advice.
That's how the league works,
you know.
It's all about,
"Hey, what's the deal on this guy?
Talk to me. What's he really like?"
Here's a kid that was young,
little immature,
maybe hanging around the wrong group,
but he's got this unbelievable talent.
If you can get him there, he'll listen,
he's coachable, you can kinda hone him in.
Bill reported this week
that Aaron Hernandez,
the fourth round tight end,
failed multiple drug tests,
marijuana tests.
The team and the player
circled the wagons this week
and denied it, said it was just one.
He had a positive drug test
and sat out a game.
We knew that every time he went home.
And that was a concern of mine,
every time he would go to Connecticut,
I'd have players on my team say,
"Watch this guy."
And his mom and I would talk.
He has a great brother named DJ Hernandez,
great brother. And I'd talk to him
probably every three, four days.
How's he doing and I coach
When he goes home
So we would try not to let him
go back to Connecticut.
Patriots, probably
the best organization in the world.
Tom Brady's the best quarterback
of all time.
Bill Belichick's the best coach
of all time.
But at that point,
I wanted him to be drafted
by Seattle, Oakland, San Francisco,
or San Diego, as far away as possible.
You know, just so that
the people that needed to see him,
the people that wanted to see him
had the access
to fly out and go to see him, but they
couldn't just take a two-hour drive.
Sir, if you would state
your full name, please.
- Alexander Bradley.
- And just spell your last name.
B- R-A-D-L-E-Y.
- How old are you, sir?
- Thirty-two years old.
At some point, did you meet an individual
by the name of Aaron Hernandez?
- Yes.
- And at that time, when you first met him,
was he going to school?
He was just finishing school.
He was preparing to enter the NFL.
Alexander Bradley is a convicted
drug dealer,
drug kingpin
is how prosecutors describe him.
And a gun dealer in Connecticut.
So let's start with
the last batch of charges, if I may.
You presently have charges
pending against you
of Violation of a Protective Order.
Reckless Endangerment in the first degree.
And Interference with an Officer
or Resisting an Officer.
Burglary in the third degree.
And Disorderly Conduct,
- and Criminal Mischief, second degree.
- Correct.
At one point,
Alexander Bradley was shot in the groin
at a bar in Hartford.
Bradley sought revenge,
went and got a gun outside of the bar,
came back
and shot into the bar 11 times.
Just hanging out with a guy
like Alexander Bradley made no sense.
That wasn't the life
that he was projecting to everybody else.
He was hanging out
with a very dangerous, very violent guy.
I would bring him marijuana.
That's how our relationship began,
kind of.
That's what
our relationship was at the beginning.
I see. And just tell us about that.
Would you see him smoke every day?
- Yes. Heavily.
- How often in a day's time?
- How many times in a day?
- Chain smoking.
See, now that I can go
to the store and buy it legally,
I don't need that guy in my life anymore.
And if Aaron didn't need
that guy in his life,
who knows if any of this happens?
At some point,
did your relationship change?
Yes. It progressed
from when I first met him.
Okay, and at some point,
you become friends
At some point, yes. We were good friends.
It's ultimately about you trying
to put yourself around people
that wanna see you be successful,
in the right way.
When you talk about
the Patriots' organization,
and I played
for a bunch of different organizations
throughout my NFL career,
I would say they do things the right way.
"The Patriot way" sounds like
a cliche, cheesy marketing thing.
It works.
Guys come there, conform
and success happens. They buy in,
and there's a track record to buy in,
where it's about discipline
and accountability.
That you're gonna show up early,
you're gonna work hard,
you're gonna do the right thing
and we're gonna win championships.
Walking into
the Patriots' locker room in 2009,
they talked about playoffs,
they talked about Super Bowl.
They expect winning.
I think what makes
Coach Belichick such a good coach
is his extreme attention to detail.
I can compare his style
to other coaches I've had
and no one really stacks up.
He studied generals and military
'cause of his dad,
and that was kind of his foundation
with how he runs the place.
There's certainly a thought that
when Aaron Hernandez goes to New England,
it's actually the perfect place for him
in terms of that culture.
There's no medals for trying.
This isn't like eighth grade
where everybody gets a trophy.
We're in a professional sport,
and it's competitive to win.
That's what we do.
As soon as the Patriots drafted me,
you know, that was the best possible
situation I could have ended up in
'cause, you know, there's no distractions.
