0:00

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge new seasons

0:02

of American Scandal early and ad-free right

0:04

now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery

0:07

app or on Apple Podcasts. A listener

0:09

note, this episode contains descriptions of suicide

0:11

and may not be suitable for a

0:14

younger audience. It's

0:27

the morning of June 26th, 2013,

0:29

on a beach in Connecticut. DJ

0:32

Hernandez unfolds a towel and lays it

0:34

neatly on the sand. He

0:36

kicks off his sandals and lies face

0:38

down, savoring the warm sun on his

0:40

back and the salty Atlantic air in

0:42

his lungs. As DJ takes

0:45

deep breaths, he begins to feel the

0:47

tension melt away, and there's no shortage

0:49

of that. For the past

0:51

week, DJ's brother Aaron Hernandez has been at

0:53

the center of the sports universe for all

0:55

the wrong reasons. Aaron is

0:58

being investigated for his possible involvement in

1:00

the murder of his friend, Odin Lloyd.

1:03

Aaron keeps telling DJ that he had nothing

1:05

to do with Lloyd's death. Still,

1:07

DJ can't help but imagine the worst.

1:09

What if his brother, whether guilty or not,

1:12

actually ends up in jail? Aaron's

1:14

NFL career would be over and he could

1:16

be looking at life in prison. Even

1:19

if that doesn't happen, the accusation alone

1:21

is already wreaking havoc on the Hernandez

1:23

family. Between the 24-7 media coverage,

1:25

the multiple police

1:28

searches of Aaron's house, and the fact that DJ

1:30

had to take a leave of absence from his

1:32

coaching job to be with Aaron and their mother,

1:34

Terri, it's all been a lot to handle. That's

1:37

why DJ has taken today for himself.

1:40

He's come to the beach alone, hoping

1:42

to relax and forget about the chaos for

1:44

a few hours. But just

1:47

minutes after lying down, DJ's phone rings.

1:50

It's his mother, Terri, and she's in a panic.

1:52

DJ tells her to calm down and speak

1:54

slowly, but she keeps yelling

1:57

the same phrase, they're taking him, they're

1:59

taking him. Aaron

2:01

is being arrested. DJ

2:03

tells his mother that he'll be home as soon as he

2:05

can. He hangs up, grabs his

2:07

towel and sandals and runs to the car. He

2:10

races to his mother's home as fast as

2:12

he can, driving with no shoes on, his

2:14

sandy feet pressing the gas pedal and accelerating

2:17

well past the speed limit. Arriving

2:22

at his childhood home, DJ rushes up the

2:24

front steps and through the front door. He

2:27

finds his mother clinging to the living room wall,

2:29

barely able to stand on her own. Mom,

2:32

mom, what's happening? Poor baby, how can they do

2:34

this to him? Did they

2:36

take Aaron yet? The cops are at his house.

2:38

It's on TV. Oh DJ, what are

2:40

we going to do? That'll be okay, mom. Just

2:43

sit down. DJ guides his

2:45

mother to the counter. He

2:47

takes a seat next to her and turns up

2:49

the volume on the TV. The

2:51

camera is fixed on the front door of

2:53

Aaron's upscale suburban home in Massachusetts. DJ

2:56

covers his mouth in shock. As he

2:58

sees Aaron appear in the doorway, his

3:00

hands cuff behind his back. Then

3:02

he's led down the driveway by two detectives

3:04

in suits and ties. Oh my God,

3:07

there he is. This is really

3:09

happening. Why do they need to put cuffs on him?

3:11

He's not going to hurt anybody. Aaron

3:14

is dressed in a plain white V-neck T-shirt,

3:16

baggy red basketball shorts. He wouldn't even let

3:18

him put on decent clothes. They're

3:20

treating him like some sort of criminal. They

3:23

want everyone watching to think he's guilty. Oh

3:25

mom, it doesn't matter what people think. There's no evidence

3:27

against him. I just wish I could

3:29

be there with him. Oh, my baby. DJ

3:32

wraps his arms around his mother, comforting her

3:35

as she begins to sob. They

3:37

watch as Aaron is led into the back

3:39

of a police cruiser and driven away. Don't

3:41

DJ, I think I'm going to be

3:43

sick. Terry gets up

3:45

and runs to the bathroom, slamming the door

3:47

behind her. Now alone

3:49

on the couch, DJ watches

3:51

as the news replays the perp walk

3:53

over and over again like a highlight

3:55

film. He looks closely in

3:58

his brother's face. Aaron has acted. so

4:00

outwardly confident, even nonchalant, about

4:03

this investigation. But now

4:05

for the first time, DJ can see

4:07

real fear on Aaron's face. DJ

4:11

mutes the TV and leans back on the

4:13

couch. It doesn't really feel real

4:15

to him that his baby brother is facing

4:17

arrest and a possible murder charge. Aaron's

4:20

gotten into his fair share of trouble in

4:22

the past, but almost every time, his incredible

4:24

talent helped him get off the hook. Aaron

4:27

always seemed almost untouchable, like

4:29

the rules didn't apply to him. But

4:32

now DJ wonders if his brother has finally

4:34

gone too far. Maybe this time, football

4:37

won't be enough to keep Aaron Hernandez out

4:39

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6:06

From Wondery, I'm Lindsey Graham and

6:09

this is American Scam. In

6:30

the spring of 2013, Aaron Hernandez

6:32

seemingly had it all. He

6:35

leveraged his athletic gifts as a pro-football tight

6:37

end into a record-setting $40 million

6:39

contract with the New England Patriots.

