Former neighbor describes Aaron Hernandez as 'unpleasant and unfriendly'

FALL RIVER Shortly after the two men moved into the two-bedroom apartment next door, Carol Martin Bailey detected a pungent smell in the hallway. She wasnt surprised the Franklin apartment complex where she lives is near woods and had attracted wild animals before.

Oh, the skunks must be back, Bailey recalled thinking to herself. But when she consulted with some of her younger neighbors, they rolled their eyes.

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Thats weed, they told the retired biology professor.

Bailey was called to the stand Thursday in the Bristol Superior Court murder case against former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, who moved into the Franklin apartment complex in May 2013. There, he and his longtime friend, Ernest George Wallace, were often seen.

Bailey, who has lived in the brick housing complex since the 1970s, was their next-door neighbor until June 2013, when Hernandez and Wallace were arrested in the murder of Odin Lloyd, a 27-year-old semiprofessional football player, whose bullet-riddled body was found in an industrial yard in North Attleborough. Wallace and Carlos Ortiz, another Hernandez associate, will be tried separately for the June 17, 2013, killing. They have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.

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Live video of the murder trial

Testimony resumes in the case against Hernandez, who is accused in the 2013 death of Odin Lloyd.

The trial of Hernandez has introduced jurors to stone-faced detectives, fingerprint analysts, and cellphone experts. On Thursday, jurors heard from a state trooper who said the rear tire of the Nissan Altima Hernandez drove that night matched a track left at the crime scene, and from a T-mobile representative who testified about the location of Lloyds cellphone.

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Massachusetts State Police Trooper Todd Girouard held a piece of film with an imprint of a tire track during Aaron Hernandezs trial Thursday.

Baileys testimony, which prosecutors used to show the relationship between Hernandez and Wallace, was an example of how far-reaching the case has become. She is one of about 300 people the prosecution has put on its witness list. Her testimony also gave a glimpse into Hernandezs days in the Franklin apartment, which he rented for $1,200 a month even though he shared a home in nearby North Attleborough with his longtime girlfriend. Prosecutors have said he wanted that apartment to conduct illegal activities like storing guns. The defense has tried to cast Hernandez as a young, fun-loving man with money to spare who partied at the apartment with friends and women.

On the stand, Bailey was restrained by Judge E. Susan Garsh on how much she could say. For example, she could not speculate about the source of the skunky smell.

In a telephone interview after her testimony, Bailey recalled meeting Wallace while she was reading in the courtyard of the complex.

He introduced himself as her new neighbor, George, she said, shook her hand, and told her he was moving in with his cousin, who was with the Patriots. The next day, she saw a tall, well-built man heading to the third-floor apartment. Despite the warm weather, he wore sweatpants and a hooded sweatshirt pulled tight around his face.

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Judge E. Susan Garsh prevented a witness from speculating about the source of a skunky smell coming from Aaron Hernandezs Franklin apartment.

I said, Hello, you must be my new neighbor. ... You must be Georges cousin, Bailey recalled. He just looked at me and grunted and went in. That was the most ever I got out of him a grunt.

Wallace, however, was solicitous and warm, she said. He often came over to ask for things such as an electrical cord or directions to places in town. When he saw her lugging groceries, he would rush to help. One day, Wallace asked if it would be OK if he placed an air freshener and scented sticks in the common hallway.

It did not help mask the smell of what her neighbors later said was marijuana, but Bailey did not complain.

Im a neighbor who tries to live and let live, she said.

Occasionally, when she passed by their door, Bailey would hear loud male voices yelling expletives and making crude remarks. They said nothing alarming, she said, just the kind of male talk she heard when she was in college and went by the mens locker room.

Residents in the complex, which is made up mostly of retired professionals like Bailey or young couples with children saving for their first house, recognized Hernandez but left him alone.

Around late June, Bailey stopped smelling the skunk-like odor, she said. Then, she saw on television that both her neighbors had been arrested.

I was particularly shocked about George because he had been so cordial, so friendly, so neighborly, she said. Aaron Hernandez had always been sort of unpleasant and unfriendly. That probably was just because he didnt want it to be known who he was. He didnt want a fan club.

Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @globemcramer.

Source: http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/03/05/hernandez/ZaOSDyvEP9ZRAJRK73cPkL/story.html