Aaron Hernandez's cousin, Jennifer "Gina" Valderrama Mercado of Bristol, Connecticut, has agreed to testify before a Massachusetts grand jury in connection with the Odin Lloyd murder investigation according to the Hartford Courant.
Hernandez, 23, has been jailed in without bail on first-degree murder charges since June 26. Lloyd's bullet-riddled body was found not far from Hernandez's North Attleborough mansion just days before.
On Tuesday, Mercado agreed to testify before the panel in the coming days. Her sister, Tanya Cummings-Singleton, is already jailed and has been indicted on criminal contempt charges for refusing to take the stand before the same grand jury.
In court documents previously made public, The Courant reports police indicated they believe Cummings-Singleton made "overt attempts to hinder and mislead the investigation." They have not disclosed their interest in having Mercado testify.
The newspaper added during Tuesday's proceedings Mercado appeared without an attorney and left without speaking with reporters. She is scheduled to return before the court on Sept. 23.
Cummings-Singleton lives at 114 Lake Ave., a Bristol home owned by Hernandez's uncle where police have conducted several searches since opening their investigation. The same address is also listed for Ernest Wallace and Carlos Ortiz, Hernandez's co-defendants in the case who also remain jailed.
According to The Courant, during an earlier search of the home police found a car that matched the description of the vehicle authorities believe was used in a 2012 double-slaying in downtown Boston.
The car was rented in Hernandez's name and had been parked in the garage for about a year, the newspaper reported. Authorities also obtained surveillance footage that shows Hernandez at the same nightclub as the victims hours before the shooting. A different grand jury in Suffolk County Mass. is investigating his potential role in that case.
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