Aaron Hernandez committed suicide in April in a Connecticut prison while serving a life sentence for murder. The case, and the unraveling of his once promising life, provided so many questions that were yet to answered as to his motivations and why he threw everything away for a life of crime.
We’ve now been given the first, and a very substantial answer.
Hernandez the former New England Patriots and University of Florida star tight end, was found to have one of the most severe forms of C.T.E., the degenerative brain disease linked to repeated head trauma.
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Aaron Hernandez had stage 3 CTE, per attorney Jose Baez. Brain was studied at Boston University. Family will sue NFL and Patriots.
A lawyer for Hernandez, Jose Baez, said researchers determined it was the most severe case they had ever seen in someone of Aarons age.
Hernandez was only 27 years old.
He joins a growing list of N.F.L. players that veered toward darkness before they died, and ultimately ended their lives by committing suicide. Among those players who were later found to be suffering with severe C.T.E. includes the likes of Dave Duerson, Junior Seau, Andre Waters, Ray Easterling and Jovan Belcher, among others.
Aaron Hernandez Highlights
Aaron Hernandez Highlights
In July, researchers at Boston University released findings that showed that they had found C.T.E. in the brains of 110 of the 111 former N.F.L. players they had examined.
Baez said he has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Patriots and the N.F.L. on behalf of Hernandezs daughter.
