Last Podcast on the Left

Episode 636: Aaron Hernandez Part III - Fourth & Forever
Release Date: September 26, 2025
Podcast Description: The Last Podcast on the Left dives into real and imagined horrors, exploring demons, cults, serial killers, and more, blending dark humor with thorough research.

Overview

The final installment of the Aaron Hernandez trilogy brings the story to its tragic close, examining the unraveling of Hernandez’s life after his football success, culminating in murder, trial, and shocking aftermath. The hosts (Marcus Parks, Henry Zebrowski, and Ed Larson) navigate the personal, social, and systemic factors behind Hernandez's downfall, focusing particularly on the murder of Odin Lloyd, the investigation and trials, Hernandez's life and death in prison, and the broader cultural context of football violence and American sports hero culture.

Tone throughout is darkly comic, irreverent, and empathetic for the victims, with pointed barbs at institutions that enabled Hernandez and football culture at large.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Leadup: Paranoia, Drugs, and Impulse (04:44 – 13:00)

• Recap: Aaron Hernandez is deep in a spiral of violence, drug abuse, and paranoia after escaping charges for multiple alleged crimes, most recently the attempted murder of his friend Alexander Bradley.
• Paranoia: After shooting Bradley, Hernandez descends into hypervigilance — installing security, buying an arsenal, contemplating armored cars — but "nobody has stepped to Aaron Hernandez at this point. This is all in his own making." (07:36, Edwin)
• Consequences-Free Life: The hosts highlight how from high school on, Hernandez was shielded from consequences, whether by school officials, coaches, or handlers. “He had never experienced a single set of consequences.” (08:44, Henry)
• Drug Use and Escalating Behavior: He begins openly abusing drugs and living recklessly — “Openly making calls to buy drugs in the Patriots locker.” (08:07, Marcus)

2. The Relationship with Odin Lloyd and Manipulation (10:33 – 13:50)

• Odin Lloyd: Introduced as the partner of Hernandez’s fiancée’s sister, described universally as a good, calm man. “Everyone liked him. That is the one thing . . . a parade of people talking about how good of a dude Odin Lloyd was.” (10:53, Edwin)
• Aaron as Manipulator: Odin is drawn into Aaron’s world via generosity mixed with dominance. “Everything’s transactional . . . he throws money and lavish things at him all the time while treating him like he’s less than him.” (11:35, Henry)
• Toxic Personality: The hosts discuss “learned helplessness” and tantrums controlling those around Aaron, with his “king baby” behavior. (11:44, Henry)

3. The Night of the Murder: Breakdown and Motives (13:08 – 28:11)

• Club Rumor Incident: June 14, 2013, a fight breaks out between Aaron and Odin at a Boston nightclub; the cause is unclear, but Aaron is spiraling, seemingly seeing enemies and threats everywhere.
• Hernandez’s Delusions: "He doesn't know how to process the feelings of being guilty," (15:02, Henry) — his brain is “made out of Wagyu.”
• Drug Cocktail: The group is using “hard drugs . . . Molly, GHB, whatever the team gives him for his pain.” (16:20, Marcus)
• Morning After: After a wild night, Aaron uses Odin’s phone to send a strange, guilt-ridden text to his fiancée, indicating paranoia and possible confession.
• Motive Speculation: The hosts theorize that Lloyd likely knew too much — whether about Hernandez’s crimes or personal secrets — and that Aaron’s lethal paranoia, fueled by CTE and drugs, sealed Lloyd’s fate. “If you’re right next to Aaron Hernandez, bad shit's gonna happen to you.” (12:50, Edwin)

4. The Murder of Odin Lloyd: Evidence and Arrest (26:45 – 41:14)

• Bungled Cover-Up: The hosts note how sloppily Hernandez covers his tracks:
  • Lloyd is killed in an industrial park a mile from Aaron’s house, shot six times (28:19, Marcus).
  • Key evidence includes DNA on a “last blunt,” rental car keys in Lloyd’s pocket under Hernandez’s name, and bullet casings. “It’s like cops can’t even place evidence that well.” (28:42, Henry)
• Text Messages as Smoking Gun: The volume of texts incriminates Aaron. “Thousands of Aaron Hernandez texts. They were just delivered to them.” (26:17, Henry)
• Police Investigation: A storm almost washes away the crime scene; police work quickly, using rental car evidence and a sequence of tips and betrayals to build their case.

5. The Trial: Damning Evidence and Defense Theater (47:51 – 61:00)

• Trial Highlights:
  • Footage from Aaron's own home security system links him to returning with the murder weapon. "He didn't delete the footage properly." (50:44, Marcus)
  • Cell phone destruction video and 2,000 pages of texts are presented as evidence. (51:30, Marcus / 52:00, Henry)
• Defense Strategy: The defense, forced to admit Aaron was present, makes a bizarre last-ditch pivot, blaming the murder on Aaron’s friends and using a “PCP expert” (56:47, Henry hilariously lampoons this).
• Outcome: After six days of jury deliberation, Hernandez is found guilty. “They might have just spent six full days going, holy shit, can you believe how bad Aaron Hernandez is at murder?” (60:38, Marcus)

