Aaron Hernandez's troubled past
02:32 - Source: CNN

Story highlights

A third suspect in death of Odin Lloyd waives extradition in Florida courtroom

Ernest Wallace, 41, is charged with accessory to murder after the fact

Ex-NFL player Aaron Hernandez is charged with murder in Lloyd's death

Prosecutors: 3 were in the car with Hernandez and Lloyd hours before Lloyd's death

CNN  — 

A third suspect in the slaying of a friend of former NFL player Aaron Hernandez waived his right to extradition to Massachusetts Monday, according to a district attorney there.

Ernest Wallace, 41, faces a charge of accessory to murder after the fact in the June 17 slaying of Odin Lloyd, 27. Hernandez, a former New England Patriot, has pleaded not guilty to premeditated murder and other charges in Massachusetts.

Wallace, who authorities believe was in the car with Hernandez and Lloyd the night that Lloyd was killed, appeared in a Broward County, Florida, courtroom on Saturday after he turned himself in on Friday. It is unclear when he will be transported to Massachusetts for an arraignment.

Another man also was taken into custody Friday.

It was around 2:30 a.m. on June 17 when Lloyd climbed into a silver Nissan Altima. Hours later, Lloyd was dead, shot with a .45-caliber firearm and later found lying in a gravel pit in the southeastern Massachusetts town of North Attleborough.

“It is a circumstantial case. It is not a strong case,” Hernandez’s attorney, Michael Fee, said in court.

The cloud over Hernandez, 23, doesn’t end there. A law enforcement source told CNN that Boston police are “very active” – and making progress – in trying to connect the dots that could link Hernandez to an unsolved drive-by shooting that left two people dead last summer in Boston’s South End.

Opinion: NFL doesn’t have answers on Hernandez

In a related development, a silver sport utility vehicle owned by Hernandez that police believe is linked to that double homicide was impounded, a law enforcement source told CNN.

The Boston Globe reports that the unsolved shooting deaths of two men might have played a role in the motive for Lloyd’s death. The newspaper quoted two law enforcement officials as saying Lloyd may have had information linking Hernandez to the shooting.

“The motive might have been that the victim knew (Hernandez) might have been involved,” the paper said, quoting one of the officials, who asked for anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the investigation.

For now, prosecutors have alleged Lloyd’s killing had something to do with a run-in between him and Hernandez. Prosecutors allege that Hernandez rounded up some friends and orchestrated the hit to settle the score.

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The two met up at the popular Boston dance club, Rumor, according to Lloyd’s sister, Olivia Thibou.

Then, in the predawn hours of June 17, Hernandez swung by in the rented Altima to pick up Lloyd – a semipro football player who also worked as a landscaper and was dating the sister of Hernandez’s fiancee – at the latter’s Boston home, prosecutors say.

They stopped at a gas station and bought some items. One purchase may be a potentially key piece of evidence: a pack of blue bubblegum.

Prosecutors said that cell phone towers nearby tracked the men’s movements. Lloyd had his phone on and texted his sister at 3:23 a.m., likely minutes before his death.

“NFL. Just so you know,” he texted his sister to let her know who he was with.

About 3:25 a.m. – two minutes after the message – gunshots shattered the quiet night, according to witnesses.

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CNN’s Susan Candiotti, Greg Botelho, Ben Brumfield, Ross Levitt, Rande Iaboni and Kim Segal contributed to this report.