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A Minnesota girl is fatally shot in her rest room. Who pulled the set off?
U.S.

A Minnesota girl is fatally shot in her rest room. Who pulled the set off?

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Last updated: August 10, 2025 5:06 am
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Published: August 10, 2025
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Contents
ALEX PENNIG’S DEATH INVESTIGATION BEGINSA PUNCH CAUGHT ON TAPEMATTHEW ECKER CHANGES HIS STORYA TINY PIECE OF METAL CONTRADICTS MATTHEW ECKER’S STORYREMEMBERING ALEX PENNIGExtra from CBS Information

This story initially aired on Oct. 26, 2024. It was up to date on Aug. 9, 2025.

It was every week earlier than Christmas in 2022, when Saint Paul, Minnesota, police officer Ching Vang and his associate Officer Justina Hser set off on their common patrol of the town.

Natalie Morales | “48 Hours” contributor: The in a single day hours, it is December sixteenth, 2022. What time do you get that decision?

Officer Ching Vang: On that night time, the decision got here in round 2:50.

Officer Ching Vang: … dispatcher acknowledged {that a} feminine was shot within the head. … my associate and I, we went lights and sirens heading in direction of that decision.

Natalie Morales: And is it … all items within the neighborhood referred to as in at the moment?

Officer Ching Vang: Sure. … just about, each unit hop on that decision to come back and help.

Inside minutes Vang, Hser, and a number of other different officers — physique cameras rolling — arrived on the location, a residential condominium constructing. Matthew Ecker, the person who had positioned the 911 name, allow them to in and directed them to an condominium on the second ground.

Vang was the primary to enter the condominium.

Officer Ching Vang: I keep in mind strolling in, the lavatory was to the suitable, the very first door.

ALEX PENNIG’S DEATH INVESTIGATION BEGINS

Alex Pennig, 32, was mendacity face up with a single gunshot wound to her left temple.

Officer Ching Vang: I observed … quite a lot of blood round her head.

Vang had instantly noticed the gun laying on Alex’s left shoulder; her hand resting on high. A group of officers regarded across the small studio condominium and questioned neighbors. Nobody had heard something.

Within the hallway, Hser was speaking to Ecker.

OFFICER HSER (police bodycam): (to Ecker) You bought to maintain respiration. You bought to maintain respiration.

Officer Justina Hser: He was … on the ground by himself. So, I simply went and approached him and simply began speaking to him.

A screenshot from Saint Paul Police bodycam video reveals a sobbing Matthew Ecker as he talks to officers within the corridor outdoors Alex Pennig’s condominium.

Ramsey County District Court docket


MATTHEW ECKER (police bodycam): Oh God, why’d she try this? (sobbing) 

Natalie Morales: Have been you involved about him?

Officer Justina Hser: I used to be. … as a result of on the time we did not know what was occurring …

OFFICER HSER (police bodycam): I do know it is shocked. I do know it is arduous.

Officer Justina Hser: I simply advised him to only decelerate. Take your time. We’re not in a rush, everytime you’re prepared, I am — I am able to hear.

Ecker did ultimately relax and he began speaking —

OFFICER HSER (police bodycam): Have been you guys arguing or one thing?

MATTHEW ECKER: No.

— telling officers he lived nearly three hours away however drove to Alex after she positioned a frantic name to him earlier.

MATTHEW ECKER (police bodycam) So I got here right here to assist her really feel protected.

Ecker advised police Alex had gotten right into a struggle along with her present boyfriend. His title was Shane Anderson — that issues had gotten bodily, and she or he was fearful of what he would possibly do. So, Ecker took his gun and introduced it with him to Alex’s condominium.

MATTHEW ECKER (police bodycam): …as a result of I used to be frightened that her boyfriend would come …

Natalie Morales: So, he was going there, he stated, to guard her?

Officer Justina Hser: Sure.

Ecker arrived at Alex’s round 2 p.m. Anderson wasn’t there.

MATTHEW ECKER (police bodycam): You recognize we had been simply hanging out.

That night, he stated, they went out to native bars. After they walked into a spot referred to as Camp Bar, Anderson was inside.

MATTHEW ECKER (police bodycam): He got here to her, they had been arguing, and I got here throughout and I stood in between them after which he punched me.

Anderson hit him, he says, after which was kicked out of the bar.

MATTHEW ECKER (police bodycam):  … after which her and I sat there and talked with different individuals for an additional 45 minutes. We got here again right here, and I assumed all the pieces was effective. After which she simply grabbed the gun.

OFFICER HSER: Did she make any risk, earlier than that —

MATTHEW ECKER: Not —

OFFICER HSER: — that she was going to kill herself?

MATTHEW ECKER: I did not —

OFFICER HSER: Or damage herself?

MATTHEW ECKER: She simply grabbed it and put it to her head.

