an astonishing talent. >> he was projected to be one of the best tight end of this generation. >> turned american tragedy. >> what say you madam foreperson? >> nerd in the first degree. >> superstar on the cleland, overshadowed by violence and the victims he left behind. >> my son was shot and killed. >> breaking news. >> now the latest turn in this twisted story. >> aaron hernandez has killed himself in prison. >> the suicide that ended this downward spiral for aaron

hernande hernandez. >> after dark in boston's theater district, the marquees light up, the historic theaters pull up. ♪ >> and the city's hottest dance clubs open up for business. daniel day abrew an immigration from the african island loved the newspaper stop energy and action of the scene. it's where he comes to party with four friends one night in the summer of 2012. de abreu never returns home, dying in a hail of bullets alongside a fellow cape verdian. families of the men, including de ab re ue's father ernesto are

devastated. >> how difficult is it for you as the father? at 29-years-old, daniel day abreu sent money home to relatives he left behind in cape verde. >> for danny, it was about the family. >> reporter: he was newly married and worked as a janitor while studying english. his american dream. >> state trooper. >> reporter: state trooper, his father lls america's danny's goalas to become a ploefrs police officer like he was back hom home. it's a sadness that overtakes my life, the mother of danny's friend sofero fratato tells me, mother and son had been

separated for ten years while she worked in the u.s. to support him and other family members back home. they were reunited when fratato came to the u.s. just six months before his death. >> seeing him was so emotional for me. i was so happy. i had so much joy. >> his plan was to live with his mom and earn some money in the u.s. before returning to cape verde and his job as a tour go ahead. >> he loved the job he had left hientd. >> because he used his language skil skills. >> he spoke english, portuguese, creole and french. >> how duping he had the talent to learn so many different languages? >> he was so intelligent.

i thought my son was going to be someone. >> on that fateful summer night in 2012, they and three other friends arrived near a nightclub called cure lou him just after midnight and -- lounge just after midnight and park nearby. >> a 2003 bmw at approximately 12:30 a.m. the victims entered the foyer area of the cure lounge. >> prosecutors say nothing unusual appears to happen while the group is inside t. five men leave cure nightclub about 2:00 a.m. and pittsburgh up their car at a nearby garage. de abreu is driving. fratato is in the passenger's seat. according to camera, they followed the bmw as it pulls

away from the parking garage. de abreu drives three blocks before stopping his car for a red light. prosecutors say that's when the four runner pulls alongside them and opens fire. sanchez is in the back seat of de abreu's car. >> everything was quick. he stopped and said something like, what's up, negro? he started shooting. it's automatic. he started shooting crazy. i said, danny, talk to me, you hear me? are you okay? and then he died. >> danny de abreu suffered fatal gunshot wounds to his chest. fratata suffered gunshot wounds to the head. >> as to the men in the back

seat are unharm the third is shot in the arm. detectives interview all three survivors, scour security cameras, but never find the shooter. the case grows cold with winter. seven months pass. riviera beach, florida, a man named alexander bradley is shot in the head and left for dead in an industrial park. two men 245 work at that building hear a gunshot and tell police they rush outside and find the body of a bloody man lying in a fetal position just about here according to a police report. one of the men asked the victim who shot you? bradley won't say. not after doctors retrieve a bullet fragment from his head, not after he loses his right

eye. four more months pass. north attleboro, massachusetts, another man is killed, another family shattered. >> somebody killed my baby. >> only then do the pieces start to come together.

june 15th, 2013, a springtime saturday if boston, massachusetts, just perfect for football. a semi pro boston ban its are on the field for their first scrimmage of the season. among those suited up, 27-year-old defensive end odon lloyd. >> odon eat and drink for ball. >> reporter: as a teen, lloyd dreamed of making it to the nfl.

after high school, he played for the bandits and worked part time as a gardener. lloyd's coach says the young man was trying to figure out what he wanted to do next. >> at some point i realized i'm not going to the nfl. this will be just for fun. i will have to prepare myself a life. >> it would never happen. two days later, an monday, june 17th, 35 miles south of boston, in a town called north atle b booboboo -- attleboro find his body, shot in the torso six times an left faceup. there are foot prints and ..45 caliber shells near his body, tire tracks too. lloyd's cell phone is with him, so is his wallet and cash why

it. the driver's license that identifies him to police hours later, they break the news to his mother. >> i know my son, i'm sorry, mom, but, yes, your son was shot and killed my heart stopped in that second and i fell to the floo floor. >> lloyd was the oldest of her three children and her only son. he was the center of her heart. >> that was the best gift the lord ever gave me in my life. >> his sister, olivia, is also brother's best friend darryl

