NEW: 'I'm going to fight to the end to get myself home,' former Patriots star Aaron Hernandez told friends, according to newly released recordings. Within two days, he was found dead in his cell. The medical examiner ruled it a suicide.
Days before his suicide, former New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez sounded triumphant in phone calls from prison, buoyed by a recent acquittal in his double murder trial that had him imagining a life outside bars, cleared of all criminal charges.
In his last 36 hours, Hernandez in phone calls expressed optimism that he could still successfully appeal that guilty verdict, freeing him from his life-without-parole sentence. In this 2011 file photo, Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, left, is taken down by a Jets player after a catch and loses his helmet in the process.
The recordings of the nine phone calls Hernandez made before he hanged himself did not point to a cause. But the phone calls do provide some clues, as Hernandez made fleeting references to forces that may have hastened his death. While a typical high might last a few hours, the psychosis can last for days. Volkow compared K2 to “Russian roulette” because users don’t know what chemical they are consuming.
After his death, Hernandez’s brain showed that he had one of the worst cases of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, ever seen in someone so young. The degenerative condition is believed to be caused by repeated blows to the head. “That’s the kind we usually see in people that are in their 60s, 70s and 80s,” said McKee, a neuropathologist.
After Hernandez died, one of his former high school football teammates told the Globe that he and Hernandez had a sexual relationship while teenagers. Hernandez also told his mother he was gay during a visit in prison. Hernandez’s close friend, retired NFL star Maurkice Pouncey of the Pittsburgh Steelers, shared Taylor’s disbelief and said his initial reaction was that “someone killed him.”
Raised in Bristol, Conn., Hernandez won a national championship with the University of Florida Gators before being drafted by the Patriots at age 20. But after three seasons in the NFL, Hernandez was marched out of his home in handcuffs, charged with and ultimately convicted of the 2013 murder of his friend Odin Lloyd in North Attleboro.
Prison officials launched an investigation that found no evidence of foul play; although, a prison guard neglected his duties, skipping his 2 a.m. round to check on Hernandez and other inmates. That was the last hourly round before Hernandez was found dead. “Just make sure you keep your head up. You’re bigger than that,” Hernandez said. He added, “All I’m saying is, take a deep breath. Don’t react off emotion.”
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