6:42

He had a suburban mansion he shared with

6:44

his fiancé and baby daughter, a fleet of

6:46

cars and the adoration of fans. Hernandez

6:49

had overcome an abusive childhood, the

6:51

premature death of his father, and

6:53

multiple serious head injuries to create

6:55

a life beyond his wildest dreams.

6:58

But in June of 2013, Hernandez was

7:00

arrested for the murder of his friend,

7:02

Odin Lloyd. The star-tight end

7:04

now found himself in jail, facing a

7:07

mountain of evidence against him and a

7:09

possible life sentence. Throughout

7:11

his career, both in college and the

7:13

NFL, Hernandez had lived on the edge.

7:16

There were failed drug tests, a

7:18

high-speed police chase, a bar fight,

7:20

and several shootings he was present

7:22

for, including one that resulted in

7:24

two fatalities. But he almost

7:26

always escaped any consequences for his actions,

7:28

falling back on the special privileges afforded

7:31

to a man of his unique football

7:33

talent. But now, as

7:35

Hernandez awaits trial for murder, it looks

7:37

like his reckless and sometimes violent behavior

7:40

may finally cost him his freedom. This

7:43

is episode four, the end zone. It's

7:49

January 29th, 2015 in Fall River, Massachusetts. DJ

7:54

Hernandez sits in a courtroom at the Justice Center,

7:56

gnawing on his fingernails as he waits for the

7:58

trial of his brother, Aaron to

8:01

begin. Aaron has spent the last 18 months

8:03

in jail charged with first-degree murder and

8:06

the death of Odin Lloyd. It's

8:08

been a terrible time for the whole family,

8:10

but today Aaron will finally have his day

8:12

in court and DJ knows how important it

8:15

is to be here, supporting his brother and

8:17

to show the world and the jury that

8:19

Aaron's family is standing behind him. DJ

8:22

is seated in the court with his mother,

8:24

Aaron's fiance, and a handful of other relatives.

8:27

Just six feet in front of them is Aaron

8:29

flanked by a team of lawyers at the defense

8:31

table, and as the judge enters

8:33

they all stand. Aaron takes the

8:35

chance to look back and mouth, I love you

8:37

to DJ and his family. DJ smiles

8:40

and puts his hand on his heart. As

8:43

they sit back down, DJ glances to

8:45

his right and sees a middle-aged black

8:47

woman in a blue dress in the

8:49

first row behind the prosecution, dabbing her

8:51

eyes with tissue. DJ realizes that

8:53

this must be the mother of Odin Lloyd.

8:56

The sight of her puts a lump in his throat. No

8:59

matter the outcome of this trial, he knows that this

9:01

poor woman is never going to see her son again.

