In a quiet apartment near Bowman Field in Louisville, Kentucky, a tragic story unfolded that began with a wife's worried phone call. On January 18, 2018, the body of 31-year-old David Kandelaki, a male, was discovered alongside 30-year-old Joshua Rice. Both men had been fatally shot. The grim discovery was made after Kandelaki's wife filed a missing-persons report.
He was supposed to meet her and their children in Miami, Florida, after they returned from an overseas vacation, but he never made his flight from Cincinnati.
The investigation into his disappearance led St. Matthews Police to an apartment complex on Abigail Drive. Kandelaki had dropped off his family's car and dog at a friend's house in Jeffersontown as planned, but his journey unexpectedly ended at the residence of Joshua Rice. After gaining entry to the apartment, detectives found the bodies of both Kandelaki and Rice.
The subsequent investigation pointed to a suspect, 23-year-old Aaron Hernandez, who was arrested in Fayette County, Texas. Authorities believed the motive was connected to a past romantic relationship between Hernandez and Rice. In fact, Rice had sought a protective order against Hernandez just days before the murders. Hernandez was charged with two counts of murder and tampering with physical evidence and was extradited back to Louisville.
Despite the charges and what investigators believed was a strong circumstantial case, the legal proceedings took a surprising turn. In 2022, a jury acquitted Aaron Hernandez of the double murder. The prosecution had presented evidence of Hernandez's internet searches on how to commit murder and his actions after the killings, which included withdrawing a large sum of money and buying a bus ticket to Mexico. However, a lack of physical evidence linking him directly to the crime scene ultimately led to the not-guilty verdict, leaving the deaths of David Kandelaki and Joshua Rice officially unresolved.