And with the gun in her hand, she backed into the lavatory, he says, and locked the door. Moments later a single shot rang out. Ecker says he shortly broke the door open and noticed Alex on the ground. He advised the officers he tried utilizing his nursing expertise to cease the bleeding by placing stress on the wound.

MATTHEW ECKER (police bodycam): … I attempted to do what I might.

OFFICER HSER: OK.

MATTHEW ECKER: After which I washed my arms.

OFFICER HSER: Then you definitely washed your arms?

MATTHEW ECKER: Appropriate. That is why I haven’t got something on my arms.

OFFICER HSER: And then you definately, then you definately referred to as the police?

MATTHEW ECKER: Yeah.

The information that Alex had fired a gun — taking her personal life — was unfathomable to Alex’s dad and mom Mary Jo and Jim Pennig.

Mary Jo Pennig: That simply was utterly out of character for Alex.

Jim Pennig: She had by no means shot a gun. … Did not like weapons … so it did not make any sense.

Alex Pennig

Alex Pennig

Gillian Kubitschek


And Alex’s mother Mary Jo Pennig had simply texted along with her daughter just a few hours earlier and she or he did not appear depressed in any respect.

Mary Jo Pennig: She was doing nicely … and that is what’s arduous.

Detectives Abby DeSanto and Jennifer O’Donnell had been referred to as to the scene.

Det. Jennifer O’Donnell: You get a name in the course of the night time, so it is not good.

Contained in the condominium there was alcohol and 6 bottles of prescription medicines, together with antidepressants and amphetamines, all prescribed to Alex. But when that recommended possibly Alex had been depressed and took her personal life, there have been different issues that did not appear so as to add up in Ecker’s account. The primary was the place of Alex’s physique, say the investigators.

CBS News animation still based on crime scene evidence

A CBS Information animation nonetheless primarily based on crime scene proof reveals the place Alex Pennig’s physique was present in her rest room when investigators arrived.

CBS Information


Det. Jennifer O’Donnell: The door to the lavatory was ajar and also you instantly see Alex’s ft on both aspect of the door.

If Ecker had damaged down the lavatory door after listening to the gunshot — as he advised officers he had —

CBS News animation/ graphic representation of detective's theory

A CBS Information animation nonetheless reveals a graphic illustration of detectives’ idea.

CBS Information


Det. Jennifer O’Donnell: We expect that if that had been the case … her legs, would’ve been swept behind the door.

And regardless that Ecker had stated he washed his arms earlier than calling 911 —

Det. Abby DeSanto: When responding officers arrived the sink was dry. … and if, he had stated, , he referred to as the police straight away that sink in all probability would’ve been nonetheless moist …

The detectives determined to take a deeper have a look at Ecker’s story. He had advised police his solely mission that day was to guard Alex from Shane Anderson, the boyfriend he claimed was violent. And in reality, there have been these holes within the closet door — holes Ecker stated Shane was answerable for.

Det. Abby DeSanto: — throughout from the lavatory, kinda like punch marks.

The detectives had been now keen to talk with Anderson.

A PUNCH CAUGHT ON TAPE

Hours after Alex Pennig was discovered lifeless, police had been at her boyfriend Shane Anderson’s entrance door.

OFFICER (police bodycam): Hey, it is Saint Paul Police.

OFFICER: Did you hear what occurred?

Shane Anderson: It is essentially the most devastating knock on my door I’ve ever had in my life. … two cops … they requested me who Alex was and I stated, “that is my girlfriend.”

SHANE ANDERSON (police bodycam): Is she OK?

OFFICER: She’s handed away. 

SHANE ANDERSON: No!

SHANE ANDERSON (drops to the ground): … Al — Al — Alex Pennig? You are kidding me (crying).

Shane Anderson: And, I do not know, blacked out after that just about.

SHANE ANDERSON (police bodycam): Oh my God (crying).

Shane Anderson and Alex Pennig

Shane Anderson and Alex Pennig

Shane Anderson


Anderson says he was determined for solutions, and willingly went to the police station to talk with detectives DeSanto and Dan Zebro.

SHANE ANDERSON (police interview): … I need to know what occurred to her.

DET. DAN ZEBRO: OK, that is what I am making an attempt to determine. OK, so …

Anderson advised the detectives he had been relationship Alex for round 4 months and painted a rosy image.

Shane Anderson: She was candy. Like she was enjoyable … all the pieces that you simply’d need in a lady.

In line with Anderson, they spent almost each day collectively and cherished to lounge round along with her two cats.

Shane Anderson: I am not a cat individual. I am extra of a canine individual to be trustworthy, however, uh, she form of made me a cat individual.

He advised the detectives that though it was early of their relationship, they had been planning a future collectively.

SHANE ANDERSON (police interview): Actually yesterday we had been speaking about, like, me breaking my lease and transferring into her place.