9:04

Then as the jurors file in and take

9:06

their seats in the jury box, DJ looks

9:08

them over. He wonders what they must

9:10

be thinking about Aaron. DJ still

9:12

thinks of Aaron as his sweet, fun-loving little

9:14

brother, but he worries how the

9:16

jury will perceive him, a muscled six-foot-three

9:19

young man covered in tattoos. The

9:21

court is called to order and DJ

9:23

listens as prosecutor Patrick Bomberg begins his

9:25

opening statement, laying out what the state

9:27

believes happened in the early morning hours

9:29

of June 17th, 2013. That night, Bomberg

9:34

says, Aaron texted his friends Bo

9:36

Wallace and Daniel Ortiz, two men

9:39

with lengthy criminal records. He

9:41

asked them to come by Aaron's home and then around

9:43

2.30 a.m. the three men picked

9:45

up the victim, Odin Lloyd, at his home

9:48

in Boston. Then the prosecutor

9:50

brings up a video on a TV mounted

9:52

in the courtroom. It's surveillance

9:54

footage of a white Nissan Altima rented

9:56

in Aaron's name outside Lloyd's home at

9:58

2.30 a.m. 3 a.m. Then

10:01

the prosecutor shows a text message from

10:03

Lloyd to his sister indicating that he

10:05

was heading out with Aaron. Baumburg

10:08

explains that in the days prior, Lloyd

10:10

had said something to Aaron that made

10:12

him so angry and so suspicious that

10:14

he decided to kill his friend. So

10:17

he drove Lloyd to a nearby industrial park

10:19

and shot him six times. Next,

10:22

in footage from Aaron's own home

10:24

security cameras, Baumburg shows the same

10:26

white Altima pulling into Aaron's driveway

10:28

an hour later. Aaron,

10:30

Wallace, and Ortiz get out of the car,

10:32

but Lloyd is nowhere to be seen. Aaron

10:35

is carrying a dark colored object in his

10:37

hand. Baumburg says it's a

10:39

Glock pistol, the same caliber as the

10:41

gun used to kill Lloyd. DJ

10:44

is shocked by what he's seeing. He

10:46

had no idea this footage existed. Now

10:49

he feels torn about what to believe. Aaron

10:52

swore to DJ that he was not present when

10:54

Lloyd was killed and that he had no idea

10:56

what happened that night. But now DJ

10:58

realizes that was a lie. This

11:01

video makes it clear Aaron was

11:03

with Lloyd the night he died. DJ

11:06

feels his stomach churn. For the

11:08

first time, he's starting to think that Aaron could

11:10

really be guilty of murder. Over

11:16

the next few months, more than 100 witnesses

11:19

are called before the jury, nearly all

11:21

by the prosecution. The

11:23

court hears testimony from detectives, ballistic

11:25

experts, and pathologists who examine the

11:27

victim's corpse. They also

11:29

hear from a DNA expert who explains

11:32

that a marijuana blunt discovered next to

11:34

Lloyd's body contained DNA from both Lloyd

11:36

and Hernandez. Also

11:39

called to testify is the enterprise employee

11:41

who rented cars to both Hernandez and

11:43

Lloyd, and an employee from

11:45

Glock who identifies the gun Hernandez is

11:47

seen holding in surveillance footage. The

11:50

jury also hears from Alexander Bradley,

11:52

Hernandez's former friend and personal assistant,

11:54

who testifies that he had seen

11:56

a similar looking Glock inside a

11:58

small black box. in Hernandez's home

12:01

prior to the killing. In

12:03

several especially tense days in court,

12:05

Hernandez's fiancé, Cheyanna Jenkins, has called

12:07

to the stand. She

12:09

testifies that on the day after Lloyd

12:11

was killed, she disposed of a black

12:13

box similar to the one described by

12:15

Bradley. Cheyanna says she got rid

12:18

of it at Hernandez's request and that she

12:20

never asked him what was in the box

12:22

or even looked inside herself. Instead,

12:24

she says she stuffed it in a garbage

12:27

bag, covered it with old clothes, and threw

12:29

it into a dumpster somewhere around town. But

12:32

she can't recall the location. After

12:34

Cheyanna finishes her testimony, New England

12:36

Patriots owner Robert Kraft is called

12:38

to the stand. He recounts

12:40

a conversation he had with Hernandez in

12:42

the team's weight room just two days

12:44

after the killing. Kraft explains

12:46

that Hernandez claimed total innocence, telling Kraft

12:48

that he was in a nightclub during

12:50

the time of the murder. This

12:53

elicits gasps from the courtroom because

12:55

this alibi Hernandez gave Kraft conflicts

12:57

with the surveillance footage that the

12:59

jury has already seen. By

13:01

the time both the prosecution and the

13:03

defense have rested their cases, things are

13:05

not looking good for Hernandez. The

13:08

prosecution has demonstrated that he was at the scene

13:10

of the killing, that he carried a gun similar

13:12

to the one used in the crime, and that

13:14

he had lied about where he'd been on the

13:16

night of the murder. But

13:18

as Aaron Hernandez waits for the jury to

13:20

decide his fate, he tries to remind himself

13:22

that the case could go either way. His

13:25

lawyers have explained that all the evidence against

13:27

him is circumstantial, that even if one juror

13:30

votes in his favor, the judge will declare

13:32

a mistrial. So when

13:34

Hernandez and his lawyers are informed that

13:36

after seven days of deliberation, the jury

13:39

has finally reached a verdict, Hernandez is

13:41

feeling optimistic. And a little after 10 a.m.

13:44

on Wednesday, April 15th, 2015, Hernandez

13:46

and his legal team file into

13:48

the courtroom, already packed with prosecutors,

13:51

investigators, friends and family of the

13:53

victim, and reporters, all eager to

13:55

hear the decision. Hernandez

13:57

in a freshly pressed charcoal suit, with

14:00

black and white tie, stands to hear the

14:02

verdict. He's flanked by his lawyers.

14:05

Team of bailiffs stand close behind to keep

14:07

the peace, and Hernandez watches as

14:09

the judge asks the forewoman to rise in

14:11

the jury box. As

14:13

the judge reads through an assortment of

14:15

legalese, Hernandez can feel his heart beating

14:18

faster. He knows he could be going

14:20

home this afternoon or he could

14:22

be never going home again. Either way,

14:24

his fate is sealed. Finally,

14:26

the judge asks the jury's forewoman to deliver

14:29

the verdict. Hernandez looks on

14:31

as she calmly reads the words written on a

14:33

piece of paper in her hand, guilty

14:35

of murder in the first degree. There

14:38

are more gasps in the courtroom. A feeling

14:41

of shock surges through Hernandez's body.

14:43

It's surreal, like a waking nightmare. He

14:46

tries to remain stoic, but he nervously

14:48

licks his lips and looks around the

14:50

room, trying to get his bearings, and

14:53

he begins to feel dizzy. Soon

14:55

after, Hernandez's legs give out, and he

14:57

falls back into his chair. His

15:00

lawyer puts a hand on his shoulder, but

15:02

Hernandez just shakes his head back and forth

15:04

as he listens to the judge and foreperson

15:06

work through the technicalities of the verdict. Hernandez

15:10

sees his mother and fiancé on the bench behind

15:12

him, holding tight to each other

15:14

and sobbing. He wishes his

15:16

brother, DJ, was here too, but

15:18

DJ had to return to his coaching job in

15:20

Iowa. Then Hernandez looks across

15:22

the aisle and sees that Odin Lloyd's

15:24

mother is also beginning to weep. Bailiff

15:27

kneels down in front of Hernandez and

15:30

then places shackles on his wrists and

15:32

ankles. The judge orders Hernandez back

15:34

to his feet, and as he's being

15:36

let out of the courtroom, he turns to his

15:38

fiancé and mouths the words, It will be okay.

