Did Shayanna Jenkins Get Any Money From Aaron Hernandez? The Untangling Of Wealth, Welfare, And Murder
Prosecutors alleged that Aaron Hernandez, the former NFL star, funneled money to his fiancée Shayanna Jenkins to help conceal a murder investigation. Years of trials and appeals centered on whether she knowingly assisted in the destruction of evidence. This article examines the precise financial relationship between the two, clarifying what funds she received, how they were sourced, and what ultimately happened to those assets in the courtroom.
The case of Aaron Hernandez captivated the nation, transforming a celebrated Patriots tight end into a convicted murderer who took his own life in prison. At the center of the prosecution's narrative was Shayanna Jenkins, his longtime girlfriend and mother of his daughter. Questions regarding her finances—specifically, whether she received illicit funds and whether those funds were used to purchase items central to the investigation—became a crucial element in securing his murder conviction.
The legal saga surrounding Hernandez and Jenkins is defined by intricate financial records. Prosecutors built their case not on a single transaction, but on a pattern of cash payments, unexplained purchases, and luxurious lifestyle upgrades that occurred while Hernandez was under investigation for murder.
To understand whether Jenkins "got any money," one must look at the specific transactions detailed by the prosecution. The government argued that Hernandez provided her with thousands of dollars in cash payments, often in the form of hundreds of dollar bills, beginning shortly after the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd.
* **The Cash Payments:** Court documents and the testimony of former friends revealed that Hernandez gave Jenkins substantial amounts of cash. One friend testified that Hernandez handed him $10,000 in a shopping bag to give to Jenkins. Another instance involved $5,000 being placed in a bag and handed directly to her.
* **The Mortgage Payment:** A pivotal moment in the trial occurred when prosecutors presented evidence that Hernandez used a secret "cheat code" at a bank to secure a mortgage for a $1.3 million home in North Attleborough, Massachusetts. The loan application listed Jenkins as the sole borrower, despite the fact that she had no income and no assets. Prosecutors argued that Hernandez was the financial benefactor, paying the mortgage of approximately $6,000 per month directly from his accounts.
* **Credit Card Debt:** Beyond the mortgage, the state alleged that Hernandez used a credit card to rack up tens of thousands of dollars in debt for Jenkins, spending over $4,500 at stores like Lord & Taylor and Lululemon.
The critical legal question was not whether money changed hands, but whether Jenkins knew the source of the funds and whether she acted as a conspirator. Prosecutors argued that she was fully aware the money came from Hernandez's criminal enterprise and that she actively helped him cover his tracks.
This accusation manifested in the alleged cleaning of a home vacuum cleaner. According to testimony, shortly after Lloyd's murder, Jenkins vacuumed the home where Hernandez allegedly committed the crime. Prosecutors framed this as an attempt to remove incriminating evidence, specifically shell casings. Furthermore, they claimed she lied to grand jurors about the source of the mortgage funds, falsely claiming that a family member had provided the money.
Jenkins’ defense painted a different picture. They argued she was a woman of modest means who was simply receiving financial support from her wealthy, albeit secretive, fiancé. Her attorney maintained that she was unaware of the murder and that her actions were those of a loyal partner, not a criminal conspirator.
The turning point in the case came during the final arguments of the 2015 trial. The prosecutor dismantled Jenkins’ credibility, pointing to the luxurious lifestyle funded by Hernandez that starkly contrasted with her sworn testimony that she struggled to pay bills. The jury ultimately convicted Hernandez of first-degree murder.
The government also pursued the forfeiture of assets. In 2018, a judge ordered Hernandez to forfeit $4.5 million to the victims’ families, a sum representing his NFL earnings. Because Jenkins was listed as a co-defendant in a civil trial regarding the mortgage, the state also had to address her assets. In 2019, following her acquittal on charges of lying to a grand jury, Jenkins reached a settlement with the families of Odin Lloyd. As part of the agreement, she returned the deed to the North Attleborough home, effectively surrendering the asset that prosecutors argued was purchased with Hernandez’s drug money.
Looking at the timeline of events, the money flowed steadily during the height of Hernandez's career and immediately following Lloyd's death. It largely ceased once Hernandez was arrested and subsequently convicted, leading to his 2017 suicide in prison. Jenkins maintained throughout that she never knowingly accepted "blood money" and that her loyalty was to the father of her child, regardless of the legal peril.
Ultimately, the answer to whether Shayanna Jenkins got any money is a resounding yes. She received substantial financial support from Aaron Hernandez throughout their relationship. However, the true significance of those funds lay not in the enrichment of Jenkins, but in how they were used as evidence to illustrate the lengths to which Hernandez went to maintain his image, destroy evidence, and allegedly silence anyone who could implicate him in the murder of Odin Lloyd. The money was the tangible link between the star athlete and the woman at the heart of his destruction.
