We always knew that the prosecution’s speculation on Aaron Hernandez’s motive for killing Odin Lloyd in the early morning of June 17, 2013 was flimsy. They tried to make it about his temper and erratic behavior combined with alcohol and drugs, substantiated by Alexander Bradley’s testimony that Hernandez told him he didn’t like how Lloyd walked by the two without saying “Hi.” While that may have pissed him off, it appears to not have been the reason the alleged murder took place. 
 
 We made the point Odin Lloyd knew something he was not supposed to know which may have ultimately lead to his killing, but we weren’t sure if it was knowledge of Hernandez’s flophouse (an apartment a few miles from his home where he used to smoke weed and sleep with women) or knowledge of the double murder of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado in 2012. Turns out it was probably the latter, which is understandable. 
 
 A killer kills a guy who knows about one of his killings. Makes sense. 
 
 RELATED: Watch Aaron Hernandez React To The Jury’s Guilty Verdict 
 
 Texts between Hernandez, his fiancée and two co-defendants suggested that Lloyd had taken care of him one night after he had too much to drink, at which point Hernandez regrettably “told him about the spot.” “Im buggin [sic],” he texted the mother of his child, Shayanna Jenkins, the morning after. Prosecutors (and the media alike) took this to mean the flophouse apartment, as if Lloyd’s knowledge of the place was so unacceptable that he had to be taken out. In light of testimony obtained from the Hartford Courant, it could’ve very well been in reference to the place where de Abreu and Furtado were shot in their car after de Abreu failed to apologize for bumping into Hernandez at a club. 
 
 Apparently, Odin Lloyd had been talking a bit too much about the murder in front of complete strangers. 
 
 [Hartford Courant] Sharif Hashem, a security supervisor at Rumor, phoned North Attleborough police on June 22 and claimed to have information that the Loyd shooting and the Boston double homicide were related, according to the warrant released Tuesday. He told authorities a patron of Rumor nightclub “accidentally spilled the beans in front of me.” 
 
 Obviously, this information cannot be used in his current trial, but it certainly sheds light on the state’s home run case against Hernandez in the upcoming double murder trial slated for later this year. ||||| Massachusetts prisons for years have had a troubled track record when it comes to suicides by inmates. 
 
 The latest data from the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics show that there were 32 suicides per 100,000 state and federal prisoners in Massachusetts between 2001 and 2014 — the fourth-highest such rate in the country and about twice the national average. 
 
 In what appears to be the most recent case of inmate suicide, former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez was found dead, hanging in his cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, early Wednesday morning. 
 
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 Between 2005 and 2006, a dozen inmate suicides were reported at Massachusetts prisons — including two at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center — prompting intense scrutiny of the state Department of Correction. Most of the suicides were committed in segregation units by inmates with histories of mental illness and attempted suicides. 
 
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 Advocacy groups sued the department in 2007 alleging civil rights violations, just as a Globe Spotlight series revealed deepening mental illness and misery behind the walls of the state’s prisons. 
 
 That series also identified numerous problems, including botched background screenings on suicidal inmates, missing mental health records, and skipped security rounds by officers. 
 
 The correction department hired a consultant, made several improvements to the segregation unit system, and attempted to reach a deal on the lawsuit. 
 
 However, those negotiations failed, and plans for change were shelved because of the state’s fiscal crisis. 
 
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 The department then saw another sharp increase in suicides, with 13 prisoners killing themselves between 2009 and 2010, including three at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center. 
 
 In response to an outcry from inmate advocates, the state rehired the consultant who had conducted the 2007 review. 
 
 The consultant said his subsequent review of the prisons, released in 2011, found that the Correction Department had once again made reforms, including increased training and new protocols for assessing inmates’ mental illnesses. 
 
 The department also created new alternatives to the segregation unit. In 2012, as part of a settlement of the advocates’ lawsuit, a federal judge ordered the department to maintain those alternatives. 
 
 But suicides have continued in recent years at state prisons, including six in 2014; one of those cases was at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center and was the most recent inmate suicide at that facility until Hernandez’ this week. 
 
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 And in recent months, prisoner advocacy groups have said the state is unlawfully placing prisoners with serious mental illness in solitary confinement despite that settlement. 
 
 And a recent Globe Spotlight series on the state’s failed mental health care system highlighted the often-inadequate care provided in prisons, where at least 30 percent of inmates suffer from mental illness. 
 
 The Spotlight Team reported on one case in which an inmate diagnosed with a serious mental illness was sent to segregation at MCI-Cedar Junction at Walpole with tragic consequences: Joseph Vyce, a 35-year-old with bipolar disorder, hanged himself in 2014 after months in the isolation ward known as the Department Disciplinary Unit, where inmates are locked in 23 hours a day. 
 
