Multiple Handwritten Suicide Notes Found In Aaron Hernandez's Prison Cell

The investigation into the suicide of former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez is ongoing as more details surface following the star player’s death. Hernandez, 27, was found dead in his prison cell around 3 a.m. Wednesday after reportedly using a bed sheet to hang himself from the window of his prison cell. He was serving a life sentence at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, Massachusetts for the murder of his friend Odin Lloyd.

According to a Thursday press release from the office of Worcester County district attorney Joseph D. Early Jr., three handwritten notes were found next to a Bible in Hernandez’s cell. Newsweek reported Friday that the notes were written to his fiancée, his daughter and a close prison friend.

Multiple reports said Thursday the Bible was found opened to the passage "John 3:16," which was also written in red ink on Hernandez’s forehead. The popular Bible verse reads, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

The red markings were also found on Hernandez’s hands and feet, CBS affiliate WBZ-TV reported Thursday. As CBS noted in its report, it’s possible Hernandez was attempting to replicate the stigmata, or marks that correspond to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ.

As WBZ-TV noted Wednesday, one of the last people to see Hernandez alive, reportedly a close friend, is being held in isolation in what is referred to as "eyeball suicide watch." Newsweek’s explosive Friday report alleged Hernandez was in an intimate relationship the individual. "Hernandez’s sexuality would, of course, not be relevant save for the fact that an intimate relationship he allegedly had with a male former high school classmate was at the center of the investigation into Lloyd’s murder," Newsweek reported.

At least two investigations into Hernandez’s death are ongoing. Authorities are investigating the claims by inmates at the Souza Baranowski Correctional Center that Hernandez smoked K2, or synthetic marijuana, before his death. Meanwhile, attorney Jose Baez, who represented Hernandez during a recent double-murder trial, launched a separate investigation on behalf of the Hernandez family.

"The family and legal team is shocked and surprised at the news of Aaron's death," Baez said in a Wednesday statement. "There were no conversations or correspondence from Aaron to his family or legal team that would have indicated anything like this was possible."​​​