15:41

But he's not really sure if he believes that. He's

15:44

lost his multimillion dollar contract. He spent

15:46

a fortune on lawyers, and now he's

15:48

facing life in prison with no

15:51

way to provide for his young family. Aronowski

16:00

Correctional Center, a maximum security facility in

16:02

a small town outside Boston, where he

16:04

will spend the rest of his life

16:07

without the possibility of parole. Alone

16:09

in his cell, Hernandez is left with nothing to

16:12

do but sit and think about what kind of

16:14

life he will lead moving forward. Abandoned

16:17

by both the world of football and his hard

16:19

partying friends, Hernandez comes to realize

16:21

that family is all that he has left,

16:23

but even those relationships feel uncertain.

16:26

For years, Aron has had a fraught relationship

16:29

with his mother, Terry. After

16:31

Aron's father died, Terry quickly began

16:33

a new romantic relationship, and

16:35

to Aron this felt like a betrayal. He

16:37

reacted by cutting Terry out of his life

16:39

almost completely. But now that

16:42

his mother is one of the few people

16:44

still standing by him, Aron regrets treating her

16:46

so harshly, and he's been working up

16:48

the courage to be more honest with her. So

16:50

when Terry comes to visit him in prison in

16:53

2016, Aron decides to share something he's

16:55

been hiding from his mother for more than 20

16:57

years. That

17:03

afternoon, Aron makes his way down a

17:05

long prison hallway, accompanied by a guard.

17:07

He shuffles along at half speed, his

17:10

gait impeded by shackles on his wrists

17:12

and ankles. At the end

17:14

of the hall, he arrives at the dingy visiting room, lined

17:17

with half a dozen booths, each

17:19

outfitted with plexiglass dividers and old

17:21

corded phones. Aron sees Terry

17:23

already seated at a booth at the far side of

17:25

the room. He smiles, takes a

17:27

seat, and picks up the phone. Hey, Mom.

17:30

Thanks for coming. Hi, baby. How

17:32

are you doing? Looks like you got some new tattoos.

17:35

I guess you're just going to cover up your whole body, huh? Aron

17:38

self-consciously runs his hand along the fresh

17:41

ink, crudely drawn into his neck. Yeah,

17:43

it's the thing to do in here, I guess. How's

17:46

my big brother? Oh, DJ's all right. He

17:49

gave up on coaching, though. The publicity was

17:51

just too much, you know. But he's

17:53

doing sales for a roofing company. Oh, oh.

17:57

That's cool. For a long beat,

17:59

Aron looks down and says, his hands in front of

18:01

him, not sure how to proceed with what he really

18:03

has to say. Aaron, what's on

18:05

your mind? You're fidgeting.

18:08

There's a lot I haven't told you. You

18:11

didn't always make it easy to talk about stuff. Aaron's

18:14

eyes begin to water. Oh, honey, what

18:16

is it? You remember that

18:18

babysitter down the street you used to leave

18:20

me and DJ with? Guess

18:22

I was like six. I haven't

18:24

thought about that in a long time, but yeah, I

18:26

remember. Well, there was

18:28

an older kid at that house, like a high schooler,

18:31

and some stuff happened over there. Mommy,

18:34

he molested me. Oh,

18:37

Aaron, why didn't you tell me?

18:39

I could have protected you. I've never told

18:41

that to a single person. I

18:43

was too ashamed. Oh, baby, I am

18:45

sorry that happened to you. It lasted

18:47

for a couple of years. Aaron

18:50

begins crying harder, puts his

18:52

head in his hands. And there's something else, Mom.

18:55

Mom, I'm gay. Oh,

18:58

honey, you didn't have to hide that from me. You

19:00

know I love you no matter what. I do know,

19:02

but you know how dad was. He

19:04

was always trashing gay people. He would have kicked me out of

19:06

the house. Well, you're probably right, but I

19:09

can't imagine having to hide this for so long. I

19:12

had a boyfriend in high school. He was

19:14

on the football team with me, and when

19:16

the Patriots drafted me, I started seeing him

19:18

again. Well, you certainly did a

19:20

good job of hiding it from everyone. I had

19:23

to. Can you imagine if people

19:25

in the NFL knew I was gay? My

19:28

teammates wouldn't let me in the locker room. It

19:30

would have been the number one story on ESPN.

19:32

Well, I know that's true. But

19:34

swear to me you won't tell anyone. The

19:37

guys in here find out they'll kill me. Prison

19:40

guard approaches Aaron. Visiting time is

19:42

up. Aaron quickly wipes his

19:44

tears on his sleeve, careful not to reveal

19:46

any weakness to the guards or other prisoners.