Shane Anderson We each needed households …

Natalie Morales: So that you imagined your self along with her?

Shane Anderson: 100%.

Anderson’s description was in stark distinction to what Ecker had advised police. Ecker stated Alex advised him she was combating with Anderson and fearful of him. However when the detectives requested, Anderson denied it.

DET. DAN ZEBRO (police interview): So, did the argument that you simply guys had in that morning did it get bodily in any respect?

SHANE ANDERSON: No, no, in no way. God, no.

SHANE ANDERSON: It was about, uh, principally why I have not moved in but and like why that was taking so lengthy.

However what about these punch marks in Alex’s condominium?

SHANE ANDERSON (police interview): That was from just a few weeks again, that was me, sure. … I used to be drunk. I did not f****** put my arms on her although.

Shane Anderson: We argued like a married couple. Like, it wasn’t — something like loopy or like, violent or like bizarre.

However keep in mind, Ecker advised detectives Anderson was arguing with Alex simply hours earlier than her loss of life at Camp Bar and Anderson even punched Ecker.

MATTHEW ECKER (police bodycam):  … and I got here throughout and I stood in between them after which he punched me.

Anderson did not deny hitting Ecker. He says seeing Alex with one other man upset him.

SHANE ANDERSON (police interview): Alex confirmed up with like a man. … He would not look acquainted. I don’t know who the f*** this man is …

Shane Anderson: I used to be questioning why this man is hanging out with my girlfriend. And I made a decision to throw a punch, which I — just isn’t in my character, but it surely simply felt just like the factor to do on the time.

Detectives DeSanto and O’Donnell reviewed safety footage from inside Camp Bar.

Det. Abby DeSanto: So, Camp Bar is the final bar Alex and Matthew went to.

Det. Jennifer O’Donnell: So, as Alex and Matt walked in, Shane was sitting proper throughout from the bar.

They took “48 Hours” by the altercation. And we zoomed in for a more in-depth look.

Det. Abby DeSanto: Matt was sitting right here (on one aspect of the bar, close to the doorway) after they walked in. After which actually oddly, Alex walked across the bar and sat throughout the bar over there (on the alternative aspect).

Camp Bar security video

From left, safety video reveals Shane Anderson, Matthew Ecker and Alex Pennig seen speaking at Camp Bar on Dec. 16, 2022, simply earlier than an altercation between the 2 males.

Ramsey County District Court docket


Det. Jennifer O’Donnell: Shane walked over to her first, after which she is speaking to Shane after which Matt comes over, and it seems that he’s introducing himself trigger he, , holds out his hand to, um, shake arms with Shane after which there’s a confrontation and Shane ended up assaulting Matt.

Natalie Morales: Shane then is requested to go away.

Det. Abby DeSanto: Sure.

Shane Anderson: I had no concept that that was going to be the final time that I ever noticed her.

After Anderson left, the footage confirmed Alex hanging on the bar with Ecker for about one other hour consuming and chatting. Detectives had been no nearer to understanding why, just a bit whereas later, she would — as Ecker advised them — take her personal life. And the medical expert dominated that Alex’s method of loss of life couldn’t be decided. So detectives dug into her previous in search of something that would clarify what occurred.

Alex Pennig

Alex Pennig

Mary Jo Pennig


Sara Hanson: Effectively, she’s been each hair coloration. (laughs)

Gillian Kubitschek: Brunette, after which blonde, after which black hair.

Sara Hanson: Slightly crimson in there.

Gillian Kubitschek: Put slightly crimson in there, and it was like she would simply be each coloration.

Gillian Kubitschek and Sara Hanson have recognized Alex since grade faculty.

Natalie Morales: Inform me about Alex, as you knew her again then.

Gillian Kubitschek: Spunky slightly baby filled with vitality. At all times as much as one thing.

Kubitschek performed ice hockey with Alex, and collectively they received a state championship.

Natalie Morales: What was she like?

Gillian Kubitschek: Hearth on ice. Fortunately, I used to be all the time on her group, so I by no means needed to play in opposition to her, however she was feisty.

Sara Hanson: She was so enjoyable. … I do not actually keep in mind something apart from happiness actually in, particularly within the youthful years

However detectives realized that as a younger grownup Alex struggled. Her dad and mom Mary Jo and Jim Pennig stated that in faculty, Alex would get depressed, and she or he bought hooked on prescription drugs.

Jim Pennig: It was very tough.

Jim Pennig recollects sooner or later in 2016.

Jim Pennig: She went as much as her room and took a handful of meds after which had advised her mother that she was trying suicide by meds. After which promptly threw it up —

Mary Jo Pennig: She threw it up —

Jim Pennig: —  caught her finger in her throat and threw it up.

