The Kansas City Chiefs are learning of some extremely disturbing news regarding one of their two-time Super Bowl champions. The news started to surface on Friday evening and was later verified by multiple sources. A long-time starter and key contributor to two championships, is now a person of interest in a murder investigation.
Here are the details.
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Chiefs 2-Time Super Bowl Champ Suddenly At Center Of Murder Investigation
ESPN reported that the body of a woman who has been missing in the Dominican Republic since 2021 was discovered earlier this year on a property owned by NFL veteran Michael Pennel Jr. at the time of her disappearance.
On the condition of anonymity, the sources said Pennel is considered to be a person of interest:
An attorney for Pennel said the player did not know the woman and was not in the country at the time she disappeared. In a text message response to ESPN, Pennel labeled the story “fake news.”
Carli Franchesca Guzmán Roche was 22 when she was declared missing Sept. 13, 2021, after recently moving to the northern coastal tourist town of Sosúa, where Pennel had a home in a gated community. The national attorney general’s office said in a statement that she had not been heard from since Sept. 5 and that the search for her covered the entire province of Puerto Plata.
Two sources close to the investigation said Pennel sold his property last year, and the body was discovered while a worker was digging a trench in January. Guzmán’s body was only recently identified after officials compared her DNA to a sample from her son, who is now 8.
Officials did not release a cause of death, but the attorney general’s office said authorities are pursuing Guzmán’s case as a homicide.
Responding to a text, Pennel said, “This isn’t a story. I’m not legally involved. This is fake news being reported. I’d advise you to speak with my agent/lawyer … before writing a false story. Damaging my reputation.”
Pennel, 34, played for the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals last season and is a free agent.
His Dominican attorney, Alexander Valbuena, said Pennel asked his lawyers “to offer his full cooperation to the Dominican authorities and help clarify the situation.”
Pennel told ESPN on Saturday morning that he has not been contacted by Dominican authorities.
According to the attorney general’s office, the case has been reopened since Guzmán’s identification. Investigators were interviewing “foreigners” in the investigation, according to the office.
Pennel has encountered a number of legal and administrative issues. According to NFL records, he has been suspended three times for violating the league’s substance abuse policy, twice in 2016 and once in 2020. The widow of NFL quarterback Dwayne Haskins filed a lawsuit against him in 2024, alleging that he defrauded her of $275,000 for a dog breeding business he operated in the Dominican Republic.
A recent public spat between Pennel and social media influencer and singer Jhonni Blaze led to accusations of physical abuse. The accusation was denied by Pennel, who accused Blaze of extortion. No law enforcement agency was notified of their accusations.
