RCMP hold onto potential evidence in Jennifer Hillier-Penney murder probe
CBC
Mittens, bedsheets, chest waders. Those are just some of the items that the RCMP say hold potential evidentiary value in the case of Jennifer Hillier-Penney, CBC News has learned.
Court documents show a Corner Brook judge has again provided the force with an extension to hold onto seized items that are linked to the missing woman's estranged husband.
"If they had anything that could end this, it would be already done by now," said oldest daughter Marina Goodyear.
"I think the biggest mistakes were already made in the beginning that we're never going to recover from. And I truly believe they're just waiting for somebody to crack and not be able to hold the secret anymore and [are] playing the waiting game for that, you know?"
Hillier-Penney, 38, was last seen at Dean Penney's house on Husky Drive on Nov. 30, 2016. Though Hillier-Penney had moved in with her father and was beginning a separation, she was at the house watching her youngest daughter while Penney was duck hunting at their cabin in nearby Northwest Arm. It's about 45 minutes from St. Anthony, near the airport.
Through his lawyer, Penney declined comment for this story.
In 2018, the RCMP told The Fifth Estate they estimate that Hillier-Penney disappeared shortly after arriving at Penney's home that night — about 8 p.m. They believe she was murdered. The Mounties have never publicly named a suspect.
Police affidavits filed in December at Supreme Court in Corner Brook shed more light on what physical evidence the RCMP has in the six-year-old case.
On Dec. 7, 2016 — seven days after Hillier-Penney disappeared — the RCMP seized swabs, pillow casings and bedsheets from Penney's home.
Later that month, the RCMP focused their attention on a vehicle and cabin linked to Penney. One item was seized from the cabin but the documents do not indicate what it was.
Officers took 131 swabs, two strands of hair, chest waders, knitted mitts and three gloves from a vehicle on Dec. 17, 2016.
Other items seized by police are identified only by ID numbers.
RCMP Cpl. Jolene Garland said any evidence gathered to date is of value.
"Certainly the weight or the importance that it has, or the value it has today can be very much different than what it may hold tomorrow, depending on the possibility of where the investigation heads to any new developments in the case," Garland said Tuesday.
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