hodge. did she s he's dead? >> in between the cries and the balling, darryl, odon is dead, i'll be there in a minute. >> the first thing i asked is who killed my son? >> what do you say to that? >> i couldn't wrap my head and her head, i know, mama, i don't know. >> but there is a solid lead. inside lloyd's pocket, a keys to a chevy suburban represented by aaron hernandez. the any hernandez, who plays for the new england patriots. >> he was projected to be one of the best tight ends of his generation. >> but why are the keys of an nfl star in odon lloyd's pocket? it turns out, they know one another. >> what's your understanding of how they met? >> they were dating sisters. >> how much do you know they hung out together? >> rarely.

it's two different worlds. buddy had one world. we got our world. >> but then the friday before lloyd is killed, hernandez invites lloyd into his world. the two men go clubing. >> i go clubbing with mr. herpdz. he partied. he had a good time. >> reporter: and all week long, lloyd is driving the suburban hernandez has represented, to football practice on saturday, with his friends on sunday afternoon. >> laughing, talking, a done, driving, got the one hand-type driving, later, we went to my mom's house, he went in and played pool. >> i've seen odon the most to tack am shot i've ever seen. >> you have no chance in [ bleep

]. >> oh. >> a good day? >> a good day. >> you guys see that. >> reporter: it's ending as lloyd gets a text from his job, saying he had to work the next morning. >> then he got another text asking him to hang out. >> reporter: a text from hernandez. >> a text, let's have another great night. >> reporter: hours later, it's already the wee hours of monday morning. lloyd is picked up by a grey t altima. his sister shequila sees him go, afterwards, lloyd sends messages asking who he left with. the last one tells her. nfl. just so you know. hours later, with police now at her home, she thinks maybe it's a clue. >> she says, ma, the only nfl

person he knows is any hernanaan hernandez. >> over the next several day, versions search his home and cars, they remove bags of possible everyday. then on june 26ing, 2013, nine days after the murder of odon lloyd, hernandez is arrested and charged with first degree murder. his plea. >> not guilty. >> reporter: the patriot's release him be i the time he reaches the courthouse. >> i and other members of the organization were shocked and disappointed. >> reporter: on that very same day, police are searching the house of hernandez' cousin. they believe the football player may have left behind clothing he wore the night of lloyd's murder. they don't find clothes, but

what they do find could connect aaron hernandez with two more murde murde murders.

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connecticut, police are investigating the death of odon lloyd when they make an extraordinary discovery. a silver toyota forerunner with rhode island plates. the vehicle longs to aaron hernandez, a leasing company loaned it to him in exchange for promotional work and it appears to be the one boston police have been trying to find for nearly a year, the one police say was used in the murder of two dreamers, immigrants daniel de abreu and fratata. >> it matches up with a car on under surveillance video. hernandez has just been formally charged with one murder. is it possible the nfl star is responsible for three deaths? when you first we heard of a

possible connection between this young talented new england patriot football player and three murders, what did you think? right.ck. this i a marketable recognizable individual who plays for a super bowl champion new england patriots, who is catching passes from tom brady. >> once the initial connection is made, boston authorities reexamine under surveillance video gathered a year before and come to suspect that hernandez is their killer. >> that killer they have been searching for. >> they found hernandez in all the key places. they found hernandez obviously at the club but also at a parking area and in a car that matches up with the car that was used in the shooting. >> who ill the car was gathering cobwebs and two families were grieving, hernandez was cashing in with the patriots.

he signed a $40 million contract extension five weeks after the deaths of de abreu and fratato on the same day he said this. >> you can't come here that reckless and do your own stuff and act the way i wanted to act. you get changed by bill belichick's way. >> at the time people thought he was talking about marijuana. >> that he used a lot of marijuana. he had gotten older, a lot more mature. it doesn't seem like he was talking about marijuana. >> reporter: police are in no rush to charge him with the murders. the expatriot is in jail already held without bail until he can be tried for odon lloyd's death. the idea that hrdina could have murdered three young men shocks e who remember him growing up in bristol, connecticut. >> aaron was our golden boy. he had the family traits, his

father and uncle stand on athletes. >> reporter: liss older brother dj was a sports hero, too. bob montgomery covers sports for the bristol press. >> aaron was in track, in addition to football, he also did basketball. he was described in any sport he played as a man playing with children. >> reporter: hernandez' athletic ability was partly genetic, partly parental influence. >> his father was pretty strict. he told me his father used to make him shoot 500 shots before he went sometimes to play with his friends. >> reporter: that father/son relationship comes up in jamie conversations between sheriff thomas hobson and hernandez after his arrest. >> his dad clearly kept him anchored. i saw a closeness with them that i had never seen before. this was something about dennis and aaron the way they intertwined, it was magic in my eyes.