Mary Jo Pennig: I felt prefer it was a cry for assist

They usually bought Alex that assist. Impressed by the nurses who helped her recuperate, in 2019 she bought her licensed sensible nursing diploma and was chosen to talk at commencement.

ALEX PENNIG (commencement speech): I’ve climbed out of the darkness with everlasting scars, however a coronary heart of gold, and the promise that as a nurse, I might attempt my finest for individuals like me to not be alone and assist them like these nurses that helped me.

Mary Jo Pennig: Alex did make that option to get nicely, and she or he did.

Natalie Morales: Her life was again on monitor.

Mary Jo Pennig: Her life was on monitor.

Matthew Ecker and Alex Pennig

Matthew Ecker and Alex Pennig had been each within the medical area and had met two years earlier after they labored on the similar clinic.

Terri Randall/Mary Jo Pennig


Detectives additionally realized all about Alex’s historical past with Matthew Ecker. She met him in 2020 when she bought a job at a walk-in clinic. Her dad and mom say their daughter described Ecker as somebody she labored with. However in keeping with Matthew’s dad and mom Blaine Ecker and Terri Randall, there was much more than simply friendship. Alex and Matthew Ecker, they are saying, had been having an affair again then regardless that Ecker was married with 4 youngsters.

Terri Randall: She knew he was married. She knew he had 4 kids.

Randall says the romance did not final. In the summertime of 2022 —

Terri Randall: That they had ended the bodily a part of their relationship and had been simply buddies.

Nonetheless, she says her son was a supply of help for Alex. She says Matthew advised her Alex was consuming closely and because of this misplaced a number of jobs.

Terri Randall: .. she would not present up. She’d go on a binge.

And not using a job, Matthew Ecker’s household says Alex struggled to pay her payments. So unbeknownst to her dad and mom, Ecker stepped in. He gave Alex cash and helped her pay her lease. Ecker’s sisters Molly Hovland and Amie Keller aren’t shocked their brother needed to assist.

Amie Keller: He cared for her and … he has a giant coronary heart, and he did not need to simply stroll away. … He could not stroll away.

And simply three days earlier than Alex died, Alex despatched Ecker these textual content messages:

“I shut myself out to the world” “I wanted a psychological well being break” and “I’m not very hopeful in the meanwhile about life.”

Even with these texts although, and Alex’s previous try years earlier, detectives nonetheless weren’t satisfied she took her personal life.

Det. Jennifer O’Donnell: Simply since you say, I want a psychological well being day, or it is not an excellent day, does not imply you are suicidal.

Detectives suspected Ecker was mendacity to them. And this is why. Bear in mind, the gun was discovered on Alex’s chest along with her left hand on it.

It seems Alex was right-handed.

MATTHEW ECKER CHANGES HIS STORY

When detectives DeSanto and O’Donnell reviewed safety footage from Alex’s condominium constructing, they had been capable of see what occurred after Ecker and Alex left Camp Bar.

Alex Pennig, Matthew Ecker security camera video

Surveillance video from 2:05 a.m. on Dec. 16, 2022, reveals Alex Pennig and Matthew Ecker as they arrive at her condominium constructing after strolling there from Camp Bar. 

Ramsey County District Court docket


Det. Abby DeSanto: In order that’s Alex and Matt. They usually’re simply within the vestibule of Alex’s condominium strolling in.

Natalie Morales: About two o’clock within the morning or so.

Det. Jennifer O’Donnell: Sure.

Natalie Morales: Time-frame.

Det. Jennifer O’Donnell: Mm-hmm.

Within the video, Ecker and Alex will be seen strolling out of view as they go as much as her condominium. However a short time later, they stroll again by the foyer and out the door. Ecker would say it was to get his headphones from his automotive. Alex returns to the foyer and waits. For the detectives, what occurs subsequent is essential.

Det. Jennifer O’Donnell: She appears impatient simply her physique language.

They word how, when Ecker returns, Alex would not maintain the door for him, and the way he shrugs his shoulders as he follows behind her. The detectives marvel if Ecker and Alex had gotten right into a struggle.

Det. Abby DeSanto: One thing was occurring with them. … that is large, ‘trigger that is the final time we see Alex alive

Twenty minutes later, at 2:50 a.m., Ecker positioned that decision to 911:

MATTHEW ECKER (to 911) : A woman who shot herself within the head …

911 OPERATOR: Is she nonetheless aliv — is she alive? Is she —

MATTHEW ECKER: No!

911 OPERATOR: — is she respiration?

MATTHEW ECKER: No! No! No!

The foyer safety footage had no audio, so there was no strategy to know for positive if the 2 had gotten right into a struggle. However when Alex’s household and buddies noticed it —

Alex Pennig surveillance video still

Surveillance video from the foyer of Alex Pennig’s condominium constructing captured the final pictures of Pennig earlier than her loss of life.

