Carlos Ortiz, the 27-year-old associate who admitted he was with Aaron Hernandez the night Odin Lloyd was shot, is starting to sound like a valuable witness who has been cooperating with police as they continue to investigate the murder. In fact, a report from The Sun Chronicle on Wednesday morning revealed that Ortiz was interviewed by police on June 25th — the day before Hernandez was arrested.
Ortiz provided police with key information about Hernandez’s apartment in Franklin, Mass., where several pieces of evidence were seized during a search this week. One of them was reportedly a white sweatshirt that Hernandez may have been wearing the night of the murder. Ortiz claimed he left a cell phone at the apartment the night of the shooting, which officers believe they found during the search.
In addition to informing police about the apartment and his forgotten cell phone, Ortiz may have mentioned something about drugs. The Boston Herald obtained a copy of the documents relating to the search of the so-called “flop house,” and the warrant contains references to cocaine.
“This Affiant requests an ALL PERSONS PRESENT WARRANT be issued for the #599 Old West Central Street for the following reasons: the nature of the sale of Cocaine is such that the participants are constantly changing, Cocaine is commonly packaged in small plastic bags which are easily and likely concealed on one’s person(s),” Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Bates wrote in an affidavit filed at Wrentham District Court. “An ALL PERSONS PRESENT WARRANT would enable investigating officers to search any person(s) that may be concealing this cellular device on their person(s) inside or at #599 Old West Central Street-Apt. 12A in the town of Franklin at the time the search warrant is executed.”
The warrant was obtained after Ortiz gave the information about the cell phone. The mentions of cocaine had to have come from somewhere.
[Related: Carlos Ortiz reportedly lived with Aaron Hernandez’s uncle]
“During the course of the investigation, subject Carlos Ortiz was questioned on Tuesday, June 25, 2013 in Bristol, Connecticut,” Bates wrote. “Ortiz did confirm that he was with Aaron Hernandez on the night in question. Ortiz then went on to explain that Hernandez has another address that not many people know about. Ortiz referred to this location as an apartment style location, commonly referred to as a ‘flop house.’ ”
Authorities say they found the sweatshirt, a hat and some .45-caliber ammunition, among other items. There was no mention of cocaine or any other drug being seized from the apartment. We’ll have to wait to find out how it made its way into the search warrant.
See all the LBS coverage of the Aaron Hernandez murder