>> reporter: magic that didn't last, ending when hernandez was just 16-years-old. brad mcmillan and andrew rogale were on his basketball team. >> i walked in, he says, dennis has passed away. >> reporter: dennis hernandez, aaron's father, his anchor died unexpectedly after a routine hernia surgery. >> he felt uncomfortable to see him so hurt. >> clearly, at 16-years-old, losing your father, it would be very easy to fall into the lifestyle of following people that don't help you make the best choices. >> reporter: one choice he made was to tattoo some of his dad's advice on his arms. >> this is a quote my father told me, if it is to be, it is up to me. it basically says, whatever i want my life to be, it's up to

me to make that it way. >> reporter: what he wanted to be is an nfl football star. so in january of 2007, he cut his high school senior year in half and headed to the university of florida, joining star quarterback tim tebow. by april, still hong before the fwator's season opener -- gator's season opener, the rookie teen loses his cool at this popular off campus restaurant. there is an argument between aaron hernandez and the manager over a bill. tim tebow tries to calm things down and settle the check. but according to this police report, it all ends with aaron hernandez sucker pun wereing the manager on the left side of his head, bursting an ear drum. the manager later tells police, university of florida coaches and lawyers have contacted him and they're working on an

agreement. a university spokesman says they are fought aware of any settment. -- not aware of any settlement. was hernandez on a sliery slope? he was tearing up the field as a gator, but some who knew him were worried, especially when levers unsupervised away from the game. if you could keep him on one side, he'd be fine, one source put it. the problem was, he couldn't stay away from the other side adding it was a recipe for disaster. and it was a recipe that included marijuana. hernandez was suspended for using the drug. his past becomes an issue when he enters the nfl draft in 2010. during his junior year at florida. >> teams spent a lot of time on backgrounds checks. prior to the draft, aaron hernandez was projected as a player that could be a 1st round

pick and no later than a 2nd round pick. >> and now with another selection, they go aaron hernandez. >> reporter: he ends up the 113th pick, passed over until the fourth round. >> i have to believe that him falling so far is more than just a story about marijuana, that there were questions raised in background checks about him that caused teams to say, we're going to downgrade him on our draft board. >> reporter: ahead, aaron hernandez is formally accused of killing de abreu and fratato and there is a surprise witness who says he saw it all.

♪ >> reporter: bristol county jail south of boston, in the spring of 2014, it's home for former new england patriot aaron hernandez. as his lawyers prepare to defend him against charges he murdered odon lloyd. but before he goes to trial for killing lloyd, he faces a judge as the prime suspect in two other murders. the 2012 homicides of daniel de

abreu and safero fratato. nearly two full years after the homicides of the cape verdes immigrants hernandez in indicted accused of killing de abreu with a shot to the chest and fratato with a bullet to his head. >> aaron hernandez fired a ..38 caliber revolver multiple times from the driver's side of his vehicle. >> reporter: it's all overwhelming for maria texeira, fratato's mother who gens crying almost as soon as she walks into the arraignment. >> it's a sadness that overtas my life. it's a terrible pain inside me. >> he killed and murdered

sofrero fratato. how do you plead? >> not guilty. >> evidence suggests leading up to july, 2012 the defendant had become sensitive and angered by what he believes people were disrespecting him when he frequented nightclubs in the area. >> reporter: prosecutors say hernandez has a gun with him when he arrives in boston that night to party with a friend. the two men enter cure lounge within minutes of de abreu and his buddies. it's a coincidence, they don't know one another. shortly after they get into the club, de abreu bumps into hernandez and spills part of his drink. >> that i say that accident enrages hernandez and he won't let it go. >> the defendant became angered, increasingly agitated, particularly after mr. de abreu

smiled and did not apologize. that's it. just a spilled drink is what prosecutors claim sets off hernandez. >> there was no observed verbal argument and there was no physical contact between and beyo tha initialbump. >> reporter: but prosecutors say hernandez appears boiling mad on security video. later, they say, hernandez and his friend wait for de abreu and his buddies to leave the club and follow them when they drive a away. aaron hernandez is now charged in two separate murder cases. there is the murder of odon lloyd and then there's this case the murder of de abreu and fratato. it appears to be the stronger one. >> the sources of everyday are much stronger at this point than