19:49

And as Aaron is led away, he mouths, I

19:51

love you to his mother. She

19:53

puts her hand on the scratch plexiglass between

19:55

them and mouths it back as

19:58

Aaron makes his way down the prison hall. and

20:00

let out a deep sigh. It

20:03

feels like he's finally able to let go of a

20:05

burden that he's been carrying for more than 20 years.

20:08

It's possible that he'll have to spend the rest of his

20:10

life in prison. But now, he won't have to spend it

20:12

lying to his mother about

20:15

who he really is. Do

20:20

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22:20

after being sentenced to life in

22:22

prison, Aaron Hernandez totally immerses himself

22:25

in prison culture. A

22:27

maximum security facility where he's incarcerated

22:29

is overcrowded and often violent. New

22:32

inmates are essentially forced to join one

22:34

gang or another for protection, and Hernandez

22:37

is no exception. To

22:39

show his affiliation, Hernandez gets a new tattoo

22:41

on his neck. It's a

22:43

five-pointed star with the words lifetime

22:45

loyalty, a phrase commonly associated with

22:47

the Bloods gang. Not

22:50

long after this, Hernandez gets into his

22:52

first fight, which is also believed to

22:54

be gang-related. And in the

22:56

following months, he's slapped with a dozen

22:58

more disciplinary offenses, including possession of a

23:01

shiv and drug use. But

23:03

then in 2017, something changes. That

23:07

March, Hernandez heads back to court where

23:09

he faces charges for the double murder

23:11

of Daniel De Abreu and Safiro Furtado,

23:13

the two men who were shot and

23:15

killed outside of a Boston nightclub five

23:17

years prior. And although the

23:20

odds seem stacked against him, when the jury

23:22

returns their verdict on April 14th, they

23:24

find Aaron Hernandez not guilty for the murder

23:27

of the two men. Hernandez

23:29

openly cries in the courtroom. On

23:32

phone calls with family and friends, he talks about

23:34

feeling like the weight of the world has been

23:36

lifted off his back. This acquittal

23:38

gives Hernandez hope, and for the first

23:40

time, he can imagine a future in

23:42

which his first conviction is overturned. In

23:45

Massachusetts, first-degree murder convictions are automatically appealed

23:48

to the Supreme Judicial Court, and Hernandez

23:50

promises his loved ones he's going to

23:52

fight to the end to get himself

23:55

home. But Hernandez would not

23:57

be coming home. As a corrections

23:59

officer named. Gerard Breaux would tragically discover

24:01

just a few nights later on April

24:03

19, 2017. That

24:07

night, Breaux was working the late shift at

24:09

the maximum security prison where Aaron is incarcerated.

24:12

It's Breaux's job to walk the halls of

24:14

the prison's G2 block, making visual checks of

24:16

every prisoner in their cell. And

24:19

at 3 a.m., when Breaux was making his

24:21

fourth check of the night, he notices something

24:23

new, a white bed sheet covering

24:25

the door on Aaron Hernandez's cell. Breaux's

24:28

view inside is completely obstructed, so he

24:30

knocks on the cell door and calls

24:32

out for Hernandez. There's no answer,

24:34

so he tries again. Breaux

24:37

feels his heart beat faster. He

24:39

doesn't know what's going on behind that sheet,

24:41

but he has a feeling it's not good

24:43

and needs to get eyes on Hernandez quickly.

24:46

So Breaux reaches through the cell door and tears

24:48

down the sheet, and what he finds shocks

24:50

him. Hernandez is hanging by

24:52

the neck from the bars of his cell window.

24:56

Breaux immediately calls a code 99

24:58

on his walkie-talkie, indicating a medical

25:00

emergency. Then he reaches down into

25:02

his belt to grab his ring of cell door keys.

25:05

But the belt is empty, and Breaux realizes

25:07

he left the keys in the office and

25:09

starts to panic. Not only

25:11

is Hernandez's life on the line,

25:13

but Breaux's career, he's broken protocol.

