Earlier this evening, news broke that a body had been discovered in the basement of a home owned by Giants cornerback Janoris Jenkins, and that police were investigating the discovery as a homicide. Now we know the identity of the victim, and it’s reportedly a family friend.
The body was identified as Roosevelt Rene, 25, a Jenkins family friend who had been living at the house, according to the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office.
The prosecutor’s office said, “The manner of death will be determined by the Bergen County Medical Examiner’s Office after a post-mortem exam.”
Police are treating it as a homicide investigation, police sources told ESPN’s Dianna Russini.
Bergen County Prosecutor Dennis Calo had earlier confirmed that an investigation was taking place at the address.
Jenkins is aware of the investigation. He was not at home when the body was discovered and has been in Florida since the completion of Giants minicamp two weeks ago, sources said.
Russini also tweeted this:
Also last night in NJ, a man claiming to be Janoris Jenkins’ brother was on a Jet Blue flight to Fort Lauderdale from Newark to allegedly meet up with Janoris. The man caused delays because he was too scared to fly according to witnesses I spoke to. He got off the plane #giants
— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) June 26, 2018
And there’s at least one report on the potential cause of death:
Per law enforcement sources, police are investigating a possible strangulation/suffocation as the cause of death in the case of the body found at Giants CB Janoris Jenkins’ home.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) June 26, 2018
It’s definitely an odd story, and certainly a tragic one. There aren’t many details to go on right now, and any speculation seems dangerously premature, though that won’t stop a certain segment of Twitter from doing just that.
Regardless, we’ll have more if more news breaks.
[ESPN]
