Aaron Hernandez Suicide Details Made Public In Police Report: Bible Passage, “John 3:16,” Inked In Blood On Head

Former football star Aaron Hernandez died in Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center on April 19 while serving a life sentence for the murder of the boyfriend of Hernandez’s fiancee’s sister. Massachusetts State Police released the details of their investigation into Hernandez’s death on Thursday.

According to the report, before hanging himself with a bed sheet tied to his cell’s window bars, Hernandez wrote reference to a Bible passage on his forehead, in ink, and on the wall, in blood.

The Bible passage, “John 3:16,” – the phrase written on his forehead and the wall – reads, “For God so loved the world, the he gave his only begotten Son, that whosever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” The bible in Hernandez’s cell was open to John 3:16. The passage was also marked in blood.

In the report compiled by a state police detective assigned to Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early Jr.‘s office said that a correctional officer found Hernandez hanging in his cell at 3 a.m. After struggling to enter the cell – Hernandez had stuffed cardboard beneath the door and made the floors slippery by pouring shampoo on them – correctional officers found Hernandez hanging from the bed sheet. After getting him down and performing CPR, the former New England Patriot was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The autopsy performed by the state medical examiner’s office determined that Hernandez died of asphyxia by hanging. The manner of his death was deemed suicide. The toxicology report came back negative for all substances tested.

The report also mentions that before going back to his cell on the night of April 18 at 8 p.m., Hernandez made a phone call. After listening to the last five phone calls Hernandez made, the detective reports, “Hernandez does not make any apparent indication of an intent to harm himself during any of the phone calls.”

Hernandez’s suicide came five days after hew was acquitted of nearly all charges related to a 2012 drive-by shooting.

Jose Baez, the lead attorney in Hernandez’s most recent trail, claims that state police have done a poor job with the investigation, and has pledged to start an independent investigation of his own.

“The unprofessional behavior of those entrusted to impartially and professionally conduct an investigation into Aaron’s death has caused grave concern as to the validity and thoroughness of the investigation,” said Baez in a statement.

Several notes written inside of Hernandez’s Bible have been redacted from the state police’s investigative report.