Family of Aaron Hernandez’s Victim Speaks After Conviction

Odin Lloyd’s mother and other family members delivered their victim impact statements after former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez was convicted of first-degree murder in the June 2013 death of Lloyd.

Before Hernandez was formally sentenced, Lloyd’s mother, Ursula Ward, addressed the courtroom.

Ward said called her son the “backbone” of the family and she forgives those responsible for her son’s murder.

“I forgive the hands of the people who had a hand in my son’s murder,” Ward said.

“I feel like I want to go into the hole with my son Odin,” she said. “I will never hear him say, ‘Mom, you’re so beautiful.’ I miss my baby boy Odin so much, but I know I’m going to see him again someday.”

Lloyd’s uncle and sister also spoke.

Olivia Thibou, Lloyd’s sister, said that writing her brother’s eulogy for his funeral was the hardest thing she has ever had to do.

She said that she went to text Lloyd on the phone after the birth of her daughter but realized he was not with them anymore.

“It feels like a bad dream,” Thibou said. “Every day I look at my son, and I know that my daughter never got to meet to him. I won’t ever see him again, but I have to go to his grave site and look at his stone to tell him that I love him.”

This article originally appeared on SI.com