Early Wednesday morning, Aaron Hernandez died at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, Massachusetts. According to the Massachusetts Department of Corrections, he committed suicide inside of his jail cell at around 3 a.m. by hanging himself from a bed sheet that he attached to a window. But is that really what happened?
Several people who were close to Hernandez at the end of his life aren’t so sure. Shortly after Hernandez’s death was revealed, Hernandez’s former agent Brian Murphy took to Twitter to express some doubt over the suicide report. Murphy believes there’s "absolutely no chance" Hernandez killed himself. He said Hernandez "would never take his own life."
Murphy is not the only person who has shared this sentiment. There are many other people who are skeptical about the idea of Hernandez committing suicide and think there might be more to the story than what the Massachusetts DOC has shared. These people obviously don’t know Hernandez like Murphy did, but there are already conspiracy theories surrounding Hernandez’s death, even though it’s only been a few hours since he died.
Hernandez’s lawyer Jose Baez has also chimed in and shared his opinion on the circumstances surrounding Hernandez’s death. He worked closely with Hernandez as recently as last week when he helped the former NFL tight end get a not guilty verdict at the end of his double murder trial. And he told TMZ Sports that Hernandez’s family is "devastated" and doesn’t think Hernandez committed suicide. He seemed to suggest Hernandez may have been murdered, and he released a statement calling for a thorough investigation into the incident.
Additionally, one of Hernandez’s former Patriots teammates spoke with ESPN’s Josina Anderson about Hernandez’s death and told her that he doesn’t think Hernandez was "wired" to commit suicide.
TMZ Sports is reporting that Hernandez was placed on suicide watch at least once in the past. Shortly after he was sentenced to life in prison following the Odin Lloyd trial in 2015, he was removed from general population and placed under suicide watch. But according to the Boston Globe, he was not under suicide watch in recent months and had not given any indication that he was going to do harm to himself. It also doesn't sound like he left a suicide note. So the conspiracy theories surrounding his death are likely going to continue.
