Aaron Hernandez’s Suicide Note to Fiancee Released: ‘I Want You to Live Life’

Former New England Patriots player’s final message before hanging himself is made public by prosecutors

Aaron Hernandez

One of the notes Aaron Hernandez left for his fiancée, Shayanna Jenkins Hernandez, before committing suicide last month has been released by the prosecution.

“Shay,” Hernandez writes in the handwritten note published by NBC Boston on Friday. “You have always been my soul-mate and I want you to live life and know I’m always with you.”

“I told you what was coming indirectly,” the former New England Patriots tight end continued. “I love you so much and know you are an angel – literally! We split into two to come change the world! Your characteristics is that of a true angel and the definition of God’s love! 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! I love you! Let [redacted] know how much I love her! Look after [redacted] and [redacted] for me – those are my boys. (YOU’RE RICH) I knew I loved you = Savage Garden.”

The note was one of three that Hernandez left behind before killing himself last month. The 27-year-old former NFL player hung himself with a bed sheet while serving a life sentence at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, Massachusetts, on April 19.

On April 14, Hernandez was was acquitted in Suffolk Superior Court on charges of killing Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado in a drive-by shooting in the city’s South End in the early morning hours of July 16, 2012.

However, he was still destined to remain in prison after having previously been convicted for the murder of Odin Lloyd in April 2015.

The letter Shayanna — who took the last name Hernandez even though they weren’t married — was released by the Bristol County district attorney’s office in Connecticut ahead of a court hearing on Tuesday to determine whether Hernandez’s 2015 murder conviction should be thrown out.

His lawyers, led by Jose Baez, are asking that his first-degree murder conviction for Lloyd’s killing be dismissed, but the district attorney’s office, which prosecuted the case, is challenging the request.

Under a long-standing Massachusetts legal principle, courts customarily vacate the convictions of defendants who die before their appeals are heard.

Along with his fiancee, Hernandez left behind a four-year-old daughter, Avielle Janelle Jenkins-Hernandez.

See the note below.

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