6. Life in Prison and the Final Days (61:01 – 85:00)

• Prison Life: Aaron adapts shockingly well: joining the Bloods, making friends, getting special treatment from Patriots-fan guards, maintaining his “king baby” persona with honey buns and stoner food creations.
• Notable Anecdote: Aaron’s love for reading Harry Potter in jail is repeatedly mocked. “He’s reading his Harry Potters . . . What the f---, I hope hell Hermione gonna kiss the other guy.” (48:07, Henry)
• The Abatement Loophole and Suicide:
  • In a complicated legal twist, Aaron hangs himself on April 19, 2017, possibly to void his conviction so his family could pursue Patriots contract money via "abatement."
  • He leaves cryptic messages: John 3:16 in blood, and "Illuminati" in his cell. “He did it the hardest way possible. . . . That’s the dumbest way to commit suicide I’ve ever heard.” (82:46, Henry)
• Quotes:
  • “Just those words (John 3:16), not the full verse.” (82:05, Marcus)
  • “Once he set his mind to something, he did it.” (82:46, Marcus)

7. The Question of Hernandez’s Sexuality (87:02 – 90:26)

• Media Frenzy: Posthumous stories about Aaron’s relationships with men explode. High school friend Dennis San Susie and cellmate Kyle Kennedy both claim intimacy; Ryan Murphy’s “forbidden love” stories are dismissed as unsubstantiated.
• Host Analysis: They agree that any closeted behavior may have contributed to internal turmoil, but “I really don’t think that him being closeted was what led to any of this. No, I don’t think it had any bearing. . . probably increased the pressure and it. . . may have definitely had something to do with the suicide, but I don’t think it had anything to do with his crimes.” (90:11, Edwin)

8. Broader Reflections: Football, CTE, and Consequences (95:19 – 102:14)

• CTE and Football Culture: The hosts link the violence to CTE and institutional permissiveness, tying in the similarly violent fates of Hernandez’s high school teammates and the toxic, traumatic environment of high-stakes football in America.
• Personal Connection: Marcus Park contextualizes with his own violent and traumatizing football experience, showing how football culture can foster dangerous behavior and “teach” the wrong lessons through lack of consequences.

9. Aftermath: The NFL and America’s Football Problem (102:14 – End)

• The NFL’s Response: The Patriots, EA Sports, and other sponsors move quickly to erase Hernandez from memory. But the underlying issues — player exploitation, violence, cultural enablement — remain.
• Ticket Price Rant: Marcus rails against the NFL’s increasing exclusivity, political posturing, and hypocrisy, noting the league’s treatment of player protests and rapidly rising ticket prices.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Hernandez’s consequence-free rise:
  “He had never experienced a single set of consequences. . . he failed a test, and they just let him retake it.” (08:44, Henry)
• On Motive and Paranoia:
  “If you’re right next to Aaron Hernandez, bad shit's gonna happen to you. Like, he's gonna turn on you eventually.” (12:50, Edwin)
• On crime scene evidence:
  “God, it’s like cops can’t even place evidence that well.” (28:39, Henry)
• On his jail adaptation:
  “He even referred to his cell as cozy.” (48:01, Marcus)
• On sexuality myths:
  “Was he gay? Was he bisexual? Truth is, we'll never really know for sure because the only person that could tell us, Aaron, is dead.” (88:22, Marcus)
• On posthumous legal maneuvering:
  “As long as you kill yourself before you’re guilty, it doesn’t count.” (86:31, Henry)
• A final commentary on football’s culture:
  “I got better things to do than get hammered and yell at a television in my own home like Yosemite Sam.” (106:27, Marcus)

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Topic | Timestamp (MM:SS) | |--------------------------------------------|-----------------------| | Aaron’s paranoia and lack of consequences | 04:44 – 09:33 | | Manipulation of Odin Lloyd | 10:33 – 13:50 | | Night of the murder, paranoia escalating | 13:08 – 28:11 | | Evidence, police investigation, arrest | 26:45 – 41:14 | | Trial highlights & defense tactics | 47:51 – 61:00 | | Hernandez in prison and suicide | 61:01 – 85:00 | | Sexuality and media narratives | 87:02 – 90:26 | | NFL aftermath and CTE reflection | 95:19 – 102:14 | | Closing thoughts on football culture | 102:14 – end |

Memorable, Darkly Comic Exchanges

• On Aaron’s reading habits in jail:
  “He’s reading his Harry Potters . . . What the f---, I hope hell Hermione gonna kiss the other guy. I was rooting for Harry Potter.” (48:07, Henry)
• On the murder weapon “blob” on camera:
  “She played dumb as well, saying that it looked like a black blob.” (53:57, Marcus)
  “That’s some kind of black blob. He always had some . . . collection of black blobs.” (54:04, Henry)
• On Hernandez’s last days:
  “He jammed his cell door shut with cardboard, opened his Bible to John 3:16, wrote John 3:16 on his forehead with red ink . . . then he used his own blood to write John 3:16 on his cell wall and drew a crude pyramid with the word Illuminati written under it.” (82:01, Marcus)

Conclusion

Episode 636: masterfully weaves together chilling true crime, forensic procedural, and searing cultural criticism — all with the irreverent, deeply researched style that defines Last Podcast on the Left. Through the lens of Aaron Hernandez, the trio indicts not just one disturbed athlete, but the American systems — football, celebrity, masculinity — that enable tragedy. The closing segments connect the story’s horror to their own lives and the broader phenomenon of football in America, inviting listeners to reflect on what we revere, support, and excuse.

Final Word:
Aaron Hernandez was both a uniquely troubled individual and a reflection of larger American failings. His story, the hosts agree, should serve as a warning — not just about one man’s fall, but the consequences of a culture that worships violence, covers for abusers, and treats young athletes as disposable gods.

Summary prepared for those seeking a detailed, engaging breakdown of the entire episode, capturing its content, spirit, and unforgettable moments.