While former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez remains in jail, authorities again are asking the public for help in the Odin Lloyd homicide investigation.
Hernandez is charged with first-degree murder and several weapons violations in the death of Lloyd, a 27-year-old semi-pro football player from the Boston area. Hernandez is being held without bail.
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The North Attleboro Police and the Massachusetts State Police detectives released a statement to NFL.com on Tuesday, looking for the public's help in locating the broken driver's side rearview mirror of a silver/grey 2013 Nissan Altima.
The request was one of the developments connected to Hernandez's case early this week:
» Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson told the Boston Herald that Hernandez denied to investigators that he was a member of a street gang.
» A second man connected to the same investigation as Hernandez appeared Monday in a Broward County (Fla.) courtroom, where he waived the right to contest his return to Massachusetts. Ernest "Bo Fish" Wallace, 41, will be charged with accessory to murder after the fact in Lloyd's death, the Bristol County District Attorney's Office said.
A third man, 27-year-old Carlos Ortiz, is charged with possessing a weapon without a license as part of the Lloyd case. Ortiz already has been returned to Massachusetts.
» NFL.com confirmed the existence of a 2007 police report related from an incident that Hernandez allegedly was involved in before attending college at Florida. The Gainesville Police Department report, first acquired by The Wall Street Journal, alleges that Hernandez punched a restaurant employee in the head, bursting his eardrum. Hernandez did not dispute the punch. Hernandez, who was 17 at the time, was not arrested for the incident.
The Orlando Sentinel notes that Tim Tebow, Hernandez's Florida teammate, told police he was present and tried to break up the fight, according to the police report.
"Tebow stated that he witnessed the dispute," the officer wrote in the report, according to the Sentinel. " ... Tebow stated that he went over to try to help resolve the conflict."
» Hernandez is being kept away from other inmates for the sake of his safety while he is in jail, Hodgson told NFL Network and NFL.com on Monday.
Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthal.
