FALL RIVER, Massachusetts — Every day that Shayanna Jenkins sat in the courtroom gallery during the murder trial of Aaron Hernandez — her fiancé and the father of her child — the former New England Patriot would mouth “I love you” to her when he entered and exited.
On Wednesday, moments after a jury forewoman announced Hernandez was guilty of murdering his friend, Odin Lloyd, with “extreme atrocity and cruelty,” a gasp rang out around the courtroom. Shayanna gasped, too, like she’d been punched, and collapsed into the shoulder of Hernandez’s mother, Terri. She sobbed to the point of hiccups. Hernandez looked at her and mouthed, “It’s OK. Be strong. It will be OK.”
Hernandez was then escorted out of the courtroom.
For two years Shayanna has acted as though Hernandez would one day walk free — and sources close to the family told BuzzFeed News he has been telling her the same — despite the 15 criminal charges, including three for murder, that the former tight end faced in the state of Massachusetts.
Shayanna stood by her high school sweetheart during the trial with a seemingly iron resolve. She testified, telling the jury she “couldn’t remember” details about the days after the murder and that she accepted infidelity as part of their relationship. She removed a large box from their North Attleborough home the day after Lloyd was killed (prosecutors have long claimed it contained the murder weapon, a .45 Glock, which was never recovered).
Shayanna and Hernandez's mother remained on the deserted benches, holding each other and crying. In a hasty decision, the women left the courthouse before the official sentencing. Jenkins, who was followed to her Audi by a scrum of reporters, sped quickly down Main Street toward her home in North Attleborough — a home Hernandez bought for them to share.
On the other side of the courtroom sat Shaneah Jenkins, Shayanna’s sister and Lloyd’s girlfriend. She had introduced Hernandez to his victim. She, too, burst into tears soon after the verdict.
Shaneah and Shayanna, only two years apart, are not in contact.
Ursula Ward, Lloyd’s mother, wore purple — her son’s favorite color. Prosecutor William McCauley, who later told media this case “felt personal” because of the determined cooperation of the victim’s family, wore a purple tie.
Ward, along with her daughters — Lloyd’s sisters — have been a constant presence in the courtroom during the tedious 10 weeks of trial. She has spent most of her time in the room staring straight ahead at the judge, the jury, and the witness stand, but after the verdict was read, she held her gaze upon her son’s convicted killer.
About 30 minutes later, it was the Lloyd family’s turn to be heard. Odin Lloyd’s mother, uncle, and sister gave victim impact statements just before sentencing. Hernandez was seated, cuffed, on the far side of the courtroom. He looked for his now-absent mother and fiancée. The prison he will spend his term in is just minutes away from Gillette Stadium, where he once had the chance to play for a storied NFL franchise.
Ward stood and told the room she forgives “all involved” in her son’s murder during an emotional, yet resolute, statement. “The day I laid my son Odin to rest, my heart stopped beating. I felt like I wanted to crawl in the hole with my son,” she said.
A woman of strong faith, Ward said she knows she’s “gonna see [Odin] someday, and that is giving me the strength to go on.”
Outside the courthouse, Ward carried an air of relief as she approached a bundle of microphones and a scrum of reporters. She told the crowd about the last time she saw her only son alive: “He came to my house after church and said, ‘Ma, you look so beautiful.’”
Bristol County District Attorney Tom Quinn said the victim’s family showed “dignity and class” throughout the harrowing trial. "Aaron Hernandez may have been a well-known Patriots player,” he said, “but in the end, he was just a man who was convicted of a brutal and senseless murder."
“It was quite a relief,” prosecutor William McCauley said of the verdict.
During the news conference, Hernandez’s team of attorneys bolted from the courthouse with little notice. They walked hurriedly up Borden Street, named after Lizzie, who allegedly murdered her family in a home only a block from the courthouse.
Lloyd’s younger sister, Olivia Thibou, faced the crowd and said that while today was a victory for the family, it is “just another day that Odin is not here.”
She was not in the courtroom for the verdict, but said her sister, Shaquilla, called her and screamed, “I love you.” Olivia just screamed, and said it was “the best feeling [she’s] had for the whole time.”
When asked if she forgives Hernandez, she squirmed and said she is “not as strong as [her] mom, but eventually, that time will come.”
Shaneah Jenkins stood slightly hidden among Lloyd’s family and the prosecutors. She was a witness early in the trial and presented the jury with pointed and assured testimony that framed her sister’s fiancé as her boyfriend’s killer. Another consistent presence in the courtroom, Shaneah has stuck with the Lloyd family and avoided interactions with her sister inside and outside of the courtroom.
Reporters begged Shaneah to speak, but she shook her head and diverted her eyes. Thibou, who had her arm around Shaneah, joked that she “doesn’t like to talk.”
Thibou assured the crowd, though, that Shaneah has stood with them since the day Lloyd was murdered.
“Shaneah,” she said, “is definitely a member of our family.”