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Warning: This story contains a description of graphic violence.
A forensics investigation specialist with the RCMP says police found what were presumed to be blood stains inside the garage of Dean Penney in 2023, seven years after a fight that allegedly ended with Jennifer Hillier-Penney’s death.
At Supreme Court in Corner Brook on Tuesday, RCMP Sgt. Jonathan Moran said multiple stains were found as part of an examination of Penney’s garage.
The stains were identified by an RCMP bloodstain pattern analyst, Moran said, noting one stain was located between the stairs that serve as entry to the garage and a gun safe near the bottom of the stairs.
“We did see a chemiluminescent reaction. So [the stain] glowed blue in the dark,” Moran said.
Moran outlined the type of testing used to get that reaction. Called Bluestar reagent testing, chemicals mixed with water are sprayed on areas of interest. If there is a presence of iron, which is found in hemoglobins the blood, the stain will glow blue.
It’s one of two testing methods that was used.
Seven years before the findings, the garage was a place where Dean Penney said he and his estranged wife Jennifer Hillier-Penney got into a fight while Dean was home looking for duck decoys for a hunting trip.
Over the course of two recorded confessions with an undercover RCMP officer masquerading as a crime boss, Penney said he pushed Hillier-Penney down the set of stairs leading into their garage, and that Hillier-Penney rolled down the stairs and hit her head on his gun safe.
He then told the crime boss he hit Hillier-Penney several times with a small hammer to ensure she wouldn’t come to, describing that the final hit came with a “big splatter” from Hillier-Penney’s head.
Penney said he cleaned the garage with bleach following the fight and later ditched the cleaning supplies.
He has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in Hillier-Penney’s death, and her body has never been found. The defence has argued Penney’s confession was false.
Moran told the court there were three main stains identified in the garage: The stain on the gun safe, a stain on the wall near the stairs and a stain on the stairs themselves.
Moran told the court he was first involved in the investigation on Dec. 2, 2016. Police examined Hillier-Penney’s vehicle, which was left behind, and photographed Penney’s home the next day.
In the weeks that followed, forensic specialists examined Penney’s 2003 Ford Explorer for any evidence, along with his cabin. Moran noted stains were found inside the car, along with personal items like hip waders.
Penney had told the crime boss he used hip waders filled with rocks to weigh down Hillier-Penney’s body, which was wrapped in a canvas Seadoo cover, in order to make sure the body sank when it was thrown overboard from Penney’s boat in the Hare Bay Islands area.
Moran then detailed how he and other examiners got back on the case starting in December 2023. The examination of the garage happened on Dec. 16, 2023 — eight days after Penney’s second recorded confession detailing the incident.
Moran noted the stain he swabbed was 2.9 metres — or just over 9.5 feet — off the floor. It was in one of around 15 areas the bloodstain analyst decided needed to be swabbed.
Police removed the part of the wall where the stain was, Moran said, along with parts of the stairs Hillier-Penney allegedly fell down in case it provided any further evidence.
Members of the RCMP’s forensics analysis teams testified in a Corner Brook courtroom on Tuesday, telling the court initial forensic testing uncovered presumed blood stains in parts of Dean Penney’s garage. According to what Penney told an undercover officer, the garage was the scene of a fight between him and Jennifer Hillier-Penney prior to her disappearance. The CBC’s Colleen Connors reports.
During cross-examination of Moran, defence lawyer Jeff Brace questioned him on the reliability of the tests police used for the swabbing.
Moran noted that false positives are possible. For example, he said Brace was correct in saying the tests don’t differentiate between human and animal blood. He also acknowledged Penney as an avid hunter.
Moran also agreed that false positives can come from things like bleach, mold, leather and even vegetables like turnip.
Moran told Brace that a different group of people and pets were living in the home at the time of the 2023 examination.
Samples show no connection to Penney or Hillier-Penney, defence argues
Sgt. Jason Anthony, the Nova Scotia-based bloodstain pattern analyst who worked with Moran, noted further lab work would have needed to be done to prove the stains were in fact blood.
The court also saw photos taken inside the garage by Anthony during the Dec. 16, 2023, examination. Photos were taken after the reacting agent was applied, and a blue streak was present around the stairs and gun safe — indicating a presumptive positive for a blood stain.
In Brace’s cross-examination of Anthony, Brace said that while the jury might have been “alarmed” by the amount of blue in the photos, the testing can’t prove when the stains got there.
At the end of his cross-examination, Brace also began discussion of a report on the case from fellow RCMP forensics specialist Laurie Karchewski. While Brace said Karchewski will likely begin her testimony on Wednesday, he shared the base findings of the report with Anthony.
“Without exception, no blood was found or confirmed on any sample,” Brace said.
“That is correct,” Anthony replied.
Brace also said that the report, which has yet to be shown to the court, references samples of Penney and Hillier-Penney’s DNA used to compare the DNA found in the samples. He said the report shows the DNA on the stains is of mixed origin, but proves the DNA of both Penney and Hillier-Penney is absent.
“[They] are not contributors to this mixed profile,” Brace said. “We have this glow, the lab concludes we have three DNA from three clearly identified DNA samples. In that, none of which is Dean Penney or Jennifer Hillier-Penney.”
Brace asked Anthony if he was aware of the finding, to which Anthony replied he was.
As part of Tuesday’s proceedings, Justice Vikas Khaladkar also told the jury that anything Marina Goodyear, Hillier-Penney’s daughter, said during her cross-examination on Monday that could be considered hearsay should be disregarded from their decision-making process.
The trial resumes on Wednesday morning.
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