25:16

With no time to spare, he yells toward

25:18

the office, pleading with another officer to bring

25:21

the keys, and moments later,

25:23

Breaux's colleague arrives with keys in hand. They

25:26

find another complication. Cardboard

25:28

has been shoved into the door's tract,

25:30

preventing it from sliding open. Breaux

25:33

and his colleague work furiously to dig it out

25:35

and open the door. And when

25:37

Breaux finally slides the door open to

25:39

make it inside the cell, what he

25:41

finds is both gruesome and bizarre. The

25:44

floor is covered in shampoo, making

25:46

it incredibly slippery. Hernandez is

25:48

completely naked, his lips are blue, and

25:51

he's written John 3-16 across his forehead

25:54

in blood. There's more bloody

25:56

writing on the walls and an open Bible

25:58

on his desk. Soon, other

26:00

prison guards arrive to help. One

26:03

of them cuts Hernandez's wrists just in

26:05

case Hernandez is faking, and

26:07

Bro works with his colleagues to free Hernandez from

26:09

the noose. The operation takes

26:11

tremendous effort from multiple men owing

26:14

to Hernandez's massive 240-pound frame and

26:16

the slickness of the shampoo on

26:18

the floor. Bro and

26:20

other officers struggle to lift Hernandez, while

26:22

another finally cuts the noose with a

26:24

pair of shears. Then

26:27

the officers lay Hernandez down on the

26:29

bed, and Bro begins furiously performing

26:31

chest compressions. He prays

26:33

that if he can somehow revive the prisoner,

26:35

then this snafu with the keys will be

26:37

forgiven. But after a few

26:39

minutes, Bro grows fatigued, and another officer

26:42

steps in to continue. The

26:44

men take turns working to revive Hernandez, and

26:46

for the next 30 minutes, they wait for

26:48

medical help. But as Bro

26:51

watches his colleague press on Hernandez's chest,

26:53

he has no doubt that their celebrity

26:55

inmate is already dead. When

26:57

Bro can no longer bear to watch, he turns

26:59

his gaze back to Hernandez's desk at

27:01

the open Bible. In it,

27:03

Hernandez has marked one passage with a splotch of

27:06

blood. Bro looks closer and

27:08

recognizes the verse from what Hernandez wrote

27:10

on his forehead, John 3 16,

27:13

For God so loved the world that

27:16

he gave his only begotten son, and

27:18

whosoever believeth in him shall not perish,

27:20

but have everlasting life. The

27:25

day after Aaron Hernandez is discovered dead in

27:28

his prison cell, his mother, Terry, releases his

27:30

brain to be studied by a brain bank,

27:33

a special lab run by the

27:35

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Boston

27:37

University, and the Concussion Legacy Foundation

27:39

in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. The

27:42

Hernandez family is aware that Aaron is

27:44

just one of a growing list of

27:47

former NFL players who sustained brain trauma

27:49

during their playing days and subsequently committed

27:51

suicide. Aaron had two documented

27:53

concussions in his career, one in high school

27:56

and one with the Patriots. He

27:58

also received countless other blanks. closed to

28:00

the head during the decade plus he played the game.

28:03

And while Aaron was in prison, the NFL

28:05

settled a nearly $800 million

28:07

lawsuit brought by former players who

28:09

suffered from football-related brain injuries. So

28:12

his family is eager to know if

28:15

Aaron, like the other former players who

28:17

took their lives, was suffering from the

28:19

same degenerative brain condition known as chronic

28:21

traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. To

28:24

avoid publicity, Hernandez's brain is brought to

28:26

the lab through a system of underground

28:28

tunnels, and soon after, one

28:31

of the lab's researchers, Dr. Anne McKee,

28:33

gets to work examining it. McKee

28:35

is a neuropathologist who specializes in

28:38

studying the effects of traumatic brain

28:40

injuries especially on football players. When

28:43

Aaron's brain arrives, she has already examined the

28:45

brains of more than 100 deceased NFL

28:48

players. McKee considers it

28:50

a privilege to dissect every brain she

28:52

receives. It's never lost on her

28:54

that these brains belong to real human beings

28:57

and that she's been entrusted by their families

28:59

to study them. She's

29:01

also well aware that Hernandez is

29:03

an especially high-profile case. As

29:05

an avid NFL fan herself, she followed

29:08

the trial and heard the speculation that

29:10

Hernandez's disturbing behavior could be related to

29:12

head trauma he sustained on the field.

29:19

So as the courier arrives to McKee's lab

29:21

with Hernandez's brain, she is eager to get

29:23

to work. The eyes,

29:25

back, or blonde shoulder-length hair puts on

29:27

a white lab coat and snaps on

29:29

blue latex gloves. The

29:31

brain is delivered in a cooler and

29:33

placed onto the lab's stainless steel table.

29:36

McKee pops open the latches. Inside,

29:39

she finds the brain in a sealed plastic

29:41

bag resting on a pile of wet ice.

29:43

She lifts the bag from the cooler and places it

29:45

on the table in front of her. The

29:48

first order of business is to weigh the brain, so

29:51

she gently removes it from the bag and places

29:53

it onto a digital scale. Next,

29:55

she moves the brain back to the table

29:57

and begins photographing it from every angle. Now

30:01

McKee slices into the brain with a

30:03

scalpel, taking a closer look inside. And

30:06

as she examines the various areas of

30:08

Hernandez's brain, she's stunned by what she

30:11

finds. She sees a fellow

30:13

researcher across the lab and calls him over to

30:15

look. Hey, hey, am I crazy? Look at this.

30:17

Tell me what you see. McKee's

30:19

colleague gives the brain a quick once-over. Extensive

30:22

frontal lobe damage, atrophy to the

30:24

forenecks, numerous perforations in

30:26

the septum, polysodum. It's

30:29

clearly damage consistent with CTE. He looks like

30:31

an especially bad case, too. Is

30:33

this one of your retired NFL guys? Not really.

30:35

It's different. Aaron

30:37

Hernandez. He was 27. 27?

30:40

How's that possible? I'm

30:42

not sure. I mean, if I didn't know any

30:44

better, I would have thought this was the brain of a 60-year-old.

30:47

This is the worst case of CTE I've seen in anyone this age.

30:49

Wow. And he's the one who went to

30:51

prison for murder, right? Exactly. This

30:55

is why I want to make sure we're seeing the same thing. And

30:58

this could be explosive. I

31:00

know, a murderer playing in the NFL.

