FALL RIVER, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com) -- Odin Lloyd's mother kept her head high when she returned to her home in Dorchester Wednesday after former Patriot Aaron Hernandez was found guilty in the death of her son and sentenced to life behind bars.
Ursula Ward faced Hernandez in court and told him and everyone else present that she's forced to live the rest of her life without her son. However, she did say she felt her son was "at peace" after the verdict was read.
Ward spoke to FOX25 as she returned home from the Fall River courtroom. She says she trusted the jury would make the right call.
"I was just leaving it in the jury's hands,â she said.
<<<Click here to watch as Hernandez was sentenced in court.>>>
Neighbors like Paul Sandefur were also relieved by the jury's decision.
"Happy, happy justice was served, justice for my boy," he said.
Lloyd's step father was worried during the trial but is now at ease.
"We didn't think it was going to go this way,â Olson Thibou said. âThe system has a funny way of working. A slow process but we are all happy with the outcome."
Outside of the courthouse, Lloyd's sister says the verdict made her emotional.
âIt was a sigh of relief, I screamed, I cried,â she said.
And his mother said something no one expected, and forgave the man who murdered her son.
"I forgive the hands of the people who had a hand in my son's murder,â she said.
That spirit of forgiveness was remarkable and Ward says she can finally rest easy knowing her son can too.
"I am just so overwhelmed with joy that my son can finally rest in peace,â she said.
Click here for more reaction to the verdict.