The former fiancee of suspended Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill filed a petition in a Kansas court seeking to prove that he is the father of her newborn twins and establish child support payments.
Hill and his now-former partner Crystal Espinal had been in the news recently as he was under investigation by the Kansas Department of Children and Families for possible child abuse, battery or neglect, of their three-year-old son, whose arm was broken during a March incident at Hill’s home.
Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe announced in April that he would not be filing charges against Hill, but reversed course days later, re-opening the probe when audio emerged in which Hill purportedly threatened Espinal. In early June, Howe’s office acknowledged that the re-opened investigation is no longer active.
Espinal was pregnant throughout much of that ordeal but has since given birth to twins, who, according to a court filing seen by The Kansas City Star, live with her and carry her last name.
The purpose of the petition was to ‘determine the Respondent’s [Hill’s] paternity of the minor children, to confer and impose upon Respondent all the rights, privileges, duties and obligations accompanying the father/child relationship.’
Futhermore, the petition was filed ‘to determine custody and residency of the minor children, to establish an appropriate parenting time schedule and to establish appropriate child support.’
The filing goes on to state that the two are ‘are not married, never have been married, and do not intend to be married.’
Espinal is requesting full custody and that Hill pay child support.
It is not clear where their three-year-old son has been living. He was reportedly taken away from the couple during the child abuse investigation.
Hill has been in trouble with the law before.
In 2015, he pleaded guilty to domestic assault and battery by strangulation following a 2014 incident with Espinal while the two attended Oklahoma State. She was pregnant with their son at the time.
While entering his plea, Hill told a judge that he ‘did something I shouldn’t have done’ and that ‘I let my feelings take control of me,’ according to ESPN’s reporting.
Hill was kicked off the team at Oklahoma State and wound up at West Alabama. When they drafted Hill in 2016, the Chiefs explained that he was undergoing counseling.
Following the child abuse investigation, the Chiefs announced in late April that Hill has been barred from team activities.
Hill could be subject to discipline under the NFL’s personal conduct policy, even though there currently is no criminal investigation surrounding the case at this time.
In the just released section of the recording, played by 610 KCSP radio, Hill is heard telling Cyrstal Espinal that he ‘didn’t touch you in 2014.’
‘You f***ing ruined my life and you lied on me in 2014,’ Hill told Espinal. ‘I’m still not over that. I didn’t touch you in 2014.
‘You lied on me in 2014. If you want to rewind that night, we can rewind that night, too. You was in my house. And did I pick you up and slam you? Hell no. I picked you up and put you out my door and after that you left.’
Dan Graziano of ESPN reported that NFL investigators have already heard the full recording and are including that in deciding any potential discipline to be levied on Hill.
Kansas City station KCTV in late April aired the other 11 minutes of the audio recording, which was believed to have been made as Hill and Espinal were in Dubai’s international airport.
The television station said it received the audio from ‘someone who is concerned about the welfare of the couple’s child.’
The airing of the original audio spurred the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office to take a second look at a possible criminal case involving injuries to the couple’s three-year-old son.
When police responded to their home previously, there were signs that a crime had been committed against the child, but the District Attorney’s Office said it would not have been able to prove who did it.
In the 11-minute audio file, Espinal is heard telling Hill that the boy said ‘Daddy did it,’ referring to the injury to the child’s arm.
Hill denies any role in what happened to the child’s arm, adding: ‘He says Daddy does a lot of things.’
‘A three-year-old is not going to lie about what happened to his arm,’ Espinal says, adding that the boy ‘is terrified of you,’ Espinal says.
Hill is heard telling Espinal, ‘You need to be terrified of me, too, b****.’
Espinal later says, referring to the boy, ‘He kept saying, ‘Daddy punches me,’ which you do when he starts crying. What do you do? You make him open up his arms, and you punch him in the chest. Then if he gets in trouble, you get the belt out.’
Following the revelation of that audio, The Associated Press obtained a copy of a four-page letter sent from Hill’s attorney, N. Trey Pettlon, claiming a forensic examiner had examined exonerating text messages between the his client and Espinal.
In one exchange, according to Pettlon’s letter, Hill tells Espinal after their trip to Dubai: ‘Crystal you know I didn’t cause any bruising or harm to [our son] but for some reason I still may be charged.’
Espinal allegedly replied: ‘I know you didn’t. I did. I hurt [our son]. I’m the one that did it. I was hurt and mad at you so I blamed you for everything.’
Hill has maintained his innocence with regards to the accusation of child abuse.
