Two years ago Wednesday, someone killed 27-year-old Odin Lloyd. Two months ago, a jury decided that former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez committed the crime.
With attacks on the verdict pending -- including a claim that a juror lied during jury selection regarding her lack of knowledge about other alleged murders committed by Hernandez -- the mother of Odin Lloyd returned to the scene of the crime in an effort to set her son’s spirit free.
Via the North Attleboro Sun Chronicle, Ursula Ward gathered with family and friends to remember Lloyd and to send dozens of purple balloons into the sky.
Ward’s mother said that she wanted to “release [Odin’s] spirit from this God-forsaken place.”
“On the way in, I started thinking what was going through my baby’s mind when they brought him here?” Ward said. “What was going through my baby’s heart? Was he thinking I will never see my mother again? My baby did not deserve this.”
Lloyd was killed in the hours after the conclusion of Father’s Day. And he always said “Happy Father’s Day” to his mother on that day, because she played both roles in his life.
With the rap sheet against Hernandez constantly growing and another trial on the docket, it’s easy to forget about his victims. Odin Lloyd should still be alive today, and Hernandez rightfully will spend every day of the rest of his own life behind bars because Lloyd isn’t.