DA Seeking Tattoo Artists Who Worked On Aaron Hernandez After 2012 Double Murder
BOSTON (CBS) --- The Suffolk County District Attorney's office is trying to track down any tattoo artists who may have worked on former Patriot Aaron Hernandez after a double murder in Boston's South End.
Hernandez is expected to be arraigned on two counts of first-degree murder Wednesday, May 28, in connection with the July 2012 homicides of Daniel Abreu and Safiro Furtado.
Investigators hope to speak with the artist or artists who gave Hernandez specific tattoos on his right forearm between February 2012 and June 2013. They say those artists are not suspects, and not accused of any wrongdoing, but rather are considered witnesses.
"The idea of somebody gunning down two innocent men and then celebrating with a tattoo seems a new low on the scale of human depravity," said Attorney William Kennedy, who represents Abreau and Furtado's families. "I would imagine it would be very upsetting if you thought your loved one was killed for no reason and then the killer celebrates in that kind of fashion."
In December 2011, Hernandez spoke about his tattoos with WBZ-TV's Steve Burton during Patriots Game Day, telling Burton that, "They've all got a lot of meaning."
The district attorney's office is not releasing specific details about the tattoos in question, in order to avoid tainting any potential witness statements, though getting the artists to come forward may not be easy.
"You will probably never find out where he got his tattoos," said tattoo artist Nick Miller from Body Extremes in Quincy. "I would think he wasn't even walking into a tattoo parlor. The tattoos he's got, he probably ended up getting them in somebody's basement or their kitchen."
The search for those potential witnesses is expansive. During the period in question Hernandez is known to have traveled to Hermosa Beach, California; Bristol, Connecticut; Palm Beach and Miami, Florida; Boston and Newport.
Anyone with this information may contact Boston Police Sgt. Det. Marc Sullivan at 617-343-5839.
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