156 Pages of search warrants released in Hernandez case

NORTH ATTLEBORO, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com/AP) -- Eight search warrants were unsealed and released in the murder investigation surrounding former Patriots' TE Aaron Hernandez Tuesday.

The 156 pages worth of documents reveal the breadth of the investigation, with authorities scouring through everything from his house to the contents of his team locker.

The warrants covered multiple cellphones, the video surveillance system at his North Attleboro house and various vehicles.

The documents revealed that Hernandez sent a text message to Lloyd the morning of his death asking if the two were "still on." According to the documents, Hernandez was seen on his own surveillance video with a firearm. He was also reportedly seen with a handgun in the waistband of his pants two nights before Lloyd's killing at Rumor nightclub in Boston. Lloyd's girlfriend said Lloyd told her he was out with Hernandez that night and they didn't come home because they'd gotten drunk and slept elsewhere, according to the records.

The documents also state that Lloyd had been driving a car rented at T.F. Green Airport in Hernandez's name. They said that a silver Nissan Altima, believed to have been the vehicle Hernandez and Lloyd were riding in the morning of the killing, was returned to an Enterprise location in North Attleboro. Investigators reportedly found shell casings and Aaron Hernandez's gum under a child's drawing in the car.

According to the warrants, Lloyd also slept over Hernandez's North Attleboro home two nights before he was found dead in a nearby industrial park.

Investigators also said that Hernandez became "argumentative" toward them when he was first being questioned but investigators said that his demeanor "did not indicate any concern for the death of any person." The documents also said that Hernandez told his girlfriend, Shayanna Jenkins, that his agent didn't want her talking to investigators.

According to one of the warrants a semi-automatic rifle was found in a Toyota parked in Hernandez's driveway. In Franklin, investigators also found a loaded glock .45 magazine inside Hernandez's Hummer.

The warrants also covered a container filled with the contents of Hernandez's emptied locker at Gillette Stadium given to authorities by the Patriots.

A judge had earlier granted a motion by news organizations to lift an impoundment of the material.

Hernandez has pleaded not guilty to murder and gun charges in the fatal shooting of Odin Lloyd. His lawyers argue the case against him is circumstantial and say he is eager to clear his name. A judge has denied bail for Hernandez, and he is being held in a Massachusetts jail. Police searched his home and a reported "flop house" several times during the investigation.

During the searches, police said they found ammunition matching the caliber of gun used in Lloyd's killing as well as a white-hooded sweatshirt and baseball cap worn by Hernandez the night Lloyd died.

Two other men face lesser charges in the case. One of them, Carlos Ortiz, appeared in Attleboro District Court Tuesday morning to determine if he could get bail on a gun charge. He was held without bail at his dangerousness hearing and is due back in court on August 14.

Ortiz, who lives in Hernandez's hometown of Bristol, Conn., was arraigned last month on a charge of illegally carrying a firearm on the day of the shooting. A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf.

Defendants who are deemed by the court to be a danger to the community may be held without bail for 90 days.

On Monday, Ernest Wallace, who is facing an accessory to murder charge, pleaded not guilty in the same court. The Miramar, Fla., man will be held without bail until another hearing on July 22, under an agreement between his attorney and prosecutors.

Details of the charge against Wallace — accessory to murder after the fact — were not released during the brief proceeding. Sutter, the district attorney, declined to comment on the specific allegations outside the courthouse, citing the ongoing investigation.

Lloyd, a semi-pro football player, was found slain on June 17 at an industrial park in North Attleborough not far from Hernandez's home. The 27-year-old Lloyd's relatives say he was dating the sister of Hernandez's fiancee and that the two men were friends.

Prosecutors say Wallace, 41, and Ortiz, were with Hernandez when they drove with Lloyd to the industrial park. Authorities say Hernandez orchestrated the killing because he was upset at Lloyd for talking to certain people at a nightclub a few days earlier; they have not said who fired the fatal shots.

Wallace did not speak during his hearing but mouthed "I love you" to some people sitting in the courtroom before he was led out. Defense attorney David Meier did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

A member of the Lloyd family declined to comment outside the courthouse, saying she would wait until the case was over.

It was during a separate hearing Monday in the same courthouse that a judge lifted the search warrant impoundment order. Motions to unseal the material were filed by The Patriot Ledger and Taunton Gazette newspapers and their parent Gatehouse Media, supported by The Associated Press and separately by The Boston Globe.

Patriots owner Robert Kraft said Monday that if the charges against Hernandez are true, his organization has been "duped." The Patriots last year signed Hernandez to a five-year contract worth $40 million but released him the day of his arrest.

"If this stuff is true, then I've been duped and our whole organization has been duped," Kraft said in a session with reporters from The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald and ESPNBoston.com. "When he was in our building, we never saw anything where he was not polite. He was always respectful to me. We only know what's going on inside the building. We don't put private eyes on people."

Kraft also said the Patriots will "be looking at our procedures and auditing how we do things" with regard to character reviews.

Cox Media Group