31:02

And now he's confirmed to have severe

31:04

CTE. We are looking at headlines, weeks

31:06

of headlines. What are you going to do? McKee

31:11

takes a deep breath as she thinks about

31:13

what comes next. She knows

31:15

sports media and fans have been speculating for

31:17

years about a link between Hernandez and CTE.

31:21

And now, with Hernandez's brain in her

31:23

hands, she has just confirmed that the

31:25

damage is even worse than they had imagined. McKee

31:27

has no choice but to go public with

31:30

her findings and let the chips fall where

31:32

they may. She has done her

31:34

job, and now it's going to be up to

31:36

the people who profited from Hernandez's town to deal

31:38

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anyone can keep track of all the

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of great titles on the list I'd love

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to dig into. Timothy Egan's A Fever in

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the Heartland, the Ku Klux Klan's plot to

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Them. That sounds exciting. Another of the titles

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that made the list was The Wager by

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David Gran, a remarkable piece of historical nonfiction

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Bastogne's love at first sight. There's

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also inspiring memoirs like Jeff Daniels'

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course, this year's best fiction, like

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None of This is True by

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Lisa Jewell. Plus my wife's

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audible.com/B-O-T-Y. That's best of the

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year initialized. audible.com/B-O-T-Y. In

34:23

the months following the post-mortem examination of

34:25

Aaron Hernandez's brain, Dr. Anne McKee shares

34:27

her shocking findings with the world. She

34:30

hosts a news conference on the campus of

34:32

Boston University where she walks the media through

34:35

what she's discovered, that Hernandez was suffering from

34:37

a level of CTE more severe than she

34:39

had ever seen in someone his age. Her

34:42

revelations quickly reverberate through the world

34:44

of football. Hernandez is one

34:46

more name on a long list of

34:49

famous players who have been diagnosed with

34:51

serious brain trauma following their death, including

34:53

Hall of Famers like Ken Stabler, Frank

34:55

Gifford, and Junior Seau. Seau,

34:58

like Hernandez, had also recently taken

35:00

his own life. And

35:02

now, with more than a hundred former

35:04

NFL players diagnosed with CTE, the link

35:06

between the game and the brain disease

35:08

is hard to deny. But

35:10

McKee's findings still leave thorny questions for

35:12

people like Aaron Hernandez's brother DJ, who

35:15

struggles to understand why his brother's life

35:17

had come to such a tragic end.

35:20

In the eight months since Aaron's death, DJ had

35:22

been trying to put the pieces of Aaron's life

35:24

together in a way that makes sense. DJ

35:27

still remembers Aaron as a sweet, goofy kid,

35:29

and it feels impossible to

35:31

square those memories with what Aaron

35:33

ultimately became, a convicted murderer

35:36

who hanged himself in prison. DJ

35:38

wants to know how much of Aaron's

35:40

destructive spiral could be explained by the

35:42

brain trauma he suffered. So

35:45

in December of 2017, DJ travels to the Boston Medical

35:49

Center to meet with Dr. McKee. McKee

35:55

welcomes DJ into her office. The

35:57

walls are lined with plaques showing her academic credentials

36:00

and awards interspersed with framed pieces

36:02

of modern art. DJ

36:05

takes a C to cross the desk,

36:07

and McKee swings her computer monitor around

36:09

to show DJ some slides taken from

36:11

Aaron's brain. So here

36:13

is what we would consider stage

36:15

3 CTE, which is quite severe.

36:18

You can see holes and lesions on various areas

36:20

of the brain. The damage is

36:22

so extensive that, unfortunately, even if

36:24

your brother had not taken his own life, he

36:26

was likely to die within the next 10 years.

36:29

So he was doomed no matter what. While

36:31

it's clear he sustained a number of head injuries

36:33

over his life, probably starting in

36:36

childhood. Can you remember any incidents

36:38

where he hit his head? No,

36:40

plenty. I mean, when he was eight, he

36:42

was accidentally hit in the head with a hammer. I

36:45

remember seeing blood dripping out of his ears and nose.

36:47

I probably should have made mom take him to the

36:49

hospital, but I was young too. I didn't know any

36:52

better. Oh, DJ, don't beat

36:54

yourself up. You were just a kid. And

36:57

CTE is about repeated head injuries over time,

36:59

not just one accident. It changes

37:02

behavior too. Do you remember

37:04

anything strange about Aaron's personality when he was

37:06

young? Mostly he

37:08

was good. I mean, happy, goofy kid.

37:11

But every once in a while, he'd get angry, go into

37:13

a rage. You couldn't talk sense into

37:15

him. It was like he blacked out and became

37:17

a different person. And

37:19

a few minutes later, he would come back down

37:22

and start crying. How did he sleep? Well,

37:24

he had night terror sometimes. We shared a

37:26

bedroom and he would wake up screaming. He'd

37:29

sleepwalk too. What about football? Did he

37:31

ever see stars after a hit? Yeah,

37:33

well, he got concussed pretty bad once in high school.

