Warrant: Friend Told Police Aaron Hernandez Confessed To Murder
MIRAMAR (CBS4) --Ernest Wallace, suspected of playing a role in the high-profile murder case that ensnared a former NFL star allegedly told a suspected co-conspirator that Aaron Hernandez was responsible for the murder of Odin Lloyd in Massachusetts last month.
The detail is included in a search warrant filed by the Miramar Police Department at the Broward County Courthouse Tuesday. The warrant was used last month to search the home of Wallace's mother, just after Wallace turned himself in to authorities on a charge of accessory after the fact in Lloyd's death.
In the warrant, much of the information comes from Carlos Ortiz, a third suspect in the case, who told police specific information about the early morning hours of June 17 when Ortiz says he, Hernandez and Wallace picked up Lloyd at his home.
The warrant says Ortiz told police, "Mr. Wallace told him that Mr. Hernandez admitted to shooting Mr. Lloyd." Hernandez, a former tight end for the New England Patriots, is being held in jail on a charge of murder.
Ortiz told police what he heard during the car ride to Hernandez's neighborhood.
"Mr. Ortiz explained that during the drive back to North Attleboro, he overheard Mr. Hernandez state directly to Mr. Lloyd that he (Mr. Lloyd) was "chilling" with people that he (Mr. Hernandez) had problems with. Mr. Ortiz explained that Mr. Hernandez and Mr. Lloyd made up by "shaking hands" and added that "it" was squashed," the warrant reads.
Ortiz told police he fell asleep shortly after and "he awoke when the vehicle stopped and observed Mr. Hernandez, Mr. Wallace and Mr. Lloyd exit the vehicle to urinate. Mr. Ortiz explained that he then heard gunshots. He added that Mr. Hernandez and Mr. Wallace got back into the vehicle without Mr. Lloyd and the vehicle fled."
The warrant reveals that Ortiz says he could not tell who fired the fatal shots because it was dark in the industrial area where Lloyd's body was found. The search warrant says that surveillance video from Hernandez's home shows Hernandez, Wallace and Ortiz returning to the home after Lloyd's murder with the men "holding what appears to be a handgun."
The search warrant says that "Mr. LLoyd had communication with two telephone numbers, which investigators were later able to identify as belonging to Mr. Hernandez and Ernest Wallace in the hours before his death."
As police in Massachusetts began to piece the details together and suspicion fell on Wallace, they interviewed a woman connected to Wallace who told police where she thought Wallace would go.
"She stated that he would go to his mom's house in Florida and that his mom would hide and protect him," the woman told detectives, according to the search warrant.
No one answered the door at the Wallace family home Tuesday. Late last month, CBS 4 cameras rolled as Miramar Police served a search warrant at the home.
The warrant reveals that police recovered clothes, a backpack and a couple of cell phones but no guns.
Wallace was extradited from Broward last week and appeared in a Massachusetts courtroom Monday. He pleaded not guilty, was ordered held without bail and will be back in court later this month.
In search warrants released in Massachusetts Tuesday, the documents also say that while investigating Lloyd's killing, police did searches in Hernandez's hometown, Bristol, Conn., that turned up a vehicle wanted in connection with a July 2012 double homicide in Boston. Police said the vehicle had been rented in Hernandez's name.
Hernandez has pleaded not guilty in Lloyd's killing. His legal team did not return email messages Tuesday.
Eight search warrants were unsealed in Massachusetts after news organizations sought access to the records. The warrants reveal the breadth of the investigation, with authorities scouring through everything from Hernandez's house to his phone to the contents of his team locker, which the Patriots emptied into a container after they released him.
Police seized a rifle and ammunition found in Hernandez's home.
According to the documents, Hernandez became "argumentative" during his first encounter with police at his home following Lloyd's death. He asked, "What's with all the questions?" and locked the door behind him.
He then returned with his attorney's business card but didn't respond when police told him they were investigating a death.
"Mr. Hernandez slammed the door and re-locked it behind him," the records read. "Mr. Hernandez did not ask officers whose death was being investigated. Mr. Hernandez's demeanor did not indicate any concern for the death of any person."
Hernandez came out later and agreed to be questioned at a police station, according to the documents.
The documents also say Hernandez called his girlfriend's cellphone and stopped her from speaking with police after they pulled her over and told her Lloyd was dead.
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