exists with the odon lloyd case. >> reporter: stronger for two reasons, first a gun has been found. >> have you the murder weapon? >> we do. >> the gun was recovered in a routine traffic stop. >> reporter: the car's driver tells police the gun belongs to a friend who used to be a gold to visit a football player. forensic tests prove the gun is the same one used in the boston double murder. the murder weapon in the lloyd case is never found and prosecutors in the lloyd case don't have an eyewitness willing to testify against hernandez. prosecutors in the de abreu-fratato case do. >> we have witnesses who, particularly one witness who apparently will say that hernandez did it. >> reporter: his name is alexander bradley. the man shot in the eye in florida who refused to tell

police who did it. bradley is also the friend with hernandez the night de abreu and fratato are killed. he is talking now, claiming hernandez shot him to shut him up about the double murder. >> he saw, from what we have been told, hernandez open fire at the men in the bmw, bradley can put hernandez there, bradley is going to explain why hernandez did it. bradley is really the link between aaron hernandez and the crime. >> reporter: up next, hernandez is tried for the murder of odon lloyd. >> without eyewitnesses, i have a lot of concern about those thin things.

>> reporter: for odon lloyd's matter, ursula ward, every day is a struggle. >> hey, handsome, mommy's here to see you again. >> reporter: visiting her son's grave helps. >> i love you so much, sweetie. >> reporter: and her faith gives her strength. >> with god all things are

possible. i say that to him all the time. >> reporter: getting aaron hernandez convicted for her son's murder is possible but not guaranteed. there's no weapon, no motive, no eyewitness testimony. ursula ward enters court a bit worried. >> ladies and gentlemen, on june 16th of 2013 -- >> i have every confidence in the prosecutors, but without a murder weapon, i have a lot of concern about those things. then i found word that there is videos all over. >> reporter: ward is talking about the security cameras that seem to be nearly everywhere the night lloyd was killed. those videos combined with text messages left prosecutors show jurors what happened that night.

five hours before lloyd's murder at a restaurant with his fiancee and friends. >> aaron, eddie. >> reporter: hernandez is texting his right-hand man ernest wallace who lives 100 miles away in connect. >> he says, hurry your ass up. >> reporter: at about the same time, he's texting lloyd to arrange a meeting. >> i'm coming to grab, grab that tonight. you going to be around? >> reporter: lloyd agrees typing all right, where? after midnight, security cameras show wallace arriving at hernandez' home with a sidekick, carlos ortiz, hernandez isn't home yet. but when he returns after 1:00 a.m. the same security system records him walking with what appears to be a gun. >> in this photo, you go into see the outline of the firearm.

>> reporter: at 1:12 a.m. cameras on the driveway pick up the men driving away in a rented nissan altima. at 2:10 a.m. they're heading towards odon lloyd's house and stop at a gas station. >> he went to buy gum. >> reporter: blue cotton candy gum. about 20 minutes later, lloyd's younger sister shequila sees an altima pull up in front of their home. >> the car stopped at the driveway. >> at that time did your brother get in the car? >> yes. >> reporter: cell towers and a tool booth camera track the car as it travels towards a secluded area of an industrial park. at 3:22 a.m., lloyd's sister gets a final text from him telling him her he's with nfl, just so you know.

>> he was telling shequila he's in trouble, if anything happen to him, this is who he is supposed to look to. >> reporter: but the judge disagrees, ruling it's not proof lloyd thought he was going to die. she bars the message from trial and the jury never hears it. as lloyd sends the text, headlights in the upper left of this video can be seen pulling into an unlit section of the industrial park. prosecutors say it's the altima. for the next three minutes and 40 seconds, there is no movement on screen. >> i wonder what my son was going through at that moment. >> reporter: then headlights re-emerge the time in between, prosecutors say is when lloyd is shot dead. around that same time, employees

working the overnight shift at the industrial park are jolted. >> i we heard a loud bang, maybe four or five times. i thought it was fireworks. >> reporter: minutes later at 3:29 a.m., hernandez' home security system catches the altima pulling up in his driveway. three people get out. odon lloyd isn't one of them. an investigator testifies that impressions he made of the altima's tires matched tracks found at the scene. the jury also hears startling testimony from the woman on duty when hernandez returns the rented altima. >> i found a piece of chewed like blew bubbleicous gum, i lifted the seat up i saw what i to the was a bullet. >> reporter: that's the type of gum herpdz purchased hours