Ramsey County District Court docket


Gillian Kubitschek: You might inform that she was mad. … You might inform the way in which she ripped, open that door. You might inform Alex stomp —

Sara Hanson: Yeah.

Gillian Kubitschek: — stomping in.

Mary Jo Pennig: Every time she was mad, she’d, like, stomp. And she or he — I — it was seen on this video. … so that they had been positively in a struggle.

However when detectives questioned Ecker, he denied any issues.

MATTHEW ECKER (police interview): We had been laughing on the way in which house. The whole lot was effective.

DET. ABBY DESANTO: You guys weren’t arguing or something?

MATTHEW ECKER: No.

DET. ABBY DESANTO: There isn’t any struggle with you two?

MATTHEW ECKER: Not between us.

And Matthew Ecker’s household believes there might be a unique motive for the change in Alex’s demeanor. Within the footage, Alex is on her telephone. They marvel if she was messaging Anderson and arguing with him in regards to the altercation that had simply occurred at Camp Bar.

Blaine Ecker: I actually consider there’s quite a lot of data, quite a lot of texting. … and we predict having gotten these interactions … would’ve given us much more perception into her frame of mind.

However the detectives could not get into Alex’s telephone as a result of nobody knew the passcode. And Anderson stated he had misplaced his telephone the night time earlier than, so that they could not search his, both.

Natalie Morales: It appeared … there was some form of change taking place. Was she speaking to you in any respect?

Shane Anderson: I did not have a telephone, so.

Natalie Morales: Fb message or something like that?

Shane Anderson: Uh, no.

Unable to know for positive what was actually taking place within the foyer, when DeSanto and her colleague Dan Zebro interviewed Ecker, they targeted on what he stated occurred within the condominium.

DET. ABBY DESANTO (police interview): How was she holding the gun when she’s backing as much as the lavatory?

MATTHEW ECKER: She was, she had it down right here first after which she cocked it, her left hand cocked it, however she ended up holding it to her left temple is what I keep in mind.

ABBY DESANTO: OK.

DAN ZEBRO: Is she, she left-handed?

MATTHEW ECKER: She’s not, that is what was bizarre.

Det. Jennifer O’Donnell: He stated she did all this along with her left hand, however then he advised us she was right-handed. … you do not use a weapon along with your non-dominant hand. … it is simply one other inconsistency or one other a part of the puzzle that does not match.

There was additionally the nagging query in regards to the sink being dry. Matthew had advised first responders he washed his arms after making an attempt to assist Alex, which is why his arms had been clear. However the sink was dry when police arrived. DeSanto requested if he did in reality name police straight away.

DET. ABBY DESANTO (police interview): OK. And then you definately referred to as the police straight away?

MATTHEW ECKER: I bought up and referred to as the police. Yeah.

DET. ABBY DESANTO: So , if you get blood throughout your arms and then you definately go to the sink and also you —

MATTHEW ECKER: Yeah.

DET. ABBY DESANTO: — or the deal with to the sink, proper?

MATTHEW ECKER:  Mm-hmm.

DET. ABBY DESANTO: There ought to be blood on that.

MATTHEW ECKER: There ought to be yeah.

DET. ABBY DESANTO: And there is not any —

MATTHEW ECKER: There isn’t any blood on the deal with of the sink?

DET. ABBY DESANTO: And there is not any, nothing within the sink.

MATTHEW ECKER: I do not know. I simply —

DET. ABBY DESANTO: And the sink is, the sink —

MATTHEW ECKER: I rinsed my hand.

DET. ABBY DESANTO: The sink’s dry. There isn’t any water or something.

MATTHEW ECKER: No, I washed my arms within the sink. I did.

penning-ecker-interro.jpg

Detectives Abby DeSanto and Dan Zebro query Matthew Ecker.

Ramsey County District Court docket


However DeSanto thought Matthew was mendacity. Both he hadn’t helped Alex and did not wash his arms, or he had not referred to as 911 straight away.

DET. ABBY DESANTO (police interview): Proper now all this proof doesn’t add up.

MATTHEW ECKER: I can not —

DET. ABBY DESANTO: I simply need you to only suppose. I simply need you to consider this and what, what you are —

MATTHEW ECKER: You are asking me to admit to one thing I did not do.

DET. ABBY DESANTO: No I am not. I am asking you simply to consider it.

MATTHEW ECKER: I imply —

DET. ABBY DESANTO: We’re simply gonna provide you with a while right here simply to suppose, we gotta seize that stuff anyway. … Take into consideration all the pieces that we mentioned with you …  (The detectives stroll out of the room and depart Ecker alone.)

However quickly Ecker referred to as them again in. It was greater than two hours into his interview, and he needed to alter his story.

MATTHEW ECKER (police interview): So, the change that I’ve … I did take the gun and I put it in my suitcase. … I put it within the suitcase, went again, regarded to her, and stated, “yep,” went again to the suitcase, grabbed the gun, after which put it again there.