There's just an extreme focus on winning,
and nothing else
really flies around there.
And for a closeted guy
you know, that's great.
Do you know an individual
named Aaron Hernandez?
- I do.
- What grade did you meet?
I believe it was sixth grade.
When he came back to the area
in 2010 and signed with the Patriots,
what, if anything,
happened with your friendship?
You know, we started talking more often.
You know, we became close again.
How frequently would you
speak with Mr. Hernandez on the phone?
Probably every day.
We were super close.
How are you and Shay doing?
We're cordial, know what I mean?
That's all it is? Just cordial?
She hates me every other day,
and I understand.
And I know she'll take me back,
know what I mean,
but she just says, like, there's no way
you're gonna get out of jail
and then, I'm just gonna calm down now
after being in jail and not partying,
not fucking, not doing anything,
you know what I mean?
Who knows what the fuck I wanna do?
No, I think if you get out of jail,
you should maybe lay low for a little bit.
Once Aaron was drafted
by the Patriots,
did the two of you decide
to become a couple in the long run?
Yes.
I had decided to kind of
up and leave my life and move with him.
Do you have any rules
about using marijuana?
- Did I have any rules?
- Yes.
- He had a designated spot.
- Where was that?
His man cave.
- In the basement?
- Yes.
And at some point, did you meet
an individual by the name of Odin Lloyd?
- I did.
- And how did you meet Odin Lloyd?
Through my sister.
For Odin,
he could've just stayed local
and did these little bitty jobs,
but he wanted something better.
And then around the time
when I stopped seeing him,
I believe that's when he started
rubbing elbows with that group of people.
Then I saw him later at a scrimmage,
and he looked good.
He looked like he'd been working out,
eating good, three meals a day.
I'm like, "Man, look at this dude.
Getting big."
So he must've been doing
something different.
Aaron and Odin,
there was a possibility they were going
to become future brother-in-laws.
The sisters would hang out all the time,
and so these two were kinda
forced into a relationship.
But they turned out to be friends.
There were a lot of connections,
they both loved football.
They also bonded over marijuana.
These were enthusiasts, if you will.
Odin Lloyd
would obtain marijuana
and roll blunts for Aaron,
especially for Aaron.
Odin was known as The Blunt Master.
The Jenkins sisters would be
hanging out upstairs at the McMansion.
Odin and Aaron would
go down to the basement
and they'd roll joints and smoke 'em
down there and watch movies,
play video games and all that.
These two became friends.
I asked them, I said,
"When did you have time to play football?
I mean, you're smoking in your basement,
you're smoking at your house,
you're smoking at the restaurant."
And he said
he liked to smoke, and he said
he was pretty much high all the time.
I played two seasons with Aaron.
Him and Gronkowski came in together.
Aaron definitely had a big personality.
You could see it. You know,
I don't wanna say loud, but you know,
you knew he was in a room.
It was not, you know, the Patriot way,
but you know, he was who he was.
He approached me in 2010
and, you know, was asking me what I did
and, you know, outside of football.
And he was like, "You know, man,
take my number down.
You know, we can go hang out."
And I still got the text message,
and it just says, "Holla at me."
But we never got a chance to,
you know, to hang out.
I think when a lot of us think
about NFL players,
you wonder what do they do
in their off-time,
do they hang out with the other players?
Well, Aaron was a pretty young guy
when he started with the Patriots,
and he was close enough
to his hometown of Bristol, Connecticut
where it was easy for him to go back
and hang out with his crowd,
his old friends.
And he did. He did that a lot.
I was talking
to my friend James Develin,
who plays for the Patriots and, you know,
he kinda just expressed to me that,
you know, Aaron wasn't building
these relationships,
and he wasn't having fun
with the people around him,
and he wasn't contributing
to the enthusiasm and the positive message
that is important to success in football.
That made me nervous.
That made me really nervous.
Hey!
I'm trying
to watch over Aaron and Brandon.
Brandon! That's great, man.
They're good guys.
They're a lot to handle.
Good luck the rest of the way. See you.
The Patriots, they're just like
I don't know.
They just try to ruin all your fun
'cause they want you to only be business,
which is why they win,
you know what I mean?
I don't know. You say that
Belichick is, like, the worst coach
I loved it because I love football
more than most people.
Bill Belichick, as a coach,
he's not afraid to do things
that everybody is not doing.
In the league, we say
it's a copy-cat league
because once one person does something,
you know, another team will do it.
