Author James Patterson to Pen True-Crime Book About Aaron Hernandez

Best-selling author James Patterson plans to write a true-crime book about former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez.

Patterson wants to figure out “what went wrong” that caused Hernandez to go from celebrated professional football player to convicted killer who committed suicide while serving a life sentence for the crime.

The currently untitled book is expected to be released in 2018 and would tell the story of the rise and tragic fall of Hernandez, who, authorities said, hanged himself inside his prison cell April 19. Hernandez was serving a life sentence for the murder of semiprofessional football player Odin Lloyd. However, that conviction is expected to be overturned posthumously because Hernandez died before his appeals process was complete.

“It’s been heartbreaking and a roller coaster ride for our family,” Lloyd’s sister, Olivia Thibou, told Fox News. “It’s a lot to process and it all happened so fast. We are still trying to grasp what is going on. It’s been four years and we can’t catch a break.”

Hernandez’s fiancee, Shayanna Jenkins Hernandez, and her lawyer recently filed an affidavit claiming that Hernandez’s estate has a dollar value of zero with “no monies available and no identifiable personal assets,” the Boston Herald reports.

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The Herald also notes that Hernandez’s North Attleboro home, just outside of Rhode Island, which has been up for sale for over a year, just received an offer and is valued at $1.3 million, but the pending sale price was not disclosed.

Jenkins Hernandez is expected to use money from the home’s sale to cover damages awarded in the Lloyd case “and any potential future actions arising out of decedent’s death,” the court documents state, the Herald reports.

“Also Thursday, lawyers for Hernandez’s estate, his fiancee and their young daughter wrote to prison officials and the prosecutor’s office investigating Hernandez’s death, asking them to stop leaks to the media about letters and other writings by Hernandez found in his cell and certain details of the investigation,” the New York Post reports.

The letter added that leaked information “continues to cause the family severe emotional distress during an already difficult period.”