Aaron Hernandez's fiancee seeking release of notes left in cell

ByABC News
April 24, 2017, 1:16 PM

— -- Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez, who was engaged to Aaron Hernandez and is the mother of his daughter, is asking a Massachusetts judge to release copies of the three notes the former NFL tight end left in his cell last week before he killed himself.

Aaron Hernandez, who was serving a life sentence, left the notes next to a Bible.

The Boston Globe reports that Jenkins-Hernandez's attorney, George Leontire, made the request to the judge Monday morning, hours before Hernandez's funeral was to begin in Bristol, Connecticut.

"The family has the right, during this grieving process, to know their loved one's final thoughts,'' Leontire wrote.

Leontire said Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr.'s office has refused to share the notes' contents. He said Early's office won't do so until the investigation into Hernandez's death is complete.

The Associated Press left messages for the district attorney's office seeking comment on the filing.

Aaron Hernandez, the former New England Patriots tight end, was serving a life sentence for a 2013 murder. He hanged himself in his cell in a maximum-security prison in Massachusetts last Wednesday. He had just been acquitted of murder charges in the shooting deaths of two men in Boston in 2012.

Hernandez was serving a life sentence for the slaying of semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd, who was dating Jenkins-Hernandez's sister.

In a statement, Hernandez's family?asked for privacy as it mourns and thanked people for offering condolences.

After the Massachusetts medical examiner ruled the death a suicide, Hernandez's brain was taken to Boston University, where scientists will study it for any signs of repeated trauma suffered during his years of playing football.

A judge on Friday ordered key evidence preserved, granting a request from Jenkins-Hernandez so the family can investigate the circumstances of his death.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.