An investigation found evidence that NFL veteran Michael Pennel Jr. had an ongoing relationship with a young woman whose body was discovered buried on a property he formerly owned in the Dominican Republic, directly contradicting his repeated denials that he knew her.
The woman was reported missing by her family in September 2021. Her body was not found until January 2026, when new owners of the Puerto Plata resort property began excavation work on the land. Dominican prosecutors have opened a homicide investigation and have identified Pennel as a person of interest in the case. As of late May 2026, no criminal charges had been filed against him.
A relationship witnesses describe in detail
Multiple people who knew the victim told investigators that she and Pennel spent time together regularly when he traveled to the Dominican Republic. The woman frequently referred to him by a term meaning the football player, and family members said she spoke of him as someone she had an ongoing connection with. Her grandmother told investigators that she had personally seen the two speak over a video call and had seen Pennel in person on at least one occasion. Shown a photograph of Pennel, the grandmother expressed unambiguous certainty that he was the man her granddaughter had been seeing.
The grandmother also said that in early September 2021, the victim told her she was going to spend time with her athlete friend in Puerto Plata. The victim called her grandmother on the afternoon of September 5 and said she was still with Pennel, that she was not feeling well, and that she planned to return home the following morning. She was never heard from again. By late the next day, the family had received no contact from her and contacted police.
An initial police visit that produced no arrest
When investigators responded and visited the neighborhood where Pennel’s property was located, they were accompanied by the victim’s grandmother and family attorney. Both said there was a strong odor of decay emanating from the direction of the property, which they described to police as something that should be investigated. Officers told the family the smell was likely from a dead animal and did not search the backyard of the property. A statement later provided to investigators suggested the smell had been attributed to pest control spraying on the grounds.
Police documents reviewed as part of the investigation showed that multiple people had told authorities early in the 2021 search that Pennel had connections with the victim worth examining. Records showed no indication that police interviewed Pennel at any point during the initial investigation, despite visiting his neighborhood with family members. Pennel himself confirmed that he was never contacted by Dominican authorities following the woman’s disappearance.
Pennel’s denials and the case documents
Pennel has maintained that he had no knowledge of the woman and was not in the Dominican Republic when she went missing. He signed with an NFL team on September 15, 2021, two days after she was officially declared missing. He has provided investigators and reporters with a court document showing that no criminal lawsuit had been filed against him as of late May 2026, though that document does not preclude ongoing investigation or future charges.
An associate of Pennel who was staying at the property at the time of the woman’s disappearance was interviewed by Dominican police, along with another American friend. One of those individuals told police that Pennel and the victim were friends and that Pennel had last seen her at an airport in January 2021. A phone number provided to police by one of the associates was later found to be registered to Pennel rather than to the associate himself.
The Dominican Republic, heavily dependent on international tourism, has treated the investigation as a sensitive matter. Prosecutors are pursuing the case as a homicide, though no cause of death has been publicly confirmed. he remains a free agent and has said he shared the court document with the NFL.
