commentary by Patrick H. Moore
According to Wikipedia, “a serial killer is, traditionally, a person who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time (a “cooling off period”) between the murders. Some sources, such as the FBI, disregard the “three or more” criterion and define the term as “a series of two or more murders, committed as separate events, usually, but not always, by one offender acting alone” or, including the vital characteristics, a minimum of two murders.”
By this criteria, Aaron Hernandez,who was formerly heralded as a supremely-talented tight end who caught footballs delivered with aplomb by future HOF quarterback, Tom Brady, of the New England Patriots, and who was indicted yesterday in Suffolk County, Mass, for the double nightclub murder of Daniel Abreu and Safiro Furtado in 2012, may go down in history as one of our more unlikely serial killers. At the very least, he may be one of our richest serial killers, although his funds have no doubt been depleted by lawyers’ fees, and could well be depleted further by the wrongful death suits that are sure to follow on the heels of his criminal cases.
At present, Hernandez (or A. Hernandez as I like to call him) is well-known to both Massachusetts and Connecticut grand juries.
David Stewart and Zeninjor Enwemeka of Boston.com write:
Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez has been indicted by a grand jury on two charges of first-degree murder in the killings of two people in Boston’s South End in 2012.
Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley announced the charges against Hernandez in a press conference on Thursday morning.
Conley also discussed the investigation into the slayings of Daniel Abreu and Safiro Furtado, who were shot to death on July 16, 2012 while stopped at a traffic light.
“For us this case was never about Aaron Hernandez,” Conley said. “This case was about two victims who were stalked, ambushed, and senselessly murdered on the streets of the city they called home.”
Another difference between A. Hernandez and a more typical serial killer is the former tight end appears equally comfortable committing his alleged murders in a deliberate planned fashion (the murder of semi-pro footballer Odin Lloyd would appear to fall into this category) or in a more spur-of-the-moment manner (to wit: the killings of Abreu and Furtado).
In fact, D.A. Conley described the circumstances that led to the shootings of Abreu and Furtado as a “chance encounter” between Hernandez and the victims at Cure Lounge, a club in the South Boston Theatre District.
At the press conference, Conley reported that Abreu and Furtado arrived at the club around 12:30 a.m., which was “by coincidence” about the same time that Hernandez and a friend made the scene.
“Our investigation has not uncovered any evidence that these two groups were known to each other, but their chance encounter inside the club triggered a series of events that ended in the murders,” Conley said.
Although Conley apparently chose not to dwell on what happened inside the club when the two groups rubbed elbows, multiple other sources have reported that the victims managed to get on Hernandez’ nerves, which apparently doesn’t take much. The difference between A. Hernandez and most other folks is that when you get on his nerves, rather than barking at you, or brooding, or even smashing you in the face, the former footballer simply decides to put you out of your misery permanently.
This unhealthy quirk of his would seem to be atypical of serial killers. For example, the infamous Dahmer would reportedly only murder you if you indicated you didn’t want to stick around to be sexually and physically abused by him; Wuornos reportedly would murder you if she thought you were going to sexually abuse her; and as for Bundy, God knows why he would murder you, but you can be sure it was based on some deep, dark and thoroughly intractable psychological problem.
If anything, Hernandez’ modus operandi seems to be vaguely reminiscent of that scourge of God, Anton Chigurh, the stone killer in Cormack McCarthy’s noirish thriller, No Country for Old Men. Chigurh, who fancied himself a deep one, would rationalize his murders by means of some half-baked “philosophy of fate” in which he would decide the fates had decided your time had come; ergo, his job was to kill you. And in Chiguhr’s clouded mind, if you pissed him off, it was a sign that the fates had decided your time was at hand, so he killed you firmly and expeditiously.
Hernandez’ approach, assuming he is guilty, was not dissimilar; only he would act out his rage without bothering to invoke the philosophical claptrap. You piss him off and you get it in the neck firmly and expeditiously.
* * * * *
According to D.A. Conley, after Abreu and Furtado left the club around 2:00 a.m., an SUV driven by Hernandez pulled up next to their car and Hernandez fired multiple times from the driver’s side into the passenger’s side of the other vehicle. This allegedly occurred at the corner of Shawmut Avenue and Herald Street.