Well, Bill, you know, he won't do
what everybody else is doing.
Bill Belichick designs an offense
that would change the NFL
with Rob Gronkowski on one side,
Aaron Hernandez on another.
It works immediately.
The pass is caught
by Hernandez!
I liked
I think we all like Hernandez.
This tight end coming out of nowhere,
and all of a sudden
I mean, he's making plays.
Look at Hernandez.
I know we call him a tight end,
but he's part wide receiver out there.
He brought a lot of toughness
and flair to the New England Patriots.
I did respect
what he did on the football field,
so I followed him in that aspect,
you know, when he was playing, like,
"Hey, him and Gronkowski, they're gonna be
the greatest two tight end tandem in
NFL history," so I was a big fan of his.
And that is Hernandez
running with it,
and getting free inside the 30!
Hernandez cuts back to the ten
To me, it's the hands.
I think he's had
fifteen passes thrown in his direction,
13 catches, so a very high percentage.
With his pass, in traffic,
it is caught!
That's right on the crown.
Right on the crown.
Yeah, it is.
My body broke,
like in the morning, people were like
"What the fuck is wrong with you?"
I'm like
I'm like a grandpa, like all my bones
are like sore, you know what I mean?
My body's so fucked up, honestly.
Just from football, you know what I mean?
That time
you got hurt on the field,
and I had no clue what to do.
I didn't know
whether or not to run down
and see what happened
or to just sit there. It was really scary.
Your compatriot over there,
Hernandez, came out
with a little bit of a head injury.
How's he feeling?
Yes, he's feeling great.
And Hernandez is a beast.
I love playing with him and everything.
All those drugs
they shoot you guys up with
and tell you to go out there and play.
"Play through your pain! Go, go!"
He's hit,
but Hernandez keeps going!
Know what's crazy?
They banned that shit from the league
saying you only could take it
if you have a serious injury or something.
Hernandez was
the intended receiver.
And he's slow getting up.
Guess who they gave that
shit to every fucking game?
Me.
There goes
Aaron Hernandez now.
Yeah, he took a shot there.
We could hear it.
It's a story
that rings painfully true
for more and more NFL retirees
every season. Legends of the game
have complained about or were diagnosed
with ailments
connected to repeated blows to the head.
You know, the first case of CTE
was a Wisconsin alum. Mike Webster.
He was a crucial part
of the Steelers'
legendary team in the 1970s.
But after his death,
he became the first player
to be diagnosed
with the brain disease CTE.
You know, the first thing I did,
and I was completely naive,
was Google "What does CTE stand for?"
Chronic Traumatic
Encephalopathy, or CTE,
a degenerative brain disease
that can lead to memory loss,
depression, and dementia.
So it was in our awareness, but really
just as a caricature of the issue.
We would joke occasionally later
in college,
like if somebody forgot their keys.
Like, "Haha, the CTE is kicking in!"
Family and friends
of former NFL standout Junior Seau
gathered outside his
Oceanside, California home
in shock and grief.
The former San Diego Chargers linebacker
was found dead
of a gunshot wound this morning.
Growing up, Junior Seau
was one of my favorite players.
Being able to be in a locker room with
this guy was an amazing experience.
He wasn't there at first,
but then we signed him,
and it was a great moment.
And obviously, I'm going, and you know,
saying wassup to him and you know,
how much I, you know, respect his game.
He seemed like such a carefree guy.
He used to play his ukulele
all the time with his feet up.
You would never have thought that
a guy like that would take his own life.
Amazingly, looking back,
it gave me pause for like a day or two.
'Cause here's a guy who's one of the best
ever to play the position that I play.
You know, I wanted to be a Junior Seau.
And he shot himself in the chest
so his brain could be studied.
That was shocking to me.
We have an ABC News/ESPN
exclusive report
that has jolted the world
of professional football.
Junior Seau was the star player
who killed himself last May,
and now ABC's Jim Avila breaks the news
that he did have a brain disease
linked to head trauma.
The National Institutes
of Health found evidence
of shrunken and hardened brain cells
like these. Tell-tale signs of CTE.
When you're so focused
and when so much
internal and external expectations
are put on you,
all that stuff doesn't matter.
It's out of mind, out of sight.
You know, I wanted to be
a Hall of Fame linebacker.
I think that's why
you can ignore a Junior Seau suicide.
With Junior Seau, what do
you think is his legacy on the game?