Det. Jennifer O’Donnell: Why would you progress that gun?

Natalie Morales: Did he clarify why he moved the gun?

Det. Abby DeSanto: He was scared. 

Police diagram showing Pennig bathroom scene

Police diagram displaying the lavatory scene in Alex Pennig’s condominium.

Ramsey County District Court docket


When Ecker put the gun again, he stated he put it on Alex – the way in which first responders discovered it, along with her hand on high.

DET. ABBY DESANTO (police interview): Then, why would you lay her hand again down on the gun?

MATTHEW ECKER: I used to be transferring stuff, I used to be transferring her, I used to be her, that is all I do know …

Det. Abby DeSanto: At that time we’re, like, oh, what harmless individual would do that?

But, Ecker continued to insist he was harmless.

MATTHEW ECKER (police interview): That gun went off behind a closed door. … I didn’t shoot her. … I did not kill her.

Natalie Morales: And he stored saying, the door to the lavatory was shut. … I do not know what occurred — however you did not purchase it.

Det. Abby DeSanto: Mm-hmm, no.

Natalie Morales: And neither did Detective Zebro.

Det. Abby DeSanto: No.

However the detectives did not understand how they may show it. After which, they found a brand new piece of proof.

Natalie Morales: It is a large piece of the puzzle for you.

Det. Abby DeSanto: Sure.

A TINY PIECE OF METAL CONTRADICTS MATTHEW ECKER’S STORY

For hours, Ecker insisted he didn’t kill Alex, that she locked herself within the rest room and fired the shot. He stated he had damaged open the door solely after the gun went off.

MATTHEW ECKER (police interview): I did not damage her.

MATTHEW ECKER (police interview): I — I heard the gun go off, and that is once I opened the door …

However then, O’Donnell bought a name from the forensic unit processing the scene.

Det. Jennifer O’Donnell: As soon as Alex was moved … they discovered beneath the place Alex had been laying was a spherical steel piece …

Natalie Morales (holds up proof picture): Which is that this piece proper right here.

Det. Jennifer O’Donnell: Sure. 

Pennig evidence

This small piece of steel from the lavatory door lock was found below Alex Pennig’s head on the lavatory ground.

Ramsey County District Court docket


O’Donnell says it is a piece of the lavatory door lock, and since it was found on the ground below Alex’s head, it needed to have gotten there whereas Alex was nonetheless alive.

Det. Jennifer O’Donnell: For us, it meant that the door was pressured open earlier than she was shot.

The detectives suspected Alex had locked the door to get away from Ecker.

Det. Abby DeSanto: I consider that Alex and Matthew bought in an argument … I consider that she went into the lavatory to be alone, not desirous to be with him.

However when he broke open the door, they are saying, that small piece of steel from the lock landed on the lavatory ground.

Det. Jennifer O’Donnell: … he pressured his method in and shot her.

Shot. They are saying, Alex fell on high of the steel piece. To the detectives it was the one method the piece might have ended up below her. Ecker was charged with second-degree homicide. His household was shocked.

Blaine Ecker: It is like, no, there’s bought to be a mistake.

Amie Keller: … it is simply not his character. … He isn’t gonna hurt any person on objective.

They employed felony protection legal professional Bruce Rivers.

Bruce Rivers: There’s affordable doubt in every single place that this was a murder.

Rivers says there’s one other clarification for the way that steel piece bought below Alex. He stated it might have ended up below her head when Matthew Ecker tried to assist her.

Bruce Rivers: … ‘Trigger he did raise her head up

However detectives level to the way in which Alex was discovered along with her legs straddling the door. If Matthew Ecker had damaged open the door after listening to the gunshot, detectives say Alex’s legs would have been pushed to the aspect. However Ecker’s protection legal professional says there was sufficient house within the rest room that when the door was damaged open.

Bruce Rivers: … it went in between her legs. That’s constant for my part, with, uh, her laying there and having … shot herself …

And importantly, claims Rivers, if his consumer had shot Alex there would have been blood splatter on him. And that is not the case.

Bruce Rivers: … there was not one speck of blood on his shirt, on his pants, on his face, wherever in anyway.

The detectives say that is as a result of Ecker more than likely had reached across the door whereas he was making an attempt to drive his method in and fired the shot.

Det. Jennifer O’Donnell: I consider the door shielded him, from the preliminary … blood splatter.

However Rivers says it makes way more sense that Alex took her personal life and he says forensic testing proves Ecker wasn’t the one who fired the gun — it was Alex.

Bruce Rivers: … there was, um, uh, gunshot residue on her left hand.

Natalie Morales: And was her DNA discovered on the gun?

Bruce Rivers: It was.

