An autopsy report confirmed that the 27-year-old former New England Patriots star committed suicide sometime before 3 a.m. There was no sign of a struggle in the solitary prison cell. He was rushed to UMass Leominster hospital where he was pronounced dead at 4:07am and the cause of death was later determined as asphyxia by hanging.
Crime Scene Service Troopers found three handwritten notes on a table each addressed to Hernandez's fiancée, his 4-year-old daughter and a close prison friend. The notes were placed next to a Bible that was opened to the page containing John 3:16, according to Newsweek.
Hernandez scrawled the verse on his forehead with red ink, which reads, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whosoever believes in him would not perish but have eternal life."
He also marked his hands and feet with red ink to imitate Christ's wounds during crucifixion.
Hernandez's suicide was a surprise to many, considering that just days before, he had been acquitted of double murder charges in the drive-by shooting of two men outside a Boston nightclub in 2012. However, he was serving a life sentence for the 2013 murder of semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd.
The once promising National Football League star led a tumultuous life, despite his exceptional skill, due to his involvement with gangs. As early as 2007, the then 17-year-old Hernandez became a person of interest in a double shooting while he was playing for the University of Florida.
"Aaron was looking forward to an opportunity for a second chance to prove his innocence," Hernandez's lawyer, Jose Baez, said in a statement.
The family agreed to donate his brain to the Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center at Boston University where scientists are researching the link between football and brain disease.
