Massachusetts (AP) — Former NFL star Aaron Hernandez, who was serving a life sentence for a murder conviction and just days ago was acquitted of a double murder, died after hanging himself in his prison cell Wednesday morning, Massachusetts prisons officials said. After he was convicted of first-degree murder, Hernandez was moved to a single-inmate cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center, a maximum-security prison in Shirley, about an hour’s drive from Boston. BOSTON (AP) — Key dates in the case of Aaron Hernandez:

— June 8, 2010: Hernandez, a standout tight end drafted from the University of Florida, signs a four-year contract with the New England Patriots. Hernandez’s cell, where he was found hanging from a bedsheet attached to his cell window on Wednesday, was part of general population housing, the Massachusetts Department of Correction said in a statement. Hernandez was serving a life sentence for murder and just last week was acquitted in two other killings before he hanged himself with a bed sheet attached to his cell window at the Souza Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, Massachusetts, at approximately 3:05 a.m. Mr. Hernandez also attempted to block his door from the inside by jamming the door with various items.” Aaron, who played in the NFL for the New England Patriots, was transferred to UMass Leominster Hospital, and pronounced dead at 4:07 a.m., approximately one hour after he hung himself. Just five days before his suicide, Aaron was acquitted in a second murder case, in which he was accused killing two men, Daniel de Abreu, 29, and Safiro Furtado, 28, in 2012. After the officers attempted lifesaving techniques, he was transported to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead at 4:07 a.m.

Hernandez was serving a life sentence without parole at the Souza Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, Mass., for killing Odin Lloyd, the boyfriend of his fiancee's sister, in 2013.
Former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez, acquitted last week of a 2012 double murder but serving a life sentence for a 2013 murder, is found hanged in his prison cell, and is pronounced dead an hour later.