With the release of American Sports Story, Aaron Hernandez‘s life is closely examined from the moment he picked up a football to the time of his death in prison. Aaron was close to his family members and his brother D.J.— who had a similar criminal record years after the Patriots player’s arrest.
D.J. and Aaron Hernandez were raised by their parents Dennis Hernandez and Terri Valentine-Hernandez. Dennis was often described as abusive towards his sons. In a book The Truth About Aaron: My Journey to Understand My Brother
, published in 2018, D.J. (who also goes by Jonathan) wrote about how his father threatened him after trying to call the authorities. He described the event, “He handed me the phone before saying, ‘Call them. As soon as you hang up the phone, I will beat you boys harder than you’ve ever been beat before. They will have to pull me off of you after they break down the door.’”
Dennis Sr. died after a routine hernia surgery, and they boys continued to pursue careers in football. D.J. played five seasons at University of Connecticut. After Aaron was drafted into the New England Patriots, he was arrested for the murder of Odin Lloyd. The professional football player died by suicide in his cell in 2017. “My younger brother Aaron was far from perfect,” D.J. said in a statement after his brother’s death, “but I will always love him.”
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, help is available. Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-SAFE (7233) for confidential support.
Where is D.J. Hernandez now?
D.J. Hernandez was arrested multiple times in his home state of Connecticut. In April 2024, D.J. was arrested for reckless driving in Connecticut. According to TMZ, D.J. pled guilty to one count of failure to drive in a proper lane and one count of failure to use traffic control signals. In exchange, prosecutors dropped the other charges against him.
In July 2023, he was charged with multiple counts of threatening and stalking after authorities say he threatened to shoot up the University of Connecticut and kill three people in another state. When he was taken by authorities, he yelled “shoot me,” disregarded numerous police commands and was stunned with a Taser and taken into custody.
He was also charged with breach of peace in the second degree and threatening physical threat following his arrest, according to the police report. The former football player allegedly made threats against an unidentified woman and her concerns that he may have been “planning to do a ‘school shooting.’ “
“I’ve died for years now and now its others peoples turn,” read a message sent to a woman in D.J’s life. It followed a message the day before that warned: “UConn’s gonna see how accurate I am too with my targets.”
He also pleaded not guilty to separate allegations that he caused a disturbance at ESPN and failed to go to court. Police said a note attached to the brick that he threw to the building read: “To all media outlets, it’s about time you all realeyes (sic) the affect (sic) media has on all family members. Since you’re a world wide leader maybe you could lead how media and messages are delivered brick by brick. Clean it up! Yours truly, Dennis J. Hernandez.”
