How a small piece a WC door lock helped remedy the homicide of a Minnesota nurse

Within the early morning hours of Dec. 16, 2022, St. Paul, Minnesota, murder detectives Abby DeSanto and Jennifer O’Donnell had been known as to a downtown condominium constructing to research a reported suicide. A 32-year-old lady named Alexandra Pennig had been discovered lifeless in her toilet with a single gunshot wound to the top.

For the detectives, what actually occurred to Pennig is one thing that also haunts them to this present day. And it’s the query on the middle of “The Strange Shooting of Alex Pennig,” reported by “48 Hours” contributor Natalie Morales. An encore of the episode is streaming on Paramount+.

Matthew Ecker, left, and Alex Pennig

Terri Randall/Mary Jo Pennig

When detectives DeSanto and O’Donnell arrived on the condominium, 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 had been each nurses and had met two years earlier after they labored on the similar clinic. Ecker instructed first responders the gun was his, and that Pennig had grabbed it, locked herself within the toilet, after which fired the shot. “I thought everything was fine,” he stated. “And then she just grabbed the gun.” Ecker instructed first responders that after he heard the shot he instantly broke open the toilet door: “I tried to do what I could. And then I washed my hands … That’s why I don’t have anything on my hands.” Ecker stated he then known as 911. Nevertheless it was too late. He stated he didn’t know why Pennig would do that.

In Pennig’s condominium, there was alcohol and 6 bottles of prescription treatment, together with antidepressants, all prescribed to Pennig. For the detectives, it steered Alex might need been depressed, they usually questioned if Ecker’s story that she took her personal life was true.

However additionally they seen one thing that appeared to contradict Ecker’s story. He had stated he washed his palms within the toilet sink earlier than calling 911, however DeSanto recalled the primary responders instructed her the sink was dry. “The sink was dry. If he had said, you know, he called the police right away, that sink probably would’ve been still wet,” DeSanto defined, “but it was very dry in there.”

When O’Donnell seemed into Pennig’s background, she realized from Alex’s dad and mom that Alex had struggled previously with melancholy and habit. “I had asked, um, if she had been suicidal in the past, um, and dad said, she had, um, tried, uh, to overdose before,” stated O’Donnell. In keeping with Alex’s father, Jim Pennig, a number of years prior, Alex had taken a handful of drugs “and then had told her mom that she was attempting suicide.” After that, Alex’s dad and mom instructed the detectives they despatched her to rehab, and he or she finally bought clear. Regardless of her previous struggles, Alex’s dad and mom instructed 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 well,” she stated. For them, the concept that their daughter had died by suicide didn’t make sense. “Knowing your kid, it didn’t fit,” Mary Jo Pennig stated.

Since Ecker was the final individual to see Alex Pennig alive, the detectives zeroed in on him. “He’s the only one that can tell us what happened. He was the only one that 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 after they arrived again at her place, the whole lot was advantageous: “We were laughing on the way home,” stated Ecker. DeSanto requested him if, as soon as they bought into the condominium, 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’s no combat with you two?

MATTHEW ECKER: Not between us. 

For hours, Ecker continued to say Pennig had locked herself within the toilet, 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.“

This small piece of steel from a rest room door lock was discovered below Alex Pennig’s physique.

Ramsey County District Courtroom

However the detectives had their doubts. Then they bought a name from the forensic unit that was nonetheless processing the scene. And in accordance with O’Donnell, what they discovered modified the whole lot. “Once Alex was moved, they found underneath where Alex had been laying was a round metal piece,“ she said. It was the shape of a ring, and about the size of a quarter. O’Donnell said it was part of the lock from the bathroom door, and the fact that it had been discovered under Pennig was key. “For us, it meant that the door was forced open before she was shot.”

The detectives felt the invention of the steel 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 toilet door to get away from him. Then Ecker broke open the door, the steel 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. 

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