In her last phone call with her fiance, Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez said that there was no sign former Patriots player Aaron Hernandez was having suicidal thoughts, according to a clip from her upcoming interview with Dr. Phil McGraw.
The TODAY show on Friday shared an excerpt from the interview, which will air on the Dr. Phil Show Monday and Tuesday. Jenkins-Hernandez opens up in the clip about the last time she talked to her fiance and the father of her 4-year-old daughter.
“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,” Jenkins-Hernandez said in the interview.
Hernandez, 27, was found hanged in his cell at the Souza Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, Massachusetts on April 19. His death was ruled a suicide by authorities, but Dr. Phil told TODAY that his fiancee has her doubts.
“She does not believe that he killed himself, surprisingly, because the evidence is pretty overwhelming,” Dr. Phil said.
Days before Hernandez’s death, he was found not guilty of double-murder charges. He was serving a life sentence at the maximum security prison for the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd. That conviction has now been vacated in the wake of his death.
When Jenkins-Hernandez was notified of Hernandez’s death, receiving a phone call from the prison just hours after she had spoken to Hernandez herself, she “thought it was a cruel person playing a trick.”
Her last conversation with Hernandez had ended abruptly, she said.
“There was no monumental goodbye, no finality in what he was saying?” Dr. Phil asked Jenkins-Hernandez in the interview.
“I just know that the feedback I was getting from our last talk had nothing to do with any suicidal thoughts,” she said.
Hernandez left a note to his fiancee in his cell, officials said. “Tell my story fully but never think anything besides how much I love you. This was the Supreme’s, the Almighty’s plan, not mine!” he wrote, adding, “YOU’RE RICH.”
The full interview with Dr. Phil will air in two parts on Monday and Tuesday.
