Within the early morning hours of Dec. 16, 2022, St. Paul, Minnesota, murder detectives Abby DeSanto and Jennifer O’Donnell have been known as to a downtown residence constructing to analyze a reported suicide. A 32-year-old girl named Alexandra Pennig had been discovered lifeless in her lavatory with a single gunshot wound to the top.
For the detectives, what actually occurred to Pennig is one thing that also haunts them to today. And it is the query on the heart of “The Strange Shooting of Alex Pennig,” reported by “48 Hours” contributor Natalie Morales. An encore of the episode is streaming on Paramount+.
Terri Randall/Mary Jo Pennig
When detectives DeSanto and O’Donnell arrived on the residence, they came upon Pennig had not been alone on the time of her dying. A person named Matthew Ecker was additionally there. Ecker and Pennig have been each nurses and had met two years earlier once they labored on the identical clinic. Ecker advised first responders the gun was his, and that Pennig had grabbed it, locked herself within the lavatory, after which fired the shot. “I assumed every little thing was high-quality,” he stated. “After which she simply grabbed the gun.” Ecker advised first responders that after he heard the shot he instantly broke open the lavatory door: “I attempted to do what I may. After which I washed my palms … That is why I haven’t got something on my palms.” Ecker stated he then known as 911. But it surely was too late. He stated he did not know why Pennig would do that.
In Pennig’s residence, there was alcohol and 6 bottles of prescription treatment, together with antidepressants, all prescribed to Pennig. For the detectives, it recommended Alex might need been depressed, and so they puzzled if Ecker’s story that she took her personal life was true.
However in addition they seen one thing that appeared to contradict Ecker’s story. He had stated he washed his palms within the lavatory sink earlier than calling 911, however DeSanto recalled the primary responders advised her the sink was dry. “The sink was dry. If he had stated, you realize, he known as the police instantly, that sink most likely would’ve been nonetheless moist,” DeSanto defined, “however it was very dry in there.”
When O’Donnell seemed into Pennig’s background, she discovered from Alex’s mother and father that Alex had struggled prior to now with melancholy and habit. “I had requested, um, if she had been suicidal prior to now, um, and pa stated, she had, um, tried, uh, to overdose earlier than,” stated O’Donnell. In line with Alex’s father, Jim Pennig, a number of years prior, Alex had taken a handful of tablets “after which had advised her mother that she was making an attempt suicide.” After that, Alex’s mother and father advised the detectives they despatched her to rehab, and he or she ultimately obtained clear. Regardless of her previous struggles, Alex’s mother and father advised O’Donnell that they had simply seen her at Thanksgiving. And her mother, Mary Jo Pennig, had simply talked to her that night. “She was doing effectively,” she stated. For them, the concept their daughter had died by suicide didn’t make sense. “Realizing your child, it did not match,” Mary Jo Pennig stated.
Since Ecker was the final particular person to see Alex Pennig alive, the detectives zeroed in on him. “He is the one one that may inform us what occurred. He was the one one which was there,” stated O’Donnell. They questioned Ecker about what had occurred that night time. He stated he and Alex Pennig had gone out to a number of native bars, and once they arrived again at her place, every little thing was high-quality: “We have been laughing on the best way house,” stated Ecker. DeSanto requested him if, as soon as they obtained into the residence, that they had gotten right into a combat. Ecker stated they didn’t.
DET. ABBY DESANTO: You guys weren’t arguing or something?
MATTHEW ECKER: No.
DET. ABBY DESANTO: There is no combat with you two?
MATTHEW ECKER: Not between us.
For hours, Ecker continued to say Pennig had locked herself within the lavatory, fired the shot after which he broke open the door to attempt to assist her: “That gun went off behind a closed door … I didn’t shoot her.“
Ramsey County District Courtroom 
However the detectives had their doubts. Then they obtained a name from the forensic unit that was nonetheless processing the scene. And in response to O’Donnell, what they discovered modified every little thing. “As soon as Alex was moved, they discovered beneath the place Alex had been laying was a spherical metallic piece,“ she stated. It was the form of a hoop, and in regards to the measurement of 1 / 4. O’Donnell stated it was a part of the lock from the lavatory door, and the truth that it had been found beneath Pennig was key. “For us, it meant that the door was pressured open earlier than she was shot.”
The detectives felt the invention of the metallic ring proved Ecker had lied and had not damaged the door open after he heard the shot. The detectives suspected Pennig and Ecker had argued and that she had locked the lavatory door to get away from him. Then Ecker broke open the door, the metallic half broke off and fell to the bottom, after which he shot Pennig and he or she landed on prime of it.
Ecker was charged with second-degree homicide. In February 2024 he was convicted and later sentenced to 30 years.
