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Meet Shayanna Jenkins, the woman who could decide Aaron Hernandez's fate

It's been over two weeks since Shayanna Jenkins has been seen at the murder trial of Aaron Hernandez, her high school boyfriend turned NFL star turned father of her 2-year-old daughter turned accused murderer, three times over.

Bristol County (Mass.) prosecutors have piled up evidence that the former New England Patriot star murdered Odin Lloyd in 2013, from putting Hernandez in the same car as Lloyd the night he was killed to detailing a bullet casing found in the rental car Hernandez was driving. The one thing missing? The murder weapon.

That's where Jenkins comes in. Or could come in.

Jenkins' absence from court has only increased speculation on what, if anything, she'll say when called.

Friday, we may find out. The Associated Press, citing anonymous sources, reports Jenkins will be called to the stand Friday at Fall River Justice Center. The 25-year-old is potentially the prosecution's star witness and may provide the trial's most explosive moments yet.

The prosecution believes Jenkins can finish Hernandez, testifying about the guns he owned, the conversations he had in the days after Lloyd's body was found and decipher what appear to be coded text messages and jailhouse phone conversations.
Dan Wetzel