Kriti Mehrotra
Born on May 18, 1986, in Bristol, Connecticut, as the older of the two boys of Terri Valentine-Hernandez and Dennis Hernandez, Dennis Jonathan “DJ” Hernandez has carried the family name on his shoulder for years. The truth is he has never been shy about his relationship with his late younger brother Aaron Josef Hernandez or their family dynamic owing to the simple fact he believes it definitely affected the way their lives turned out. After all, per his account, not only was his brother sexually assaulted by an elder boy while they were playing hide and seek at the ages of 9 and 6, but their father was also apparently really abusive.
While their father, Dennis, was a Bristol Central High football star turned University of Connecticut athlete, everything changed when he found himself getting linked to criminal activity. Therefore, as indicated in FX’s ‘American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez,’ he pushed both his sons to no extent to do better in every aspect of their lives, which often turned to abuse. As per DJ, whether it be them receiving bad grades, their behavioral issues, their poor performance when they played football, or any minor thing at all, he often turned to physical abuse for everything.
In fact, DJ has since also asserted that when he did threaten to call the police on Dennis once, the latter doubled down and said he’d start beating him the second he hung up and wouldn’t stop until officials pulled him off. Nevertheless, since Dennis played a key role in both his and Aaron’s lives, he believes his brother’s life began spiraling following his passing in January 2006 and that things might have been different if he had been still alive. “That’s the million-dollar question, how my father — if he was still alive, how everything would have changed,” he said. “I think it would have been completely different. But I don’t know. That’s a fairy tale.”
DJ Hernandez Tried to Find Answers After Aaron’s Death
While it’s true that DJ never got to play professional football like his younger brother, he was dedicated to teaching the sport at a collegiate level until around the mid-2010s. That’s around the same time Aaron was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of his friend Odin Lloyd, only to be acquitted of a 2012 double homicide nearly two years later. However, little did anyone know that merely five days following the latter verdict, the former NFL tight end would take his own life in his cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Lancaster, Massachusetts.
DJ subsequently released a statement that read, in part, “My younger brother Aaron was far from perfect, but I will always love him,” only to then begin searching for what exactly went wrong in their lives. He has come up with theories of his own regarding his brother’s alleged struggles with his sexuality and their past, but that’s all he has been able to do. However, it does seem like DJ was able to find a little bit of closure and comprehend his brother’s deteriorating mental state, as he indicated in his book ‘The Truth About Aaron: My Journey to Understand My Brother.’
DJ Hernandez Has Had His Own Troubles With the Law
Although DJ had established a roofing company following his stint as a football assistant coach, everything turned upside down starting in 2023 when he was arrested for the first time. It was in March that DJ, whose official name is Jonathan, was taken into custody twice for reckless driving, just to then throw a brick into the ESPN building in his hometown of Bristol weeks later. The brick had a note attached to it: “To all media outlets, It’s about time you all realeyes the affect media has on all family members. Since you’re a worldwide leader, maybe you could lead how media and messages are delivered brick by brick. Clean it up! Yours truly, Dennis J. Hernandez.”
As if that’s not enough, DJ was again arrested in July, but this time on much more serious accusations. He had apparently not only threatened to kiss his estranged wife and her divorce lawyer but was also planning to open fire on the campuses of the University of Connecticut and Brown University. According to records, his ex-girlfriend had told officials he had gone as far as to drive by both schools to map them out before claiming he had enough bullets for everyone. Official documents also indicate he has struggled with his mental health in the past few years and even urged deputies to shoot him following his most recent capture until he was tased.
DJ Hernandez is Currently Awaiting Trial
As per records, DJ pleaded guilty to one count each of failure to drive in a proper lane as well as failure to use a traffic control signal in April 2023, for which he had to pay a $100 fine. In exchange for this, the prosecutors dropped the reckless driving and engaging police in pursuit counts against him for good, enabling him not to face any other serious consequences. However, following his most recent arrest, the now 38-year-old was federally charged with threatening as well as stalking, to which he pleaded not guilty. So, today, it appears as if he remains detained, awaiting trial, at a county jail on a $250,000 bond.
Read More: Dennis SanSoucie: Where is Aaron Hernandez’s Ex-Teammate Now?
