Hernandez trial: Fiancee says she dumped box day after killing

FALL RIVER, Mass. — The day after Odin L. Lloyd’s murder, on June 18, 2013, Aaron Hernandez instructed his fiancée to get rid of a box stored in the basement of their North Attleboro house.
Shayanna Jenkins, who has been granted immunity from the prosecution to testify, said Monday in Bristol County Superior Court that she found the 2-foot high by 12-inch wide cardboard box in a storage area. She said that the box weighed 35 to 40 pounds and she never looked inside to see what it contained. She said that it had a strong odor of marijuana.
Jenkins, who has a 2-year-old daughter with the former New England Patriots tight end, testified that she placed the box in a large black trash bag. A surveillance camera at the house captured Jenkins taking the bag to the backyard patio.
That same morning, Jenkins said her younger sister, Shaneah, stopped by the house seeking comfort. She had been dating Lloyd, who was fatally shot in a gravel pit less than a half-mile from the Hernandez house. Hernandez is on trial for first degree murder in the slaying.
Shayanna Jenkins testified that she borrowed her sister’s car and placed the bag and box in the trunk. She said she left the house for 45 to 60 minutes and drove to North Attleboro, Plainville and Foxboro. She testified that she disposed of the bag and box in a dumpster in a residential neighborhood.
“Where was the dumpster?” asked William M. McCauley, the lead prosecutor.
“I don’t know,” Jenkins said.
Prosecutors have previously said that they believe the .45 caliber Glock handgun that was used to kill Lloyd was in the discarded box. The murder weapon has not been found, but investigators recovered six .45 caliber shell casings at the murder scene and from a rental car, a silver Nissan Altima, Hernandez had the night of the slaying.
The testimony on Monday marked the second straight day Jenkins spent on the witness stand. She was the sole witness on Friday and remained in the witness box for more than five hours on Monday.
During cross examination, Charles W. Rankin, one of Hernandez’s defense lawyers, posed a series of questions to Jenkins about her relationship with the former football star. She said that she had known him throughout their lives in Bristol, Conn.
After he signed a contract with the Patriots, Jenkins said she discovered that Hernandez had been cheating on her with another woman. She also said that Hernandez was upset when his mother began an extramarital affair with Tanya Singleton’s husband.
Singleton was Hernandez’s first cousin. She spent several months in jail for refusing to answer questions before a grand jury that investigated the Lloyd slaying.
Jenkins said that Hernandez moved into Singleton’s house and she served as a mother figure. Singleton is 14 years older than her cousin.
Earlier in the day, Jenkins testified that on Father’s Day, June 16, 2013, Hernandez repeatedly used her cellphone to make calls and send text messages to Ernest Wallace, a co-defendant in the murder of Lloyd. The messages continued after midnight.
“Did you have reason to be texting [Wallace] that night?” McCauley, the prosecutor asked.
“No,” Jenkins said.
On Father’s Day night, Hernandez, Jenkins and four friends met at the South Street Café in Providence. The group ate and drank heavily for more than three hours.
Prosecutors have said that Hernandez summoned Wallace and Carlos A. Ortiz to his house in North Attleboro that night. Wallace and Ortiz are also charged with first-degree murder and face trial later.
Around 1 a.m. on June 17, the three are accused of driving to the Dorchester section of Boston, picking up Lloyd and fatally shooting him in the North Attleboro Industrial Park.