Aaron Hernandez Secret Apartment Searched

Aaron Hernandez had a secret apartment which was searched and located on a tip from Carlos Ortiz, providing a wealth of possible evidence in the case against the former NFL player.

That $1,200 a month apartment in Franklin, Massachusetts is about 11 miles away from Hernandez’s known address in North Attleborough.

In a previous report, I described the arrest of Carlos Ortiz, one of Aaron Hernandez’s known associates from the former New England Patriots tight end’s hometown. At that time, police in Connecticut and Massachusetts revealed that they worked together on the arrest in order to gain more evidence about exactly what happened in the execution-style murder of Odin Lloyd in the early morning hours of June 17.

But they didn’t say much more about what they’d learned from Ortiz.

According to Yahoo! Sports, court documents filed in Massachusetts have now revealed new details about the case. As it turns out, the secret apartment was actually searched on June 26, so Ortiz tipped the police before he was arrested in connection with the case.

Prosecutors allege that Aaron Hernandez, Carlos Ortiz, and Ernest Wallace were together when they drove Odin Lloyd to the industrial area where he was shot dead. Hernandez has been charged with murder and multiple firearms violations. Ortiz has been been charged with carrying a firearm. Wallace has been charged as an accessory after the fact.

So what did the police find in the secret apartment? And why was it kept secret?

The Boston Herald noted that Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Bates implied that the apartment may have been a place to sell drugs. Bates’ warrant request included these key phrases:

“[T]he nature of the sale of Cocaine is such that the participants are constantly changing, Cocaine is commonly packaged in small plastic bags which are easily and likely concealed on one’s person(s).”

The police refused to say whether or not they actually did find any cocaine during the search.

The court documents say that the police found ammunition, as well as a sweatshirt and a baseball cap that Hernandez was seen wearing in surveillance video taken the night of Lloyd’s murder.

That evidence from the Aaron Hernandez secret apartment may or may not strengthen the case against him.

[Aaron Hernandez photo by Jeffrey Beall at Flickr, Creative Commons]