 Nationwide, and in Massachusetts, illness — including cancer and heart, liver, and lung diseases — is by far the most common cause of death for state and federal prisoners, federal statistics show. 
 
 Suicide is the next most common cause, followed by homicides and drug and alcohol poisoning. 
 
 If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. 
 
 Prison suicide rate, by state, 2001-2014 Figures reflect both state and federal prisoners in each state. (One asterisk (*) denotes that that in that state, prisons and jails form one integrated system and the rates are based on total jail and prison populations. Two asterisks (**) denotes that the figure should be interpreted with caution because there were too few cases to provide a reliable rate.) State Suicide rate per 100,000 inmates, 2001-2014 Rhode Island* 45 Utah 44 Montana 34 Massachusetts 32 Alaska* 31 New Hampshire** 30 Hawaii* 29 Idaho 28 South Dakota 28 Delaware* 26 Vermont* & ** 26 Connecticut* 24 New Mexico 23 Nebraska 21 New York 21 California 20 Iowa 20 Maryland 20 Oklahoma 19 Wisconsin 19 Colorado 18 Minnesota 18 Wyoming** 18 Arizona 17 Arkansas 17 Nevada 17 Illinois 16 Indiana 16 Michigan 16 Oregon 16 Pennsylvania 16 Texas 16 Tennessee 15 Kansas 14 Mississippi 13 New Jersey 13 Ohio 13 South Carolina 13 Washington 13 Missouri 12 Maine** 11 Georgia 10 Virginia 10 Kentucky 9 Louisiana 9 Florida 8 West Virginia** 8 North Carolina 7 Alabama 6 North Dakota** 5 SOURCE : Bureau of Justice Statistics 
 
 Maria Cramer and Jenna Russell conrtibuted to this report. Matt Rocheleau can be reached at matthew.rocheleau@globe.com . Follow him on Twitter @mrochele ||||| BOSTON — 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. 
 
 — Jan. 1, 2012: He sets a career best with 138 receiving yards in a win over Buffalo. 
 
 — July 16, 2012: Two men, Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado, are shot to death in their car as they wait at a red light in Boston's South End neighborhood. 
 
 — Aug. 27, 2012: Hernandez signs a five-year, $40 million contract with the Patriots. 
 
 — February 2013: An associate, Alexander Bradley, is shot in the face in Florida. Bradley files a lawsuit alleging that Hernandez shot him after they argued at a strip club. 
 
 — June 17, 2013: The body of Odin Lloyd, a semi-professional football player who was dating the sister of Hernandez's fiancee, is found about a mile from Hernandez's mansion in North Attleborough, Massachusetts. 
 
 — June 26, 2013: Hernandez is arrested on a murder charge in Lloyd's slaying and taken from his home in handcuffs. He later pleads not guilty. The Patriots release him hours after his arrest. 
 
 — May 15, 2014: Hernandez is indicted on two counts of first-degree murder and other charges in connection with the shootings of de Abreu and Furtado. His lawyers say he is innocent. 
 
 — May 28, 2014: Hernandez pleads not guilty to charges in connection with the deaths of de Abreu and Furtado. A prosecutor says Hernandez was angry because de Abreu accidentally bumped into him at a nightclub while dancing, spilling his drink. 
 
 — Jan. 9, 2015: Hernandez goes on trial for murder in Lloyd's killing. 
 
 — April 7, 2015: Prosecutors and Hernandez's lawyers present their closing statements and the case goes to the jury. 
 
 — April 15, 2015: Hernandez is convicted of first-degree murder; carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment. 
 
 — Feb. 14, 2017: Hernandez goes on trial for murder in the 2012 killings of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado. 
 
 — April 6, 2017: Prosecutors and Hernandez's lawyers present their closing arguments. 
 
 — April 7, 2017: The jury begins deliberating. 
 
 — April 14, 2017: Hernandez acquitted of murder in the 2012 killings of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado. 
 
 — April 19, 2017: Hernandez found hanging by a bed sheet in his prison cell, dies at hospital. ||||| Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez turns to look in the direction of the jury on Friday. 
 
 Was there ever enough evidence to try Aaron Hernandez for more than the one murder he’s already convicted of? 
 
 In a verdict that few predicted, a Suffolk County jury pronounced the former New England Patriot not guilty Friday of a double murder in Boston’s South End in 2012, while convicting him of one lesser charge. Of course the former New England Patriot is still serving life in prison without parole for killing Odin Lloyd in 2013. 
 
 Some had considered Hernandez a virtual one-man crime wave in light of his previous murder conviction and subsequent indictment for two others. Will that verdict in the court of public opinion now have to be revisited? 
 
