April 19 marked three years since Aaron Hernandez committed suicide in prison, and on the anniversary of his death, Shayanna Jenkins mourned him on Instagram. Shayanna is the mother of Aaron’s daughter, Avielle, and was engaged to Aaron the time of his death. She posted the sweetest photo of Aaron cradling an infant Avielle — WHICH YOU CAN SEE HERE — and wrote a touching caption to go with it. “”The love between father and daughter knows no distance,”” she wrote. “We think of you today. May you rest in peace and continue to watch over us!” She also added the hashtag ‘Forever In Our Hearts.’
Aaron was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 after being convicted for the murder of Odin Lloyd in 2013. During that trial, he was also indicted for a double homicide in 2012, but was acquitted from those charges in 2017. It was just days after the acquittal that Aaron was found dead by hanging in his prison cell. Aaron had been dating Shayanna since 2007 and their daughter was born in 2012.
Earlier this year, Aaron and Shayanna’s relationship was put into the spotlight once again due to the release of the Netflix docu-series, Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez. The documentary explored rumors that Aaron was bisexual, and forced Shayanna to publicly address whether or not she knew anything about them during her relationship with the former football player.
Shayanna got emotional while discussing the bisexuality rumors in an interview on Good Morning America. “If he did feel that way, or if he felt the urge, I wish that I was told,” Shayanna admitted. “I wish he would have told me because I would not have loved him any differently. I would have understood. It’s not shameful and I don’t think anybody should feel shameful of who they are inside, regardless of who they love.”