Aaron Hernandez Case: Suspect in Odin Lloyd Murder to Be Arraigned

BOSTON, July 7, 2013— -- A suspect in the murder of a Boston man who police say was executed less than a mile from the home of former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, who is charged with murder in the case, is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Massachusetts, prosecutors said.

"The charge relates to the June 17 homicide of Odin L. Lloyd in North Attleboro,'' said Bristol County District Attorney's office spokesman Gregg Miliote.

Ernest Wallace, 41, turned himself in to police in Miramar, Fla., and was charged in connection with the murder of a semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd, 27, on June 17.

Bristol County prosecutors said Wallace was in the car that drove Lloyd to his death in a sand and gravel pit at a North Attleborough industrial park early that morning.

Hernandez, 23, is now jailed on first-degree murder and weapons charges after prosecutors said he "orchestrated and carried out" Lloyd's homicide. A second man, Carlos Ortiz was also charged in the case and is now cooperating with investigators, according to search warrant affidavits filed by investigators.

Ortiz told detectives about a "flophouse" that Hernandez rented in Franklin, Mass., where investigators recovered a sweatshirt and a baseball cap that the NFL player had worn in the hours before Lloyd's murder, according to the court documents.

Eleven boxes of ammunition were also recovered. Police also removed paycheck stubs from the New England Patriots and Puma, which dropped Hernandez from his endorsement contract after his arrest, from the flophouse.

There were also keys to a black Hummer and a valet's receipt from the W Hotel in Boston, which was within walking distance of Rumor nightclub, where Hernandez and Lloyd had been seen partying the Friday night before the murder.

Hernandez had complained that Lloyd was talking to "people he had a problem with," that night, according to Bristol County assistant District Attorney William McCauley, who at Hernandez' arraignment cited evidence that included images of the disgraced NFL player.

McCauley said Hernandez was captured on his home security system -- which had been smashed, but critical evidence remained on the video recording memory -- that showed Hernandez with a gun in the hours before Lloyd's murder.

The search warrant affidavits stated that he was wearing the clothing police recovered in the Franklin apartment.

Investigators are also probing any connection Hernandez might have had to a drive-by shooting in the South End of Boston that left two men dead and another wounded. That shooting came after an argument at a Boston nightclub and witnesses described an SUV that fled the scene. That SUV was recovered and it had been one of a fleet of rental vehicles in Hernandez' name that are part of the homicide investigation, prosecutors said.

ABC News reported that investigators believe a motive for Lloyd's murder may have stemmed from the information he had on the Boston shooting last summer. Last week, Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino implored anyone with information about that case to come forward saying: "The community needs to help us."

In Florida, Hernandez has been accused in a civil suit of shooting out the eye of a friend after the two squabbled leaving a Miami strip club. That man, Alexander Bradley, 33, will be summoned before a grand jury convened in the former NFL star's case at Bristol Superior Court in Fall River.

Hernandez was also accused of punching a bouncer in the head, leaving him with a ruptured eardrum, in 2007 when he played for the University of Florida Gators. According to a police report, Gators teammate Tim Tebow tried unsuccessfully to get Hernandez, then 17, to settle an unpaid bill and leave the bar peacefully.

Police swore out a complaint for felony assault in that case, but Hernandez was never charged.

Investigators are also taking a fresh look at a September 2007 shooting in Florida that left two men wounded, including one that was shot in the head. Hernandez was one of several UF football players questioned but never charged.

Massachusetts investigators picked Wallace up from Broward County Sheriff's on Friday to escort him to his arraignment. The proceeding is scheduled for 2 p.m. in Attleboro District Court, the same court where Hernandez was charged with murder.