Great team player,
very supportive of his teammates.
I mean, everybody in the locker room
loved Junior.
They love what he did and they loved
the way that he interacted with the team.
Every game, you gotta be focused here.
It's not like
We treat this
like every other game. Playoffs
Obviously, the players are more excited,
coaches are more excited,
but I'd say with Bill Belichick,
you gotta come prepared every game.
Here comes Billy Cundiff
to tie this game and in all likelihood,
send it to over-time.
Thirty-two yards to tie it.
And the kick Look out! Look out!
It's no good! It's no good!
And the Patriots will now
take the journey to Indianapolis.
They're heading to Super Bowl 46!
When does reality set in
for a football player,
that they're actually a participant
in the Super Bowl?
I know it really hit me
when we get to the game
and walk in, all those cameras flashing
and really noticing
this is the Super Bowl,
but it's a dream come true.
I never thought I'd be in this position
or have this experience,
but I'll definitely take it all in
and hold this for the rest of my life.
The year that he went
to the Super Bowl,
there was a big shindig down at
his mom's school with flowers and balloons
and all of the students
were super excited.
Let's go, Aaron! Let's go!
Let's go, Aaron! Let's go!
Every parent
hopes to raise their kid
to turn out to be something great,
but to turn out to be now a role model,
you have dozens of kids here
who want to be your son.
Aaron has a kind heart.
He's very, very kind
Well, if you feel
you can't talk to me
How could I? How could I?
We could try.
No, you know how many times
I tried? I always test you.
I've been testing you
for about 12, 15 years.
I'll just tell you one thing
and tell you not to tell anyone,
and it always gets back to me.
Well, how do you think
me and Tanya
Why do you think me and Tanya
are so close?
That's just one of the reasons.
I could tell her
But a mother's not like
Yes, a mother is!
You're supposed to be able
to talk to somebody.
I mean, let your feelings out.
Talk about personal things,
you know what I mean?
Just everything,
you know what I mean?
Like there's so many things
I would love to talk to you,
so you could know me as a person.
But I never could tell you.
And you're gonna die without even
knowing your son.
That's the craziest thing about it.
And make sure you listen to
all your teachers, do good in school,
and hopefully the best happens
for all you guys.
Just finish the year right.
Talk to you soon.
He scored a touchdown
in the Super Bowl.
It's the pinnacle
of a football player's dream.
He did it at age 22.
I think
the biggest misconception
is he was someone who had everything
and threw it all away.
What is your definition of being happy?
From what we know now, can you ever really
define that he was happy?
Can you ever really define
that he was content?
He did everything he thought
he needed to do to be happy.
He got to the NFL bought a huge house,
had a fiancée that loved him.
He was doing everything that,
in that storybook setting,
would make you happy,
but obviously he was still hurting.
Some factors that were
eating him up inside.
I couldn't imagine if I had
actually acted on my natural urges to
you know, to get with other guys.
If I'd actually done that, the paranoia
that would've been in my mind
to, you know, feel like I had to cover
my tracks and make sure nothing got out
Mr. Bradley, did you notice
anything about the way the defendant,
Mr. Aaron Hernandez, acted when he would
be at night clubs with you?
- Yes.
- What did you observe?
He acted in a manner
Like a tough guy all the time. Like--
What would he say, if you recall,
when people were staring at him?
Did he say something to you?
He usually would say he didn't like
people staring him
'cause he felt like they were trying him
or testing him.
You're a famous NFL player.
That's gonna happen.
It's not that big of a deal.
In other words, I'd try to explain to him
that people weren't trying him
all the time.
It's just the situation,
the position he was in.
And he didn't really need to overreact
all the time to that type of scenario.
You see this common theme
of him being impulsive
and of being able, on the drop of a hat,
to go from being extremely jovial, nice,
friendly, somewhat loving guy
to, in a moment, becoming angry
and physical and violent.
At some point, Mr. Bradley,
did Aaron Hernandez ask you
to help him purchase something?
Yes.
What did he ask you to help him purchase?
He asked me to get him a firearm.
Did he indicate to you
why he wanted you to purchase
a firearm for him?
Yes. He felt like
he needed it for protection.
He felt like he was tired
of people trying him
and felt like people thought
he was soft or something,
and he was out to prove something.
He doesn't need to behave
in this kind of way
unless he's preparing to use guns
at some point
that he doesn't want to be traced,
or he just thinks it's cool
to go this way.
