Former New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez was indicted Thursday on a first-degree murder charge in the death of a friend whose body was found in an industrial park about a mile from the ex-player's home in North Attleboro, Massachusetts, the Associated Press reported.
The six-count grand jury have charged Hernandez with killing 27-year-old Odin Lloyd who was a semi-professional football player from Boston dating the sister of Hernandez's girlfriend.
It also contains weapons counts, according to the Fall River division of Bristol County Superior Court, the AP reported.
Hernandez had already pleaded not guilty to murder and weapons charges in June, and he is being held without bail at a county jail. His lawyers remain confident he will be exonerated at the conclusion of the trial.
Hernandez was cut from his team within hours of his June 26 arrest. Hernandez could face life in prison if convicted.
Prosecutors say Hernandez orchestrated Lloyd's killing because "he was upset at him for talking to people Hernandez had problems with at a nightclub days earlier," the AP reported.
Hernandez and two associates - Ernest Wallace and Carlos Ortiz- reportedly picked Lloyd up at his home in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood early on June 17 and then to the industrial park.
Lloyd was shot and killed in an unpaved construction area by a warehouse after he apparently got out of the car for what he thought was a bathroom break.
Authorities have not said who fired the shots, but according to court documents, Ortiz told police in Florida that Wallace said it was Hernandez.
Wallace has pleaded not guilty to a charge of accessory to murder after the fact. Ortiz has pleaded not guilty to a firearm charge. Both are being held in jail without bail.
