According to a letter obtained by The Boston Globe and authenticated by state officials, Aaron Hernandez wrote to prison officials multiple times to request new cellmates, one who he referred to as "my heart."
In one of the letters obtained by The Boston Globe, Hernandez wrote to prison officials,
“So, please make this happen and I even prefer to move in with (name redacted); me and him are very close and have been since the streets and that’s FACT, not bull (expletive). He’s my heart and like a real brother to me that’s why I want and am requesting to go upstairs and live with him.
“I am requesting to (bunk up) with my brother (redacted), we both want to.”
Hernandez wrote that he wanted to move to another part of the prison where “there are two people I know from the streets who I’m close with.” In that letter, which was written to an assignment officer, he requested a single cell, but provides the names of two possible cellmates: one, “who is my ‘heart,’” and another, who is “kind of like a brother.”
Rumors and reports emerged about Hernandez’s sexuality both before and after he committed suicide last month. Media reports alleged that an inmate named Kyle Kennedy was involved in a sexual relationship with Hernandez, though because of the redactions it's unclear if that is the inmate Hernandez was referring in the letters.
Aaron Hernandez was serving a life sentence for the murder of Odin Lloyd, and there were reports that he killed him because Lloyd teased him about being bi and possibly outing him.
Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez, Hernandez’s fiancé, recently made an appearance on the Dr. Phil Show to address the rumors that Aaron Hernandez was gay and had a lover in prison.
“The Aaron that I know, no. I got no indication that he was such,” she said. “He was very much a man to me. It’s hurtful. Whether it’s true or not, it’s not something I saw.”