There was additionally no gunshot residue on Ecker, and his DNA was not discovered on the gun. Detectives suspect that is as a result of he wiped it clear earlier than placing it on Alex.

Det. Abby DeSanto: There ought to be his DNA, it is your gun. You advised us in an interview that you simply grabbed the gun …. your arms had been throughout that gun, but it surely was very clear.

Natalie Morales: He admitted … to having held the gun and transferring the gun after the actual fact. But … none of his DNA was discovered on the gun. How do you clarify that?

Bruce Rivers: That is not unusual. … simply since you touched one thing does not imply that DNA is gonna be there.

On the time of her loss of life, Alex had nearly 3 times the authorized restrict of alcohol and 4 totally different prescription medicines in her system together with Prozac and Valium. Though it wasn’t the reason for her loss of life, to Rivers, it confirmed she was struggling. As did these texts she had despatched Ecker just some days earlier than her loss of life:

“I shut myself out to the world.” “I wanted a psychological well being break” and “I’m not very hopeful in the meanwhile about life.”

Bruce Rivers: She was depressed due to her monetary situations, depressed due to her job state of affairs … all these items compounded themselves.

However detectives would uncover one thing uncommon about these prescription medicines present in Alex’s physique – it seems, Matthew Ecker had prescribed them.

Det. Abby DeSanto: He did not inform us that he was prescribing her treatment …

Natalie Morales: Through the investigation, you discovered that out?

Det. Abby DeSanto: Sure. Sure.

As a licensed nurse practitioner, Ecker had the authority to write down prescriptions. Although usually that authority is used for a affected person. Alex was not.

Det. Jennifer O’Donnell:: … you’ll suppose you’ll ship her to a health care provider and have her see another person.

Natalie Morales: Was his prescribing treatment thought of unlawful although?

Det. Jennifer O’Donnell:: No …  it is unethical, but it surely was not unlawful.

In line with Ecker’s household, Matthew had good motive. 

Terri Randall: She was prescribed these medicines initially by a medical physician. … So she had requested Matt if he might refill them. … she would badger him …

They usually level to a number of texts Alex despatched him days earlier than her loss of life asking him to refill medicines together with:

“… I want you to ship in my fast actual ease Adderall script. …”

“Ensure I Have refills for my trazadone and metoprolol too please”

“I’ve like 3 bottles of Prozac. So I am GOOD with that”

Nonetheless, Alex’s household and buddies say there isn’t a excuse.

Jim Pennig: I can not recover from that. As a nurse practitioner, he ought to have recognized higher.

Natalie Morales: So his feeling sorry on your daughter or feeling like he was doing this in one of the best ways to attempt to assist her, you do not consider –

Jim Pennig: I do not.

Natalie Morales: — that is the case.

Mary Jo Pennig: I do not in any respect.

Jim Pennig: I do not consider it in any respect.

Gillian Kubitschek: Particularly for somebody that has a historical past of … dependancy. You do not prescribe it. …  as a nurse practitioner –

Sara Hanson: Proper.

Gillian Kubitschek:  — you say “no.”

In February 2024 Ecker’s trial started. The detectives had been assured that they had an concept of why Ecker would have needed Alex lifeless and it centered round their previous romance.

Det. Abby DeSanto: … possibly she stated that she was gonna name his spouse and inform his spouse all the pieces.

Natalie Morales: And so far as a motive, what, what — could be the motive?

Det. Jennifer O’Donnell: Preserve her quiet. So, the spouse would not discover out.

Bruce Rivers: It positive could be good if there was some proof of that. I imply, it was simply sheer hypothesis. … there’s nothing. Not one scintilla of proof that they had been in any form of dispute in anyway.

As a substitute, Rivers says he is positive that night time all the pieces got here to a head for Alex, and she or he could not take it anymore.

Natalie Morales: So when it boils all the way down to it, it is a case about what the jury’s gonna consider.

Bruce Rivers: Whether or not it is suicide or murder.

And since the medical expert had dominated Alex’s method of loss of life “couldn’t be decided,” Rivers introduced in a second one, who got here to the identical conclusion: “undetermined.”

Bruce Rivers: If they cannot decide it was a murder, neither are you able to.

However what would the jury suppose? When it was time for deliberations everybody was nervous.

Terri Randall: It was apparent to me Matt was involved.

Jim Pennig: Selfishly, as a father or mother of Alex, we needed to consider that he was responsible, however believing it and proving it are two various things. 

REMEMBERING ALEX PENNIG

In February 2024, after 9 hours of deliberation, the jury got here to a call about Matthew Ecker: responsible of second-degree homicide.

Jim Pennig: Matthew was responsible.

Jim Pennig: As soon as we heard that we had been, we had been very, we had been very blissful.

Mary Jo Pennig: An enormous —

Jim Pennig: We had been unhappy as a result of —

Mary Jo Pennig: — it was a aid.

