Aiden and Chase Jennings moved to Salem in the summer of 2014. Chase was in Ciara Brady's class. Adien and Hope worked together on several fundraising projects. But, Aiden was always very protective of Chase.

It tunred out that Aiden had moved Chase to Salem to get away from Portland and their previous life. According to Aiden, Chase's mother, Meredith, was an alcoholic. They tried to stay together for Chase, but Aiden and Meredith would fight constantly about her drinking. One night, she got into such a drunken rage that she told him she'd rather die then be with him. Then, she got out a gun and shot herself. The police questioned Aiden about the incident and no charges were filed against him.

But Aiden couldn't escape the suspicion that he had something to do with Meredith's death -- especially from her friends. Meredith used to tell them about her fights with Aiden, and they believed that he was trying to hurt her. One of those friends was Bree, a friend of Hope's who used to live in Salem. While back on a visit, Bree ran into Hope and warned her about Aiden. She said that Aiden had gone after Meredith because of her family's money and then killed her for the inheritance. But, Hope was sure that Bree only had one side of the story. Hope and Aiden were dating by this point and Hope believed what Aiden had told her.

As Aiden and Hope's realtionship progressed, Aiden decided to cut even more ties with his past life. He wanted to sell the lake house that they used to own. Chase insisted that he wanted to see the house one more time. So, the four of them went up for a visit. While there, Hope caught Bree trying to break into the house. Bree told Hope that somewhere in the house was a recording that Meredith had made, proving that Aiden killed her. Hope kicked Bree out. But, while looking for a phone charger in a desk drawer, Hope came across the recording.

In the video, Meredeth explained that Aiden had been trying to kill her for months. She said that he had been sneaking anit-freeze into her wine at night, but had stopped when she made an appointment with her doctor to check her blood. Hope found the anit-freeze in the spot where Meredith said it was. In the video, Meredith also showed the gun she'd bought.

Hope pushed Aiden for details about the video. Aiden broke down and told her that the story he told her before was a lie. The truth was that a drunken Meredith left her gun on the table and Chase -- a toddler at the time -- found it. She rushed to get it away from him. In the struggled, the gun went off and killed Meredith.

When Aiden heard the shot, he rushed downstairs and saw what happened. He took Chase upstairs and put him to bed. Then, he took all of Chase's clothes and wiped down the gun. Then, he called the police and gave them the suicide story. The police believed him. To protect Chase from ever remembering, Aiden moved Chase away from all potential memories.