NFL veteran Mike Pennel Jr. faces new scrutiny after ESPN investigation
A body buried for more than four years on a property once owned by an NFL veteran has reopened a case that authorities are now treating as a homicide, and a new ESPN investigation directly contradicts the denial issued by the player at the center of it.
Witnesses told police in 2021 that Mike Pennel Jr., a 12-year NFL veteran who has played for six different franchises and won two Super Bowls with the Kansas City Chiefs, had an ongoing relationship with a young woman whose body was found on a property he owned, according to ESPN’s investigation by T.J. Quinn and Juan Recio.
Witnesses told police in 2021 that NFL veteran Michael Pennel Jr. had an ongoing relationship with a young woman whose body was found on a property he owned when she went missing, via ESPN’s @TJQuinnESPN and @JuanRecioM.https://t.co/ZeoRmh5h0H
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) June 19, 2026
The woman, identified as Carli Franchesca Guzmán Roche, was 22 when her family reported her missing on Sep 11, 2021, after she had moved to the coastal town of Sosúa in the Puerto Plata province of the Dominican Republic.
Her remains were discovered in January 2026 when the new owner of Pennel’s former property, which he sold in 2025, performed excavation work and uncovered her remains.
What Pennel said and what the investigation found instead
After ESPN’s story published, Pennel contacted a reporter directly to deny any connection to Guzmán. “I don’t understand any of this. I don’t know who you’re talking to, who’s saying this. I don’t know this woman. I wasn’t in the country when Guzmán disappeared,” Pennel said, directing ESPN to his attorney in the Dominican Republic, Ariel Durán.
ESPN’s reporting, based on interviews with people close to Guzmán and a review of police records, found that Pennel and Guzmán “frequently spent time together” whenever he was in the country, where he owned a home in Puerto Plata until 2025.
Records also showed that multiple people urged investigators in 2021 to look into Pennel’s connection to Guzmán, though there is no indication in the investigation files that police ever interviewed him, despite officers visiting his property with several of Guzmán’s relatives days after she was reported missing, according to Sportskeeda
Dominican officials identified the remains in March using DNA from Guzmán’s now 8-year-old son. Pennel has been named a person of interest in the investigation, which authorities are pursuing as a homicide. No cause of death has been released publicly, and no charges have been filed against Pennel or anyone else as of this reporting.
Pennel, an undrafted free agent out of Colorado State in 2014, is currently a free agent entering the 2026 season. The investigation remains active.
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