earlier. and it's not a bullet she finds but a shell casing. a ballistics expert testifies that casing matches five others found at the murder scene. >> they were fired from the same unknown weapon capable of chambering ..45 caliber ammunition. >> reporter: the murder weapon, prosecutors believe it's a glock, has never been found. they suspect it's a box inside this bag. hernandez' fiancee testifies she doesn't know what's in the bag and that she gets rid of it after hernandez calls her and asks her to ditch it. >> where did you dispose of it? >> in a dumpster. >> and where was the dumpster? >> i don't know. >> reporter: the defense does its best to punch holes in the state's case, suggesting it was pot not a gun in that bag. >> what did you recognize that

smell to be? >> marijuana. >> reporter: and whenever possible, they question images in the grainy videos that authorities believe show who murderedn lloyd. >> does that appear to be mr. hernandez holding -- >> it appears to be mr. hernandez holding something with a white flow to it. >> reporter: defense lawyers also stress the lack of motive in the case. >> airplane hernandez, he had a long term football contract. he was the father to a seven-month-old baby girl, in june of 2013, aaron hernandez was planning his future, not a murder. >> reporter: ahead a verdict and a new lawyer.

for ursula ward, it has been two tortious months. then on april 15th, 2015, a

verdict. >> guilty murder in the first degree. >> aaron hernandez is found guilty of murdering odin lloyd. >> i raise my hand to the master and i said "thank you jesus," my baby can finally rest in peace. in >> her baby may be able to rest ? piece the question is will these two get the same results. >> the trial is difficult. what do you tell yourself to try to get through this? >> i ask god to give me strengths and courage to endure this.

>> almost two years after the lloyd's verdict, aaron hernandez goes on trial for murdering her son furtado and his friend. also there a new nationally known lawyer for hernandez, jose baez and the main witness in time around alex bradley testifying with immunity. bradley says he saw it all and hernandez shot him in the face to keep him dwt >> he said what's up now? started firing shots in the car. he fired five shots. five rounds. i heard three clicks. >> you indicated that you and mr. hernandez walked up to the bar. >> he said it started after de abreu hernandez bumps into one another at the club. >> he got mad. he was upset.

i kind of grabbed him no, lets just get out of here to avoid conflicts. the foreign relentlessly attacked brandly a man currently in prison for shooting up a night club. the point was to get money. >> that was my intent yet. >> you wanted to him him too right. >> yes. >> because pure a killer the attorney points the finger at bradley saying he killed the two, not hernandez. the astounding verdict comes weeks later. do you find the defendant guilty

or not guilty of the murder. >> not guilty. >> not guilty of killing daniel de abreu. not guilty of killing daniel fratato. families are in had shock. >> goes without saying devastatesed by food's verdict. awful lot of tears and. >> as for the defense attorney he tells tmz he was relieved appear thinks he can overto your honor the lloyd conviction on appeal. it seems that hernandez had has hit a serious patch of good luck. which is why the news on the morning of wednesday, april 19th is both shocking and insplikable. >> breaking news this morning convicted murderer aaron hernandez found dead in his prison cell. the officials say he hanged himself. >> just hours before his former teammates celebrate the super bowl victory at the white house.

prison guards find a sheet blocking the view into hernandez's cell. his door jammed with card board, likely intended to slow them down. when the door is opened, a grewsome scene. details are newly released documents. adrian hernandez naked hanging from a sheet. busy ara drawings on the wall. the words john 3:16 written on his forehead a large dot of blood on each foot. a bible nearby open to the same verse marked in blood. it promises eternal life to believers in christ. he has left three notes behind including to his young daughter and fiance. i love you, he writes, adding his death was the al mighty's

plan. he is rushed to the hospital and pronounced dead. suicide the prison says. but the attorney is skeptical. >> whether suicide or not we don't make that call until everything is done. >> why are you skeptical of the conclusion that it was a suicide. >> why are you so quick to accept their word? >> the death of aaron hernandez is not the end of in story. there is more. hernandez was fighting to overturn his conviction in odin lloyd's murder but died before the appeal was complete. according to an old legal rule, that means in the eyes of the law the murder conviction never happened. technically leaving aaron hernandez not guilty of killing odin lloyd. daniel de abreu and fratato,

three men murdered, four tragic endings. >> we go up this beautiful mountain. this incredible town dp it goes back to the 12th century. people trudge up the hill to the beautiful church. to take the walk that michael corleone took now and forever more it will be sort of the god father theme park where they're playing the god father theme over and over. >> i think most thoughtful cecil