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 “It’s my view that the Commonwealth was seduced by his celebrity,” said defense attorney Ronald S. Sullivan Jr., part of the team that represented Hernandez in his latest trial. “Instead of doing the hard work of uncovering evidence, they went for the celebrity conviction. In the second trial, the jury held him to the standard that all citizens should be held to.” 
 
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 It’s not surprising that the winning side would lavish praise on the jury. But in the wake of the trial, there seems to be widespread agreement that the case against Hernandez was weak. It came down to the word of one very wobbly star witness, Alexander Bradley, whose self-serving and inconsistent testimony wasn’t nearly enough to win a murder conviction. 
 
 It isn’t unusual for murder prosecutions to hang on the testimony of unsavory characters. But Bradley — who is doing time in Connecticut in another shooting — was nearly the only witness of consequence, and he was clearly not up to the task. His descriptions of pivotal events, such as the discarding of the murder weapon, were contradicted by other evidence. He claimed to have witnessed the club dust-up that precipitated the shooting, but there was no corroboration of that, either in the form of video or other witnesses. Oh, and he texted his lawyer that he was concerned about being charged with perjury if he testified truthfully in a related case. 
 
 Some star witness. 
 
 The prosecution isn’t necessarily to blame for losing the case; they don’t collect the evidence. And the fact is that there had never even been suspects in the double murder until Hernandez was charged with killing Lloyd. They had a tough case they couldn’t prove. 
 
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 Legal analysts have not faulted the prosecution so much as they have credited a smart and vigorous defense with shredding the testimony of Bradley and other key witnesses and creating reasonable doubt. The prosecution, they say, did the best it could with a case that was problematic from the start. 
 
 The good news is that Hernandez will continue to serve a life sentence without parole for Lloyd’s cold-blooded killing. However, that verdict is under appeal. It’s unlikely, but his acquittal Friday creates the possibility, however remote, that Hernandez could eventually walk free if his appeal succeeds. That’s unsettling. 
 
 Even given the recent acquittal, the Hernandez saga is one with little precedent. This is a man who played in the Super Bowl and stood on the cusp of true stardom and insane riches. But in the end, he couldn’t outrun his own insanity. 
 
 I can only assume that the jury got it right on Friday, and Hernandez is not guilty. But we shouldn’t overlook the fact that someone shot two people to death in 2012, and as of now that killer has not been brought to justice. That, in itself, is a tragedy. 
 
 During the trial, pictures of Hernandez in the courtroom captured a man who didn’t seem to have a care in the world — a murder defendant blowing kisses to his family, waving to his friends, a study in confidence. Perhaps he suspected what we’ve all learned, which is that no jury would convict anyone on the word of Alexander Bradley. 
 
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 But Hernandez remains a convicted killer. That didn’t change with this verdict, and isn’t likely to. 
 
 Adrian Walker is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at adrian.walker@globe . Follow him on Twitter @Adrian_Walker
– An attorney for Aaron Hernandez says he isn't convinced his high-profile client committed suicide. Prison officials say the former NFL star hanged himself with a bed sheet, but attorney Jose Baez says he will conduct his own investigation alongside the prison's because Hernandez didn't seem remotely suicidal, reports TMZ. Meanwhile, media outlets are struggling to make sense not only of Hernandez's death but of the dramatic downfall from stardom that led to his life sentence on a murder conviction. Related coverage: Hernandez probably won't be known as a convicted murderer much longer, reports USA Today. The 27-year-old had appealed his conviction, and his death means that the verdict will likely be vacated by the Massachusetts Appeals Court because he wouldn't be able to assist in his own defense. CNN and the Washington Post have similar stories with a broad look at his life. He'd been an athletic prodigy in his hometown of Bristol, Conn., and both stories note that Hernandez was especially close to his dad, who died after hernia surgery when Hernandez was 16. He'd begun hanging out with a tougher crowd by then, and trouble began escalating after his father's death and continued at the University of Florida and beyond. This New York Times focuses on the 2013 murder that resulted in his life sentence. He and victim Odin Lloyd, a semi-pro player, were dating sisters at the time, and Lloyd was apparently suspicious the night Hernandez picked him up. He texted his sister that he was with "NFL," adding, "just so you know." Hernandez was accompanied by two friends from Bristol at the time, the story suggesting he never could quite shake those roots. As for the 2012 case in which he was accused, and acquitted, of killing two men, it all stemmed from a spilled drink in a nightclub. But the two cases may be connected: One line of speculation was that Hernandez killed Odin because he learned of the 2012 killings and was talking too much, per this post at SportsGrid. The Boston Herald has a timeline of his criminal cases here. An April 16 column in the Boston Globe about his recent trial described Hernandez as "serene" in court. Photos "captured a man who didn’t seem to have a care in the world—a murder defendant blowing kisses to his family, waving to his friends, a study in confidence." Massachusetts has a spotty record when it comes to prison suicides, reports the Globe.