Body of ex-Patriots star Hernandez’s alleged victim had wallet, keys

By DANIEL LOVERING REUTERS

10 years ago

Former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez glanced towards the media during his murder trial at Bristol County Superior Court in Fall River, Massachusetts February 3, 2015. (REUTERS/Aram Boghosian)

Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez (L) and his attorney Charles Rankin listen to testimony during Hernandez’ murder trial at Bristol County Superior Court in Fall River, Massachusetts February 4, 2015. (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)

Former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez attends his murder trial at Bristol County Superior Court in Fall River, Massachusetts February 3, 2015. (REUTERS/Aram Boghosian/The Boston Globe/Pool)

Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez looks at a photograph of the driver’s license of Odin Lloyd, admitted as evidence during Hernandez’ murder trial at Bristol County Superior Court in Fall River, Massachusetts February 4, 2015. Hernandez is accused of murdering semi-professional football player Lloyd in 2013. (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)

Former New England Patriots football player Aaron Hernandez, right, listens during his trial as defense attorney Charles Rankin looks on while an image of Odin Lloyd is displayed on a monitor in Fall River, Massachusetts, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015. (Reuters/Steven Senne/Pool)

Former New England Patriots football player Aaron Hernandez, right, listens during his trial as defense attorney Charles Rankin looks on in Fall River, Massachusetts, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015. Hernandez is accused of murdering semi-professional football player Odin Lloyd. (Reuters/Steven Senne/Pool)

Former New England Patriots football player Aaron Hernandez attends a pre-trial hearing at Bristol County Superior Court in Fall River, Massachusetts, January 6, 2015. REUTERS/CJ Gunther/Pool

Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez attends a pre-trial hearing in Fall River, Massachusetts December 22, 2014. (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)

Former New England Patriots football player Aaron Hernandez attends a pre-trial hearing at Bristol County Superior Court in Fall River, Massachusetts, January 6, 2015. Hernandez is facing charges for the 2013 murder of semi-professional football player Odin Lloyd and is also accused of ambushing and shooting two men in 2012 after an altercation in a Boston nightclub. (REUTERS/CJ Gunther/Pool)

Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez smiles during a pre-trial hearing in Fall River, Massachusetts December 22, 2014. Hernandez is awaiting trial on charges of murdering semi-professional football player Odin Lloyd last year. (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)

Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez answers a series of questions from the judge during a pre-trial hearing in Fall River, Massachusetts December 22, 2014. Hernandez is awaiting trial on charges of murdering semi-professional football player Odin Lloyd last year. (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)

Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez attends a pre-trial hearing in Fall River, Massachusetts December 22, 2014. Hernandez is awaiting trial on charges of murdering semi-professional football player Odin Lloyd last year. (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)

Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernanez, center, smiles at his attorney Michael Fee (L), as co-counsel Charles Rankin (R), listens during the pre-trial motion hearing in the Superior Court in Fall River, Massachusetts, December 12, 2014. (REUTERS/Robert E. Klein/Pool)

FALL RIVER, Mass. — The man who Aaron Hernandez is charged with murdering had a wallet, cash and two sets of keys in his pockets when his body was found near the Massachusetts home of the former New England Patriots star, a police officer testified on Thursday.

North Attleborough Police Captain Joseph DiRenzo said the body of semiprofessional football player Odin Lloyd was also found with a Boston Red Sox baseball hat, a towel, a marijuana cigar known as a blunt and five shell casings strewn nearby at an industrial park in the town on the evening of June 17, 2013.

Prosecutors have cited the presence of a wallet on Lloyd’s body as a sign that he had not been the victim of a robbery.

About two dozen law enforcement officers reported to the scene where Lloyd’s body was found by a teenage jogger, DiRenzo said, recalling that they covered Lloyd’s body with a tarp and canopy because thunderstorms were setting in that evening.

“The weather changed dramatically,” he said. “We made a decision that it was best to preserve evidence on the ground as best as possible.”

Hernandez sat quietly next to one of his attorneys during the testimony. As he entered the courtroom, he mouthed the words “Are you OK?” to his fiancée Shayanna Jenkins, who was sitting in the gallery.

Lloyd, who played for the Boston Bandits semiprofessional football team, had been dating Jenkins’ sister, Shaneah, at the time of his death. Shaneah Jenkins has testified that Lloyd and Hernandez were in the early stages of a friendship and sometimes smoked marijuana together. The defense has said the two men were friends.

Hernandez, 25, was a rising star in the National Football League with a $41 million contract with the Patriots before the team dropped him following his arrest on murder and firearms charges.

Prosecutors contend that Hernandez and two friends, Carlos Ortiz and Ernest Wallace, picked up Lloyd at his home in Boston early on June 17, 2013, and drove him to the industrial park where his body was found. Investigators have not found the gun used to kill Lloyd, 27.

Wallace and Ortiz also have been charged in Lloyd’s slaying and will be tried separately. All three men have pleaded not guilty.

Hernandez also has been accused of killing two Cape Verdean men outside a Boston nightclub in 2012. He will be tried in that case later this year.