Dean Penney — who first told police he was at his cabin in Northwest Arm on the day his estranged wife went missing — was spotted in St. Anthony at the same time Jennifer Hillier-Penney was last seen.
The details were revealed during Penney’s first-degree murder trial on Tuesday, as the jury watched his third recorded interview with the RCMP from Dec. 8, 2016.
Penney was told an eyewitness saw his vehicle driving along the main road at 7:50 p.m. on Nov. 30, 2016, the same time Hillier-Penney was last seen by her sister, Yvonne Decker.
“If it says it was me, it must have been me,” Penney told the officer interviewing him. “I definitely could have been here in the evening. I don’t remember the time right now. But if it says it was me, it was me.”
Penney’s story changed in each of his first three interviews with police.
Speaking to Const. Camille Bryan on the day Hillier-Penney was reported missing, Penney said he only came to St. Anthony late that evening to get gas.
During an interview with then-Sgt. Daniel Murrin two days later, Penney said he got gas and went to his house — where Hillier-Penney was staying that night — to get a bag of duck decoys around 11 p.m.
Five days later, Penney said he came into town on the morning of Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2016, and twice in the evening. He could only recount details of the 11 p.m. trip, and said the 7:50 p.m. sighting must have been a coffee run.
The drive from the cabin to St. Anthony is about 45 minutes each way.
Murrin asked Penney to walk through the details of the three days he spent at his cabin. When it came to Wednesday, Penney told Murrin he couldn’t remember many exact details.
“I can’t remember no significant events because everyday is basically the same for me,” Penney said. “I’m definitely not a genius. Far from it.”
Penney voiced his frustration with the RCMP at different times throughout the 90-minute interview, saying eight days was too long without answers.
He expressed concern that whoever took Hillier-Penney could have done something with her remains by now, like moving them to a place the police had already searched to avoid detection.
Penney also urged the RCMP to fully investigate him.
“Nobody asked to see my boat. Nobody asked to see my truck. Nobody wanted to go through the house. I want to be eliminated so I can go out and start looking myself. My hands are tied. I can’t do nothing. We’re just worried sick,” he said.
Defence raises other possibilities
On cross-examination Tuesday, defence lawyer Jeff Brace asked Murrin if he was involved in chasing down leads about a man named Derick Hillier — a relative of Jennifer Hillier-Penney.
Murrin said he interviewed Derick Hillier’s parents, but not Derick Hillier himself.
Brace raised a similar line of questioning with Penney’s youngest daughter, Deana, during her testimony on Monday. She said Derick Hillier had made strange phone calls to her mother while he was hospitalized at the Waterford psychiatric hospital in St. John’s, including one in which he said “Jesus was throwing a party for her in heaven and she was invited.”
Brace said Derick Hillier came back to St. Anthony the day before Hillier-Penney disappeared, and left town either the day of her disappearance, or the following day.
Deana Penney rejected any claim that Derick Hillier could have been involved in her mother’s disappearance.
“That was a misunderstanding because the man was genuinely sick,” she said.
On Tuesday, Murrin told the court that Derick Hillier’s father said he’d left town to drive across the island before Hillier-Penney was last seen.
Brace also asked about other tips the RCMP had followed up on — including one that she was spotted at the Glynmill Inn in Corner Brook, and another that she was seen leaving Gander on an airplane 10 months after her disappearance.
‘He said Jennifer was going to disappear’
The Crown’s second witness on Tuesday was Morley Hillier — who grew up with Jennifer Hillier-Penney, but was not related to her.
He told the court about an encounter he had with Dean Penney in early November of 2016. Hillier said he saw Penney in the Scotiabank parking lot in St. Anthony, and asked him how he was doing.
Dean Penney’s first-degree murder trial continued in Corner Brook on Tuesday, with the jury hearing another statement Penney gave to the RCMP in the wake of Jennifer Hillier-Penney’s disappearance. As the CBC’s Ryan Cooke reports, the third statement Penney gave had much different details.
Hillier said Penney told him about his separation, and made a chilling remark.
“He said Jennifer was going to disappear. I said ‘nah,’ and he said, ‘the Hilliers is not going to get nothing that I worked for.’”
On cross-examination, defence lawyer Mark Gruchy grilled Hillier about his relationships with the victim’s family, Dean Penney and alcohol.
Hillier admitted he drank heavily for most of his life, but was sober at the time of the encounter with Penney.
He said he worked with Jennifer Hillier-Penney’s family from the time he could walk, and that he had “highs and lows” with Dean Penney that included one incident where Penney punched him in the face.
Gruchy also revealed that Morley Hillier once told police the encounter with Penney in the Scotiabank parking lot happened in Clarenville, and not in St. Anthony.
Testimony resumes on Wednesday. The trial is scheduled to run throughout April.
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