Overview
- ESPN deleted its June 18 story and posted an update on Wednesday saying the original reporting “contained errors” after receiving new documentation from Pennel’s representatives.
- Pennel’s camp provided passport stamps, travel logs, banking records and geotagged photographs that they say place him in Denver around the time the woman disappeared and not in the Dominican Republic.
- Attorney Brian Wainger said Pennel was never a suspect or person of interest, that he did not know the victim, and that surveillance from a Puerto Plata property he owned captured trespassers and was given to Dominican authorities.
- Dominican prosecutors had reopened the case in March 2026 and investigators previously said remains were found in January 2026 on a Puerto Plata property Pennel owned until 2025, so the criminal probe remains active and unresolved.
- The retraction prompted other outlets to deactivate related coverage and raised fresh questions about the use of unnamed sources in high‑profile reporting and what evidence Dominican authorities still need to resolve the case.