37:36

I mean, I remember he was mad they wouldn't let him back in

37:38

the game. That's common. But

37:41

as he grew into adulthood, did you see

37:43

any big changes in him? He

37:45

got really paranoid. I remember

37:47

after his second year with the Patriots and went to

37:49

his house and he was sleeping with a knife under

37:51

his pillow. He was convinced all these

37:53

people were trying to kill him. At

37:56

the time, I just assumed it was all the weed he was

37:58

smoking. Well, that time... to

40:00

take his own life, as you know. It's

40:02

not hard to see the pattern. DJ

40:06

sits back in his chair and takes a long,

40:08

deep breath. He thinks about how

40:10

much he and Aaron loved football, how

40:12

it brought them close with each other and with their father.

40:15

Football made Aaron rich and famous. He

40:18

literally grew to live out his childhood dream

40:20

by playing for his hometown team, the Patriots.

40:23

DJ can't imagine Aaron's life without

40:25

football. But he also thinks

40:27

about how tortured Aaron must have been

40:29

in his final years, unable to escape

40:32

from his own increasingly damaged brain. He

40:34

thinks of the fiancé and young daughter Aaron

40:36

left behind and of the poor family

40:38

of Odin Lloyd, the young man

40:41

Aaron murdered. That's a heavy price to

40:43

pay for the love of the game. A

40:48

year after Aaron Hernandez's death, the Boston

40:50

Globe reported new details that might help

40:53

explain why Hernandez took his own life

40:55

just five days after being acquitted of

40:57

the murders of Daniel De Abreu and

40:59

Sefiro Furtado. According to a

41:01

fellow inmate, Hernandez celebrated his

41:03

acquittal by smoking K2, a

41:06

synthetic form of marijuana whose side

41:08

effects can include extreme paranoia, psychosis,

41:10

and hallucinations. A toxicologist

41:12

told the Globe, we see many,

41:15

many cases of people using synthetic

41:17

cannabinoids that become aggressive toward themselves.

41:20

And whether or not Hernandez was abusing

41:22

drugs in his final hours, his family

41:24

and many others still believe that above

41:27

all else, his death was caused by

41:29

CTE. In the years

41:31

following Hernandez's suicide, pressure has grown on

41:33

the NFL to take concussions more seriously.

41:36

The league has instituted several rule changes

41:38

in an attempt to make the game

41:40

safer, including stiffer penalties for players who

41:42

target an opponent's head. Meanwhile,

41:45

as the public has learned new information

41:47

about the dangers of youth football, the

41:49

number of children who play the game

41:51

has dropped significantly. Nonetheless, football

41:53

has continued to be by far

41:55

America's most popular spectator sport, with

41:57

the NFL breaking records for viewership

42:00

revenue every season. To

42:02

date, the NFL has paid out over

42:04

$1 billion to more than 1,000 retired

42:06

players as a part of a class-action

42:09

lawsuit stemming from concussion-related injuries. And

42:12

shortly after Hernandez's death, his family

42:14

filed a separate lawsuit in his

42:16

daughter's name, seeking $20 million in

42:18

compensation from the league. But

42:20

a judge ruled that because Hernandez failed to

42:22

opt out of the class-action lawsuit, which was

42:24

filed years before his death, his family could

42:26

not file a separate suit. In

42:29

the end, Hernandez's survivors were not awarded

42:31

any money for the severe brain damage

42:33

he sustained by playing the game. From

42:40

wondering, this is episode 4 of Aaron

42:43

Hernandez, a football tragedy from American scandal.

42:46

In our next episode, I talk with

42:48

journalist Kevin Armstrong, who spent seven years

42:50

covering this story. We'll discuss

42:52

the NFL's response to Aaron Hernandez's arrest

42:54

and conviction, and how the revelation that

42:57

Hernandez suffered from CTE has affected the

42:59

way the game is played in

43:22

the future.

43:24

If you'd like to learn more about

43:26

Aaron Hernandez, we recommend the books The

43:28

Truth About Aaron by Jonathan Hernandez, An

43:31

All-American Murder by James Patterson, as

43:33

well as the Boston Globe series

43:36

Gladiator, Aaron Hernandez, and Football A.

43:39

This episode contains reenactments and

43:41

traumatized details. And while in

43:43

most cases we can't know exactly what was said, all

43:45

our dramatizations are based on historical research.

43:49

Aaron's scandal is hosted, edited, and executive

43:51

produced by me, Lindsey Graham, for Airship.

43:54

Audio editing by Christian Ferraga. Sound

43:56

design by Molly Bond. Music editing

43:59

by Katrina Zemrak. Music by

44:01

Lindsey Graham. This episode is written by

44:03

Corey Metcalf. Edited by Emma Courtner.

44:06

Our senior producers are Gaye Riven and Andy

44:08

Herman. Executive producers are Stephanie

44:10

Jens, Jenny Lauer Beckman, and Marsha

44:12

Lewy for Wondering. Hi

44:23

there! I'm Guy Roz. And I'm Mindy

44:25

Thomas. Wait. And we're the host

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call them, WOWs. The WOWs

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new technology, innovation. And the

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people changing the world as we know

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it. Wow. Now I kind of want to listen

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to the show, Guy Roz. Hahaha! Exactly!

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Join us on our next

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