Aaron Hernandez’s Estate Reaches Wrongful Death Lawsuit Settlement With Murder Victims’ Families

The families of Aaron Hernandez, Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado are close to finally getting a closure for the 2012 murder case.

According to the court filling, the former New England Patriots tight end’s estate has settled a wrongful-death lawsuit filed against him by Abreu’s and Furtado’s families. Suffolk County Superior Court judge Douglas H. Wilkins dismissed the lawsuit Tuesday after the “action was reported settled.” Terms of the settlement are confidential.

Hernandez’s estate lawyer, George Leontire, said he had “no comment except to say no assets of the estate were used to settle the matters.”

“What the family of Safiro Furtado will always remember is that Safiro was taken much too soon,” attorney William T. Kennedy wrote in an email. “Safiro had come to this country for the opportunity it presented. He wanted to get an education and make a contribution for himself and his family. Safiro will be remembered as a thoughtful generous young man. His family appreciates those that keep Safiro in their thoughts and prayers.”

The lawyer for Abreu’s widow, Kenneth I. Kolpan, said the settlement “honors the legacy and memory of Daniel de Abreu, my client’s former husband.”

Hernandez was charged with shooting Abreu and Furtado to death in 2012, but he was found not guilty. Prosecutors had alleged that Hernandez gunned down the men in a blind rage after a run-in at a South End night club, while his lawyers insisted that Alexander Bradley, Hernandez’s former friend and marijuana supplier, had killed the pair over a drug deal.

Aaron Hernandez already was serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for killing Odin Lloyd when he committed suicide in 2017, just days after his acquittal on charges of killing Abreu and Furtado.