Hernandez family planning private funeral in Connecticut

FILE – In this Friday, April 14, 2017, file photo, Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez turns to look toward his fiancee Shayanna Jenkins Hernandez as he reacts to his double murder acquittal at Suffolk Superior Court in Boston. Hernandez’s family is planning a private funeral for the former NFL star in his hometown in Bristol, Conn. A spokeswoman for the Connecticut Funeral Directors Association said Saturday, April 22, that the service is set for Monday, April 24. The former New England Patriots tight end was found hanged in his cell in a maximum-security prison in Massachusetts early Wednesday, April 19. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia, Pool, File)

BRISTOL, Conn. (AP) — Aaron Hernandez’s family is planning a private funeral for the former NFL star in his Connecticut hometown.

A spokeswoman for the Connecticut Funeral Directors Association said Saturday that the service is set for Monday at a funeral home in Bristol, where Hernandez was a standout football and basketball player in high school.

The former New England Patriots tight end was found hanged in his cell at a maximum-security prison in Massachusetts early Wednesday. He was serving a life sentence for a 2013 murder and had just been acquitted of a 2012 double murder. His death was ruled a suicide.

Hernandez’s family in a statement released Saturday asked for privacy as they mourn and thanked people for offering condolences.