Aaron Hernandez’s fiancée, Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez, sat down with Dr. Phil for an interview scheduled to air on May 15 and 16 in which she discussed the suicide of Hernandez just five days after he was acquitted of a double homicide in Boston.
“I thought it was a hoax, that this was some cruel person playing a trick on me,” Jenkins-Hernandez said, recalling the moment she received a phone call telling her that Hernandez was dead.
She went on to say that she thought Hernandez was becoming more optimistic after his acquittal, and he was still working through the appeals process for his murder conviction in the case of Odin Lloyd.
“I felt like we were looking so bright,” Jenkins-Hernandez said. “We were going up a ladder to a positive direction.”
That murder conviction was thrown out on Tuesday because Hernandez had not completed the appeals process prior to his death. However, his estate is facing three wrongful death lawsuits from the families of his three alleged victims.
In his letter to Jenkins-Hernandez, Hernandez told her, “You’re rich,” and there has been some speculation that he killed himself so that, without a conviction on his record, Jenkins-Hernandez could be eligible to receive the money that the New England Patriots withheld upon his arrest.