Aaron Hernandez's Prison Friend Kyle Kennedy Releases Statement Requesting Suicide Note

Kyle Kennedy — an inmate at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center where Aaron Hernandez committed suicide — released a statement Tuesday requesting a handwritten suicide note reportedly left to him by the former New England Patriots tight end.

Kennedy’s lawyer, Larry Army Jr., previously confirmed that his client was the intended recipient of one of three letters found in the cell where Hernandez killed himself. In a Tuesday statement released by Army Jr. on behalf of his client, Kennedy said that he believes the letter does indeed exist. He also requested a custom watch worth some $50,000 that Hernandez allegedly promised to give him as a birthday gift:

“I want to be clear that at no time have I seen a note addressed to me from my close friend Aaron Hernandez but I have reason to believe it was in fact intended for me. It was the press that first reported that this letter was sent to me and as a result, my attorney, Larry Army Jr., has repeatedly requested a copy for us to review. The story about who this letter was sent to has changed several times but based upon the close relationship that I had with Aaron, it is highly likely that it was in fact intended for me. I again renew my request to have the letter released to my attorney so we can put this issue to rest.

In addition, my attorney has spoken at length about the watch that Aaron told me he was leaving to me as a gift. I have no further comment on that issue at this time. There has been a lot said about me and my personal life in recent weeks, some of it accurate and some of it not. I remain incarcerated at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley but at the appropriate time, I will address these issues and set the record straight.”

The statement followed this week’s two-part “Dr. Phil” interview with Hernandez's fiancée Shayanna Jenkins, who claimed she’d never heard of Kennedy. Moreover, Jenkins denied rumors that Hernandez was in a secret relationship with another inmate and went on to refute claims that a handwritten letter to any such individual exists.

Read: Multiple Handwritten Suicide Notes Found In Aaron Hernandez's Prison Cell

“I had no indication or any feeling that he was such,” Jenkins, 27, told Dr. Phil McGraw in a clip from the interview that aired Tuesday. “He was very much a man to me. I don't know where this came from. It's embarrassing, in a sense. It's hurtful, regardless if it's true or not. It's just not something that I saw. It's not something that I believe. It's just not him.”

When asked about Kennedy, Jenkins maintained she wasn’t aware of the relationship. “I’ve never heard of him, honestly. Aaron has never mentioned him,” she told McGraw, adding that rumors of a possible romance between the two were brought to her attention after his death.

Asked about the letter that was allegedly left to the current prison inmate, Jenkins told McGraw it is “non-existent.”

Read: Aaron Hernandez Prison Friend Kyle Kennedy Responds To Inmate's Death

Kennedy has not commented publicly on the nature of his relationship with Hernandez, though an April statement released by the inmate following Hernandez’s suicide referred to the athlete as “my friend.”

“I miss my friend, Aaron Hernandez,” said Kennedy in a statement released April 26. “I’d like to send my condolences to his fiancée, his mother and his daughter. I would ask the media to respect the privacy of my family. This is a private matter that doesn’t concern them.”

Hernandez was found dead on April 19 after reportedly using a bed sheet to hang himself from his cell window using a bed sheet. He was serving a life sentence for the 2013 murder of his friend Odin Lloyd, a conviction that was overturned earlier this month. Just days before his death, Hernandez was acquitted of murdering Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado outside a Boston nightclub in July 2012.