Aaron Hernandez Destroyed Home Security System and Phone, Sources Tell ABC News

Murder probe of Hernandez associate has not cleared Patriots star, sources say.

ByABC News
June 20, 2013, 9:30 AM

BOSTON June 20, 2013— -- Police plan to go back to the home of New England Patriot's tight end Aaron Hernandez today with another warrant based on evidence that "he destroyed his home security system,'' an investigator close to the case told ABC News.

The investigator, and other law enforcement sources, confirmed that the security system - which included video surveillance - was smashed intentionally.

And a cell phone used by Hernandez was handed over to investigators "in pieces'' by his attorneys, the sources said.

Police also want to know why a team of house cleaners were hired on Monday to scrub Hernandez's mansion, sources told ABC News.

The revelations come as multiple sources tell ABC News that the star NFL player has not been ruled out as a suspect in the murder of a semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd, 27, who was Hernandez's friend.

Hernandez has been at the center of the investigation since Lloyd's body was found shot in the back of the head in a scrubby clearing of an industrial park roughly a mile from the Patriots star's million-dollar mansion in North Attleborough Monday.

Police believe Lloyd was killed between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. Monday, but his well dressed body was not found until 5:30 p.m. by a teenage jogger, several law enforcement sources told ABC News on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the case.

"He [Hernandez] has not been ruled out. We are not calling him a suspect, but he is definitely not in the clear," said one police official close to the investigation.

An attorney for Hernandez, Michael Fee, has not commented on the investigation but 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."

State Police searched the Hernandez home that he shares with his girlfriend Shayanna Jenkins, the mother of his infant daughter, with a warrant several times. Hernandez was seen going inside the house Wednesday with his mother and has not emerged since.

Jenkins' sister, Shanea Jenkins, was dating Lloyd, who played for the semi-pro football team Boston Bandits, several law enforcement sources told ABC News.

Shanea Jenkins could not be found in the aftermath of her boyfriend's murder, and investigators were concerned for her safety. Police were able to locate her Wednesday, the sources said.

Investigators have also searched three Enterprise rental cars that were registered to the NFL star, including one that had its silver mirror knocked off. That vehicle, sources said, was recovered at an Enterprise location in Boston Wednesday, a day after police issued a BOLO [Be On The Lookout] for it. The sources said it had been dropped off abruptly sometime Tuesday with the broken mirror.

Another rental vehicle was recovered not far from Lloyd's body. A third rental was stopped from pulling out of Hernandez's driveway Tuesday by state police and its two occupants were questioned and released. Police were seen searching that car Tuesday night.

In another development in the case, ABC News has learned from investigative sources that Hernandez had partied with Lloyd at a Boston nightclub Friday night into Saturday morning. Police reviewed surveillance video Wednesday that was taken at that club.

Police are also investigating "other incidents of violence" that Hernandez is suspected of being involved in, two sources told ABC News.

Hernandez is being sued by a former friend who lost his eye after he claims the Patriots player shot him in the face in February. A lawsuit in that case stated that Hernandez "possessed a gun he was not legally licensed to have."