Aaron Hernandez Signed a $40 Million NFL Contract – Less Than Five Years Later, He Died a Convicted Murderer at 27 With a Message on His Prison Cell Wall

At just 22, the tight end had secured a contract worth up to $40 million with the New England Patriots. His football career appeared to be reaching new heights, but within a year, his life took a dramatic turn.

For years, Aaron Hernandez's life had revolved around football, a game that took him from a Connecticut high school to packed college stadiums and, eventually, the New England Patriots.

But what followed unfolded far from the stadium. A killing near his home drew investigators into Hernandez's life, ended his football career almost overnight, and eventually placed him before juries in two separate murder trials.

From College Champion to a $40 Million NFL Deal

Long before Hernandez became a familiar face in New England, he had established himself as one of Connecticut's most promising young football players.

In 2007, he was named Connecticut's Gatorade Football Player of the Year while playing tight end for Bristol Central High School. He then headed to the University of Florida, where he played under Head Coach Urban Meyer and joined a team led by quarterback Tim Tebow.

Success came quickly. Hernandez and the Gators won the national championship during the 2008 season, and the following year, he became the first Florida player to win the John Mackey Award as college football's top tight end.

With his stock rising, Hernandez decided in January 2010 to leave Florida after three years and enter the NFL draft rather than return for his senior season.

Then, less than a year after signing the deal, police arrived at his home while investigating a killing nearby.

The New England Patriots selected him in the fourth round on April 24, 2010. Three days later, Hernandez acknowledged that he had failed a drug test while at Florida, but once his rookie season began, his production helped establish him as an important part of the Patriots' offense.

Alongside fellow rookie tight end Rob Gronkowski, Hernandez formed one of the NFL's most productive young tight end pairings. He finished the 2011 season with 910 receiving yards and seven touchdowns and was named a Pro Bowl alternate.

His performances helped make him part of a Patriots team competing at the highest level, and New England rewarded that rise on August 27, 2012, when Hernandez signed a five-year contract extension worth up to $40 million.

At 22, he had gone from a decorated high school player to a college national champion and then to a long-term place in one of the NFL's most successful organizations. Then, less than a year after signing the deal, police arrived at his home while investigating a killing nearby.

The Killing That Brought Police to Hernandez's Door

On June 17, 2013, a jogger discovered 27-year-old Odin Lloyd's body at an industrial park in North Attleboro, Massachusetts, about a mile from Hernandez's home. Lloyd, a semipro football player who had been dating the younger sister of Hernandez's fiancée, Shayanna Jenkins, had been shot multiple times.

The connection to Hernandez soon became central to the investigation. Prosecutors said Lloyd had last been seen at about 2:30 a.m. with Hernandez and two of his friends, Carlos Ortiz and Ernest Wallace, who were traveling in a rented silver Nissan Altima.

Surveillance images from Hernandez's own security system later added another element to the case. According to a news report about the footage, prosecutors said images taken before 1 a.m. appeared to show Hernandez inside his home holding what looked like a firearm.

After Lloyd was picked up and later shot five times, footage showed Hernandez back at his house with Ortiz and Wallace at approximately 3:32 a.m. Court documents stated that Hernandez again appeared to have a gun in his left hand as he approached his basement door.

Police searched Hernandez's home on June 18, and eight days later, the NFL career that had seemed secure only months earlier effectively ended. Authorities arrested the tight end on June 26 and charged him with first-degree murder in Lloyd's death, as well as five weapons-related offenses.

Another charge followed in May 2015, when Hernandez was indicted for witness intimidation in connection with the 2013 shooting of Alexander Bradley.

He pleaded not guilty and was held without bail, while the Patriots released him less than two hours after his arrest. As the murder case worked its way toward trial, Hernandez remained behind bars and encountered further legal trouble.

He allegedly threatened a jail employee in November 2013 and was involved in an altercation with another inmate in February 2014, incidents that subsequently led to additional charges.

By then, however, investigators were also pursuing another case that would place Hernandez at the center of two more killings.

A Murder Conviction Followed by a Second Trial

On May 15, 2014, Hernandez was charged with two counts of first-degree murder over the 2012 shooting deaths of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado in Boston. He pleaded not guilty to those charges, leaving him facing separate murder prosecutions while awaiting trial over Lloyd's death.

The Lloyd case reached a courtroom first. Opening statements began in Fall River, Massachusetts, on January 29, 2015, and after more than two months of testimony, the jury returned its verdict on April 15 — Hernandez was found guilty of first-degree murder and weapons charges.

The conviction carried a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, transforming the 25-year-old former NFL player into a convicted murderer less than three years after he had signed his multimillion-dollar Patriots extension.

Another charge followed in May 2015, when Hernandez was indicted for witness intimidation in connection with the 2013 shooting of Alexander Bradley.

Prosecutors believed Bradley had witnessed the events surrounding the de Abreu and Furtado killings and alleged that Hernandez shot him after Bradley made a remark about the double murder. The tight end pleaded not guilty.

The investigation into his death revealed what had been left behind inside the cell.

Nearly two years after his conviction for killing Lloyd, Hernandez returned to court to face the de Abreu and Furtado case. On April 14, 2017, the jury acquitted him of murdering both men and of intimidating Bradley. Hernandez had faced eight counts and was convicted of only one — illegal possession of a firearm.

For the football player, the verdict removed the possibility of two additional murder convictions, but it did not change the life sentence he was already serving for Lloyd's death. Then, just five days after the acquittal, correction officers approached his prison cell.

What Was Written on Hernandez's Forehead and Prison Cell Wall?

Hernandez had been locked inside his cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center shortly before 8 p.m. on April 18, 2017. According to the subsequent state police investigation, an officer last saw him at approximately 1 a.m. the following morning.

Around two hours later, an officer noticed a sheet hanging in front of the tight end's cell door. After asking Hernandez to remove it or respond and receiving no answer, the officer moved the sheet and saw Hernandez hanging from the window.

Once officers entered, they tried to lift the football player to relieve the pressure before cutting him down and beginning chest compressions. However, Hernandez never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead after being found at approximately 3:05 a.m. on April 19. He was 27.

The investigation into his death revealed what had been left behind inside the cell. Hernandez had a fresh cut on his right middle finger, while "John 3:16" was written in ink across his forehead. On the wall, amid several drawings, investigators found the same biblical reference written in what appeared to be blood.

The ruling restored the conviction that had defined the final years of Hernandez's life.

Below the drawings sat a Bible opened to John 3:16, with the verse itself marked in blood. Three handwritten notes were also discovered beside the Bible, although descriptions of their contents were redacted from the state police report.

Investigators reviewed Hernandez's last five telephone calls and reported that he made no "apparent indication of an intent to harm himself" during any of them.

His death then produced one final legal turn in the Lloyd case. On May 9, 2017, a Massachusetts judge vacated Hernandez's murder conviction under a doctrine known as abatement, which erased convictions when defendants died before their appeals could be heard.

The decision was later reversed. On March 13, 2019, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court unanimously abolished the abatement rule and reinstated Hernandez's conviction for Lloyd's murder.

The ruling restored the conviction that had defined the final years of Hernandez's life. His last days, however, ended with a different image: a former NFL player alone in a prison cell, a Bible opened beneath drawings on the wall, and the words "John 3:16" left behind.