He would have secret compartments
put into cars
where he could hide a gun
as he's driving around.
That's something that someone
with a criminal background does
in case they get pulled over
by the police.
He's allowed to have a gun.
Yet he's still acting this way.
When you start to hear
about some of this stuff,
it made him feel like this gangster,
you know what I mean?
Here he is, like,
he's able to play football by day,
gangster by night in the sense of,
you know, running around with guns
and drugs and things of that nature.
But he never had that person
that could say,
"Hey, Aaron. You need to get out of that.
You know, leave that stuff alone.
That Even if that's
what you did in the past,
you in a completely different space now.
Leave that alone.
Focus on what you got going on now."
This was a guy
that they took a chance on,
which a lot of teams take chances on guys.
There's guys with issues
you know coming into your program,
and the whole key is this,
putting them in an environment
where he can have some success
on and off the field.
We're a collection of our choices.
He had a decision to make.
Did he want to go down this road or did he
wanna go down another road?
He chose to go down the wrong road.
This is not on the New England Patriots.
This is on the player.
Mr. Bradley, at the time,
did you know the individual here
in the braids?
- No.
- Had you ever met him before in your life?
No.
You ever heard of him before in your life?
Never.
The people he murdered
had no power over him.
They were all victims of sneak attacks.
He was the one who was more powerful.
None of 'em had a weapon.
None of 'em could fight back.
There was a group of guys,
and one of the gentlemen was dancing,
and his drink splashed up
and spilled on Mr. Hernandez
and some got on myself as well.
Once Mr. Hernandez turned
towards the individual,
I kinda touched him on his collar and was
like, "Nah, let's just get out of here,"
you know, to avoid the conflict.
If I didn't do that, we were gonna have
an issue in there.
'Cause his temper, the way he was,
he was just agitated.
Plus, he was in a position
in his life where
he didn't really need that,
so I just figured
we could get outta there.
There's other spots around.
Later, we walked back down
towards the garage somewhat.
Mr. Hernandez said,
"There they go! There they go!"
What happened next?
He said, "Go, go!
Let's catch up to the car,
the BMW that passed."
After I got through that light,
as I was approaching the car,
he removed a firearm from the glove box.
He said, "Yo!" one time.
And nobody turned around from the car.
He wind up, saying "yo" again.
And then they turned and he was like,
"Wassup now, niggas?"
He started firing shots into the car.
How many shots
did you hear fired?
He fired five shots.
The gun began clicking after that.
I heard, like, three or four clicks.
Clicks coming from the gun?
Coming from the gun.
I was notified at about
four o'clock in the morning.
And I was asked if I would take the case.
It was an eerie scene.
This is a part of Boston,
the Theater District,
that is usually very much buzzing.
It was an eerie quiet.
And at that point,
we have no idea who's involved.
And I couldn't help but think, you know,
this is somebody's brother,
this is somebody's son.
And it was It's a horrible thing.
When detectives in Boston began
trying to investigate the double homicide,
their problem was there was no one
with a motive to kill these guys.
Didn't make any sense.
These guys weren't in gangs.
They weren't drug dealers.
They were young guys from Cape Verde
who had immigrated to the United States,
cleaning offices at night.
They had just gone out on a really quiet
Sunday night in Boston.
And so they were baffled.
Who could've possibly have done this?
And why in such a dramatic fashion?
It's not so much that leads went dry.
There were no leads.
The investigation, at that point,
very much became focused on the car.
That's all we had.
We had an eyewitness behind the car,
and we had the survivors
from inside the car.
So we knew without any doubt
that the killer car,
the suspect's vehicle, was a silver SUV.
We then focused on the nightclub itself.
We saw somebody enter the nightclub,
the Cure Lounge,
who one of the detectives
right away recognized,
"Hey, that's Aaron Hernandez!"
And I remember just thinking to myself,
"Well, you know, that's kinda crazy.
He couldn't be involved in this."
You have Aaron Hernandez on
surveillance video in the club that night,
but how many of the Boston police
at that time would've thought
that Aaron Hernandez, star Patriot,
would be involved with a double homicide?
He has no criminal record at this point.
The Florida incidents, whatever they were,
he had gotten away with.
His link to that didn't come for years.
You're obviously a favorite
in the Hispanic community.
What ways do you give back
to the community?
I just try to be a role model,
and when I see Hispanics
that look up to me,
I try to lead them in the right direction.
