Aaron Hernandez Fiancee: He Thought He Was Going To Be Freed
BOSTON (CBS/AP) — Aaron Hernandez sounded as if he thought he would soon be freed from prison in his last conversation with his fiancee before he killed himself, she says in excerpts of a television interview released Friday.
Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez told "Dr. Phil" in an episode to air next week on WBZ-TV that he said "Daddy's going to be home ... I can't wait to hold you and love you" in a telephone conversation hours before he was found hanged in his prison cell on April 19.
Hernandez had been acquitted in a double murder trial just five days earlier, but was still serving a life sentence in the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd.
Here is a transcript of the two interview excerpts released Friday afternoon:
DR. PHIL: How did you find out that he in fact was dead?
SHAYANNA: I got a call at 5:27 AM in the morning from oh, some official at um, Shirley Prison and they informed me, excuse me, they informed me that indeed Aaron was deceased and at first I thought it was a hoax, I thought that, you know, this was some cruel person. I thought it was a cruel person playing a trick on me.
DP: What would cause you to doubt that he took his own life? I mean, for one thing, we know that he had just been acquitted of two murders and had one on appeal, so this had to be the high point of high points in a long, long time right?
SJ: No, I agree and that would make me doubt that he took his own life umm he was very positive umm so excited to come home. I spoke to him the night before and he was so, "you know daddy's going to be home and I can't wait to sleep in the bed with you guys and I can't wait to just hold you and love you" umm there was no indication at all of, of such events.
DP: Okay so you spoke to him the very night before he was found dead in his cell.
SJ: As far as I know I was the last person to speak with him.
DP: And the last words he said to you were what?
SJ: I remembered him saying 'babe I've gotta go; they're shutting the doors.' And I honestly don't think that we said I love you to each other, uhm, and that was it.
DP: There was no monumental goodbye, no finality in what he was saying, it was babe gotta run they're closing the doors…?
SJ: I just know that the feedback that I was getting from him within our last umm you know -- our last talk had nothing to do with any suicidal thoughts.
The show's host, Dr. Phillip McGraw said in a broadcast interview Friday that Jenkins-Hernandez is not expecting any financial benefit from the death.
You can watch the interview on WBZ-TV on Monday and Tuesday at 3 p.m.
(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