Jim Pennig: — it did not convey Alex again, however not less than there was some justice served.

However for Matthew Ecker’s household …

Terri Randall: … it was like a knife within the coronary heart. I — I could not even operate.

Natalie Morales: What did you see in your brother in that second when the jury learn the decision?

Amie Keller: Simply absolute tragedy.

Molly Hovland: It was terrible.

Amie Keller: Yep.

Matthew Ecker sentencing

On April 3, 2024, Ecker was sentenced to 30 years in jail. He’s interesting his conviction.

CBS Information


Two months later, on April 3, 2024, Ecker was again in courtroom for sentencing.

Alex’s buddy Gillian addresses the courtroom.

GILLIAN KUBITSCHEK (in courtroom): Numerous instances I picked up the telephone to name Al solely to appreciate I will not ever hear her voice once more.

Sara Hanson echoes their loss.

SARA HANSON (in courtroom): Alex actually was a once-in-a-lifetime form of buddy …

Gillian Kubitschek: And I keep in mind, Sara, you had been giving your assertion. And sadly, that meant I used to be on the stage of the place Matt was. He was sitting and I used to be standing, and I simply stored wanting over at him, simply making an attempt to really feel one thing, , making an attempt to determine what you are feeling and there was simply nothing, nothing.

Alex’s dad and mom Mary Jo and Jim Pennig implored the choose to impose a stiff sentence.

JIM PENNIG (in courtroom): Our hearts have been damaged past restore and the longer term trajectory of our lives has been modified without end. … and the world misplaced a particular soul and we misplaced our child.

Ecker’s household appealed for leniency.

TERRI RANDALL (in courtroom): Matt is among the kindest and most compassionate individuals we all know. He has spent most of his grownup life serving to individuals and caring for individuals. … I actually consider that Matt has a lot extra to supply to this world.

In the long run, Decide Deanne Hilgers sentenced Matthew Ecker to 30 years for killing Alex Pennig.

Amie Keller: I imply, him sitting in jail for … 30 years, it is simply — that is simply not acceptable.

Molly Hovland: He isn’t a assassin. … he did not do that.

Terri Randall: We are going to struggle till it is made proper. And we is not going to surrender on him.

Ecker and his spouse at the moment are divorced, and she or he has full custody of their 4 kids. His household says they haven’t been allowed any contact with the youngsters.

Natalie Morales: It needs to be very arduous as grandparents —

Blaine Ecker: It is horrible.

Natalie Morales: — not having that connection.

Terri Randall: Yeah.

Blaine Ecker: Completely horrible.

Terri Randall: I miss them a lot.

Natalie Morales: Is there one thing you’ll need them to find out about their dad?

Molly Hovland: That he loves them and cares for them and misses them and we love them.

As for Alex’s household, there are questions they’d nonetheless like Ecker to reply.

Mary Jo Pennig: Why’d you do it? Why?

Questions with solutions which will by no means come. What they do know is how they select to honor Alex. A method is thru her love for animals, together with a serendipitous encounter.

Jim Pennig: Someone had dumped off a — slightly child rooster. And by some means, it simply migrated to our home. … so we constructed a rooster coop. And we now have 12 chickens at — at house. 

Alex Penning chicken coop

Mary Jo Penning outdoors  “Alex’s Coop.”

CBS Information


Mary Jo Pennig: And it is correctly named “Alex’s Coop.”

Jim Pennig: Sure.

Natalie Morales: I’ve a sense Alex possibly had a hand in bringing you that rooster.

Jim Pennig: I believe — I believe you are proper

Mary Jo Pennig: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

And each month the Pennig’s get along with Hanson and Kubitschek.

Gillian Kubitschek: And we simply sit there and speak and cry and inform tales that, oh, Al wouldn’t need us to be telling Mary Jo. However we inform them as a result of we’re like, we have now to relive a few of these tales.

Alex’s boyfriend Shane Anderson additionally struggles.

Shane Anderson: … it is heartbreaking ‘trigger I — I like that woman and she or he deserves to be right here. She completely deserves to be right here.

The cemetery the place Alex is buried is a brief drive from the place her dad and mom dwell they usually go to her as typically as they’ll.

Mary Jo Pennig: Hey Al.

Jim Pennig: I miss you child … yeah.

Mary Jo Pennig: That is powerful, love you honey.

Jim Pennig: Lastly at peace. We miss you sweetheart.


Produced by Betsy Shuller and Hannah Vair. Elena DiFiore and Ryan Smith are the event producers. Richard Barber, Gary Winter, and Michelle Harris are the editors. Patti Aronofsky is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the manager story editor. Judy Tygard is the manager producer.

Extra from CBS Information

Natalie Morales

Natalie Morales is a CBS Information correspondent and “48 Hours” contributor primarily based in Los Angeles.

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