'She'll never be seen': Dean Penney tells involvement in estranged wife's death to fictitious crime boss

< warm>WARNING: This story and picture contains expressed linguistic communication and a computer graphic description of violence.

During a break in conversation aboard a yacht in Vancouver, Dean Penney sat relieved, with his hands over his eyes.

"Been holding it for so long," Penney said to an undercover RCMP officer who was posing as a crime boss. "Kind of a relief."

In the hours before, Penney had told the fictitious crime boss of his involvement in the death of his estranged wife, Jennifer Hillier-Penney, on Nov. 30, 2016 — and the steps he took to hide her body.

"I took her. Moved her. I took her up to the bay where my cabin was, just took her offshore in my boat. And that's where she is. She'll never be seen. Then that's it. That's all I can tell you."

Penney is charged with first-degree murder in Hillier-Penney's death. He has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyer said they are working to prove the confession was unreliable.

The interview was recorded seven years to the day of her disappearance.

Speaking with the crime boss — an undercover officer who was part of a Mr. Big operation led by the RCMP, known by the pseudonym Rudy — Penney stated multiple times at the beginning of their discussion that he had nothing to do with Hillier-Penney's death or disappearance.

Dean Penney was there the night his estranged wife died, court hears

Around 26 minutes after his final plea of innocence, and nearly three hours into the conversation, Penney said the night started with an argument.

Penney and Hillier-Penney were separated, and Penney said he needed to come to their home, where Hillier-Penney was staying for the night, to grab duck decoys for a hunting trip.

Penney said he planned to grab the decoys while Hillier-Penney was asleep, but the sound of a door opening woke her. He said an agitated Hillier-Penney spoke with him in their laundry room, which connected to the garage via a small staircase.

As he tried to get past her, Penney said he pushed Hillier-Penney.

"I just pushed her and she fell down the stairs. And she banged her head," he told Rudy. "You're the only one I've ever told."

"It was accidental, and I'm just trying to f--king clean up the mess … It was definitely not planned."

What followed, Penney said, was the need to clean the garage before his daughter, Deana, arrived. Deana had spent the night with a friend and was on the way home with Penney's mother.

Penney said Hillier-Penney didn't have a pulse and he had to clean the blood that was coming from her head and ears. He told Rudy he had bleached the floor and used cloths to clean up the mess.

He said he had cleared out by the time Deana arrived, and then he returned to the house.

"I called [Deana], and told her that I was on my way home to get my decoys so that nothing looked weird or suspicious … I made it as if I was coming to get my decoys on the second time," he said.

Penney said by the time Deana arrived he had already worked to hide his estranged wife's body.

Over the course of their conversation, Penney told Rudy he wrapped Hillier-Penney in plastic, placed her one leg at a time in a garbage bag and put her into his duck decoy bag.

"You put your wife in the decoy bag?" Rudy asked.

"Yep," Penney answered.

Penney continued that Deana, who was 14 at the time, had asked him if he wanted her to call Hillier-Penney. He told her it was fine, and that she should go to bed.

"I was shitting bricks," Penney said.

Hear the moment Dean Penney tells undercover police about the death of Jennifer Hillier Penney

In the hours that followed, Penney told Rudy he made several moves to hide Hillier-Penney's body and protect himself from being seen.

First, he said he left the house by walking across the street. Penney told Rudy he had intentionally parked across the street from the house at a mechanic's shop before he entered in order to not startle his wife.

"It kind of played in my favour because the vehicle wasn't in the driveway. So, nobody saw me pull into the driveway," he said. "That's why nothing has been done up to this day."

Penney said he then backed his vehicle into the driveway — reaffirming that no one could see him — and collected Hillier-Penney’s body and the cleaning supplies.

Penney said once he left, he needed to fuel up his vehicle. He said he stopped at the Irving fuel station at around 10:45 p.m.

He then told Rudy the gas station had surveillance cameras, and that they could place him there that night.

"That was only more or less to make it look good," he said, adding he told people he was just taking a drive and getting some coffee.

Penney said he then drove with the decoy bag to his cabin, where his 12-foot fishing boat sat by the wharf.

He told Rudy he put Hillier-Penney's body into the boat, set off into Newfoundland's Hare Bay Islands at around 11:45 p.m. — specifically mentioning the area of Goose Tickle — and threw the evidence overboard, waiting for everything to sink.

He added he also filled a satchel with rocks into the bag to "make sure she sunk."

"There's nothing there. I got rid of everything," he said. "I was very thorough."

When asked how deep the water was where Hillier-Penney was dropped, Penney estimated it was between 80 and 100 feet. He said multiple times it would be almost impossible for her to be found.

Penney said after he got back to shore, he got new clothes from his cabin.

He said it snowed that night, which played into his favour. The snow on board made it look like the boat had been there all night, he added.

After much discussion, Rudy asked Penney if there was anything in his story he might want to clean up. Rudy said the fictitious criminal organization had the resources to "fix" the problem, but an airtight story was the key.

"Nope. That's exactly how it went," he said.

Members of Hillier-Penney's family were seated in the front row of the Corner Brook Supreme Court room on Friday, each holding each other as tears flowed.

The court heard that the conversation between Penney and Rudy was designed to act as a job interview for Penney within the fake organization. He was applying to be the captain of Rudy's yacht.

Rudy said the man who he had tapped to be his next captain — also an undercover officer — had fallen ill, and he told Penney that he was ultimately going to take the fall for Hillier-Penney's death.

Near the end of the conversation, Rudy told Penney that the confession put him into the leading position for the job, as long as Penney's story checked out.

Rudy said on multiple occasions that he wasn't concerned about the incident, but that he had to make sure his bases were covered to protect the group.

"I guess if things don't work out, I guess I'll be f--king in jail," Penney said.

Penney showed similar apprehension at the start of the conversation, when he questioned if someone would come in and take him out in handcuffs if he told Rudy what happened.

Rudy's voice rose at the accusation, challenging Penney to take it back.

The discussion ended with other members of the organization — all undercover police officers — entering the room and celebrating with Penney after finding out he was in line to become the yacht's next captain.

The Nov. 30, 2023 interview is one of two recorded of Penney and Rudy. The second interview was recorded on Dec. 8, 2023, and will likely be heard in court early next week.

The trial will return to court on Tuesday with more testimony from Rudy. Court won't sit on Monday because of a provincial holiday.

Journalist

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