Abreu, the driver, suffered multiple gunshot wounds, including a fatal wound to the chest, Conley said. Safiro, the front seat passenger, also suffered multiple gunshot wounds with a fatal wound to the head.
Investigators later recovered the car and weapon that Hernandez used, Conley said.
Although initial reports tied Abreu and Furtado to a Cape Verdean gang based in Dorchester, Conley said “nothing could be further from the truth,” stating the two men were not part of a gang and were not tied to any violent crimes. Conley said that characterization was “unfair to their memory and their families.”
Boston Police Commissioner William Evans added that Abreu and Furtado were “two young, innocent victims” whose lives were taken far too early.
Hernandez was also indicted on several other charges including three counts of armed assault with intent to murder and one count of assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon. Conley explained that these charges reflect the shots fired at the three surviving victims, who were in the car with Abreu and Furtado.
“Two backseat passengers escaped physical injury and fled on foot,” Conley said. “A third remained in vehicle with his friends, suffering a gunshot wound to his arm.”
As if this were not enough, Hernandez is also being charged with unlawfully possessing a .38 caliber Smith & Wesson revolver.
“The grand jury remains open so it is possible that other charges could be had,” Conley said… “We are quite confident in our evidence, that’s why we asked the grand jury to vote on it this morning, that Aaron Hernandez is the principal [in the shooting].”
Hernandez’cousin Tanya Singleton was also indicted and faces a criminal contempt of court charge for refusing to testify in September 2013 before a grand jury investigating the murders. She was arraigned today in a Fall River court and will face trial in August.
The additional charges against A.Hernandez, who, of course, is already accused in the June 2013 murder of Odin L. Lloyd, makes life even harder for Hernandez’s defense team. It is traditionally no easy task to convict celebrity athletes of capital crimes, but I have a feeling that this time, it could be different. On the other hand, Hernandez has some hella strong lawyers who will not go down without a fight.
In fact, Travis Anderson and John R. Ellement of the Boston Globe report that today Hernandez attorneys James W. Sultan and Michael Fee asked for dismissal of the first-degree murder indictment that Hernandez faces in the 2013 fatal shooting of Odin L. Lloyd.
The lawyers argued that despite a massive amount of information provided to the grand jury by Bristol District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter’s office, there is no evidence to support the allegation that Hernandez orchestrated the murder of Lloyd in an industrial park near Hernandez’s home on June 17, 2013.
“Basically, all that the Commonwealth showed the grand jury is that Hernandez was in a car with Lloyd and several other individuals shortly before Lloyd was shot to death,’’ the defense attorneys wrote.
“Specifically, there was no forensic evidence presented linking Hernandez to the shooting, no eyewitness testimony, no inculpatory statements by Hernandez, and no evidence that Hernandez had any motive to kill Lloyd,’’ the lawyers wrote.
Sutter’s office, the defense lawyers said, “utterly failed to establish probable cause that Hernandez either murdered Lloyd himself or participated in a joint venture with others to do so.’’
* * * * *
So while it’s probably too early to place any bets on the outcome of either of Hernandez’s murder cases, without a doubt, he has retained the big boys and the big boys are working hard to earn their huge retainers.
Oddly enough, Hernandez played the entire 2012-2013 season with the New England Patriots, after the two murders in the South End of Boston had already occurred.
Click here for earlier posts on the Aaron Hernandez case:
Dateline Aaron Hernandez: Hernandez Caught on Video with Double Boston Murder Victims
Dateline Aaron Hernandez: The Loss of His Father and Mother Destroyed him
Dateline Aaron Hernandez: Heavy PCP Use Helped Destroy Former Star Tight End
Aaron Hernandez Might Just Beat Odin Lloyd Murder Rap
Aaron Hernandez’ Fiancee Believed to Have Dumped Odin Lloyd Murder Weapon: The Plot Thickens
Aaron Hernandez Bombshell: Filmed with Murder Weapon by His Own Surveillance Cameras
Aaron Hernandez Serial Killer Case Strengthens as Grand Jury Hears Evidence of 2012 Double Murder
Eat Your Heart Out Aaron Hernandez: D.A. Will Cut Deal to Deliver You Up on a Platter
Aaron Hernandez Arrested for Murder: Bill Belichick Drops Him Like a Hot Potato
Eat Your Heart Out, Bill Belichick: Patriots Tight End Aaron Hernandez Wanted in Murder Probe