There's not that many Hispanics in the NFL
and it's just an honor to be one.
Aaron Hernandez is reporting
to the Patriots Training Camp.
Fans are cheering for him,
and nobody has any idea.
Aaron lived a life
as a chameleon.
The Patriots had their owner,
Robert Kraft,
praising him for his maturity.
So what Aaron had shown,
and what he had shown on a daily basis,
you can't just necessarily
always fake that.
He's there every day, working out,
going through meetings,
doing everything that they want.
The Patriots were so convinced
that a guy they waited
until the fourth round to draft
because of concerns about his character
reward him with a $40 million contract
just one month
after the double homicide in Boston.
The Patriots are not going
to give somebody $40 million
if they have a concern about them.
There certainly was some connection
between owner and player
that isn't always common in the NFL.
Still kinda surreal, but take it in
over the next few days,
months, years and just It's a blessing
and hopefully
I make the right decisions with it.
We were on a fucking little leash,
little leash.
Give me a crumb here and there.
Aaron, you're so great!
Blah, blah, blah. Give you
a little crumb here and there. Bullshit.
What do you want me to do?
I told you when you got
that fucking 40 million,
give me a million. I'm set for life.
I'm not giving
I'm helping DJ right now
Fuck you mean,
give you a million dollars?
You act like I had $40 million.
Nobody could touch your--
Get the fuck outta here, Mom.
I do have to ask you,
when you heard about Aaron Hernandez,
what you thought, what your reaction was?
Next question.
It had to be a shock
for all your teammates.
Next question.
All right, then I'll ask you.
It seems to me that these two men
played on opposite sides of the line
but they had more than that
in terms of being opposites.
Truthfully, I'm not gonna go
Yeah, I'm not gonna go there.
I'll walk off right now.
- Don't walk off!
- Right now.
- I'll change the subject!
- Yeah, yeah, change it.
People talk about OJ.
OJ Simpson was a retired football player,
who was involved in a string
of domestic violence.
We've seen this kind of crime before.
No one has allegedly murdered two people
and then played an entire season
as a professional athlete.
We've never seen something like that.
But as the time progressed, and you've
gone well past the first 48 hours,
well past the first two weeks,
when it gets to the point where
that leads to no suspect,
it's extremely, extremely frustrating
and a little bit depressing
because what we would do
is we would still stay
in regular contact with the two families.
And they would oftentimes ask, you know,
"Is there any update
with our loved one's murder?"
Now what, if any, observations
did you make, Mr. Bradley,
over those next several weeks and months
regarding the defendant's demeanor,
particularly when you
would go out to clubs?
He became extremely paranoid
of everything and everybody.
He just assumed
everyone was a detective
or everything, every matter
was police related,
just his sense of paranoia was heightened.
He didn't like iPhones around him
'cause he said
that he learned that they can
record everything at all times.
And he was just extremely paranoid.
February 2013.
Aaron and Alexander Bradley
take a trip down to Florida
to attend some parties,
to hang out, kind of a vacation.
At one point, they are out at a local
gentlemen's club, Tootsie's Cabaret.
Aaron is particularly paranoid at this
point that he's going to get in trouble
over the 2012 double homicide in Boston.
He pointed out two gentlemen
with low haircuts,
and he told me he thought
that they were police officers.
What did you say?
I told him, if they are,
it's because of the stupid shit
he did in Boston.
What was Mr. Hernandez's
response to that?
He became, like, standoffish.
He got upset, I could tell.
He walked away from me.
Towards the end of the night,
sometime close to five o'clock
in the morning,
- did all of you decide to leave?
- Yes.
At some point
during the car ride, Mr. Bradley,
did you fall asleep?
Yes.
When you woke up
from the sleep, what did you see?
Mr. Hernandez pointing a gun at my face.
And as you put up
the defense gesture, what happened?
He fired a shot. He shot the gun.
This is where one man
was found shot just earlier this morning,
just before seven o'clock.
We're told a man on his way to work
actually heard the gunshot go off
and saw the body
and that's when he called 911.
Now we do know that victim was taken
to St. Mary's Medical Center
to be treated for his injuries.
We're not sure of his condition
at this time.
Also, sheriff's office hasn't indicated
if they are looking for somebody
at this time.
Tell us about the phone call
to Aaron Hernandez
when you woke up that next morning.
I called him. I said, "Wassup?"
And he said, "Who Who's this?"
I was like, "You know who this is."