NFL veteran Michael Pennel named person of interest in Dominican Republic death
NFL free agent Michael Pennel Jr has been identified as a person of interest by authorities in the Dominican Republic after the body of a missing woman was discovered on a property he previously owned.
The 34-year-old defensive tackle owned a home in the northern coastal tourist town of Sosúa when 22-year-old Carli Franchesca Guzmán Roche disappeared in September 2021.
Two sources close to the investigation confirmed to ESPN that the American athlete is now being examined as part of an active homicide inquiry.
The remains were unearthed in January when a worker dug a trench on the estate, which the former Kansas City Chiefs player sold last year.
Officials formally identified the deceased recently by matching DNA with a sample from her eight-year-old son.
Pennel strongly denies involvement
The veteran defensive lineman has fiercely rejected any connection to the tragedy.
This isn’t a story. I’m not legally involved. This is fake news being reported.
The Super Bowl LIV champion stated he had not been contacted by local law enforcement regarding the grim discovery.
His Dominican attorney, Alexander Valbuena, asserted that his client did not know the victim and was not in the Caribbean nation at the time she vanished.
Valbuena added that the player’s primary concern is getting to the bottom of the situation and has offered full cooperation to investigators.
Timeline of the disappearance
The national attorney general’s office noted that Guzmán had last been heard from on 5 September 2021, shortly after relocating to the gated community area.
At the time of her disappearance, the defensive specialist was briefly without a team.
He was released by the Chicago Bears on 31 August 2021, before signing with the Atlanta Falcons on 15 September.
Guzmán’s grandmother, Paula González, indicated that the family had no idea why the young student might have been at the Sosúa residence.
She was pretty, a student, very loving. Everyone loved her. She had lots of friends.
Authorities have reopened the case and continue to conduct interviews as the early stages of the homicide investigation unfold.
