Questions raised in homicide of associate of Patriots’ Aaron Hernandez

Aaron Hernandez has not been named a suspect in a homicide of an associate, but media reports continue to swirl around the New England Patriots tight end.

According to a report Thursday by ABC News, a video surveillance system in Hernandez’s home was intentionally smashed, and a cellphone used by him was handed over to investigators “in pieces.”

The report, which cites anonymous sources, said police also want to know why a crew came Monday to clean the player’s sprawling home in North Attoborough, Mass. On the same day, the body of 27-year-old Odin Lloyd was found in an industrial park about a mile away.

An attorney for Hernandez, Michael Fee, has not commented on the investigation, but according to ABC, released a statement saying: “It has been widely reported in the media that the state police have searched the home of our client, Aaron Hernandez, as part of an ongoing investigation. Out of respect for that process, neither we nor Aaron will have any comment about the substance of that investigation until it has come to a conclusion.”

Boston television station Fox 25, citing a law enforcement source, said there is video evidence of Hernandez and two other men wearing hooded sweatshirts walking into the player’s home within minutes of neighbors hearing gunshots. According to the report, neighbors say they heard the gunshots between 3 and 3:30 a.m. Monday, but did not immediately report it to police.

According to the report, about an hour before Hernandez was seen on video walking into his home, he was seen at Lloyd’s home in Dorchester.

Many NFL teams had character concerns about Hernandez coming out of the University of Florida, probably the reason he slipped to the fourth round of the draft. An official for one NFL team told The Times that Hernandez failed at least four drug tests for marijuana use in college.

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