Massachusetts and Connecticut State Police today are jointly searching a pond in Bristol, Conn., for evidence in the Odin L. Lloyd homicide investigation in which former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez has been charged with murder, a law enforcement official said today.
The search is being conducted in what the Hartford Courant said is a pond known as Pine Lake Park or Malones Pond.
Hernandez is a Bristol native and still has relatives living there, including his mother and an uncle whose home is on Lake Avenue, not far from the pond. Last month, authorities searched the uncle’s house and impounded an SUV found in the garage that Boston police suspect may have been used in a 2012 double homicide in Boston.
Hernandez has not been charged in the Boston killings. Boston police are trying to determine if the SUV tracked down in Bristol, Conn., is the vehicle that investigators believe fled the scene of a South End double killing that left Safiro Furtado and Daniel Abreu dead. They were shot to death on July 16, 2012.
The two men implicated with Hernandez in the Lloyd killing, Ernest Wallace and Carlos Ortiz, also have ties to Bristol. Wallace and Ortiz have not been charged with murdering Lloyd. All three men have pleaded not guilty to all charges and are being held without bail.
Hernandez is accused of orchestrating the shooting of Lloyd on June 17 in a North Attleborough industrial park with a pistol, and he is seen on home surveillance video with a pistol in his hand about 15 minutes after Lloyd’s killing.
But the gun Hernandez is seen holding in the surveillance videos has not been found and police have searched a number of areas between Boston and North Attleborough recently without success, authorities said.
Prosecutors believe a .45-caliber pistol was used in the slaying. Law enforcement officials say that weapon has not been found.
A spokesman for Bristol District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter today declined comment on the Bristol, Conn., search.
“There is an active and ongoing investigation,’’ said Gregg Miliote. “Our office is not going to comment on an active and ongoing investigation.’’
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Brian Ballou can be reached at bballou@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter at @globeballou. John R. Ellement can be reached at ellement@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @JREbosglobe.
