Crown wants to hang on to possible 'real evidence' in Jennifer Hillier-Penney case

The investigation into the disappearance of Jennifer Hillier-Penney is headed to court, as the Crown seeks to continue holding onto items it calls "potentially real reliable evidence" in the case.

Family and friends of Hillier-Penney held a walk through St. Anthony, on Newfoundland's Northern Peninsula,on Dec. 1 to commemorate two yearssince the mother of two vanished without a trace from the home of her estranged husband, Dean Penney.

• Every day 'more difficult,' but Jennifer Hillier-Penney's family still looks for answers

• The Fifth Estate: Looking for Jennifer

No charges have ever been laid, but court applicationsdated Dec. 5, 2018, show that in the days following her 2016 disappearance, RCMP seized a number of items in its investigation

Those items camefrom three places: a cabin used by the former couple, a vehicle, and thefamily home which Hillier-Penney had moved out of in St. Anthony.

On Thursday in Supreme Court in Corner Brook, the Crown will go before a judge and askto continue to hold on to all of those items, which are identified only by alphanumeric tags.

Those items were initially seized for three months, but the Crown has already been granted severalextensions.

"The investigation in relation to the disappearance ofJennifer Hillier-Penney is ongoing on a continual and daily basis," state the documents.

Forensic testing

Some of the items seized have been sent to the RCMP'snational forensic laboratory in Ottawa. The item from the cabin sent to the laboratory has been deemed tohave possible "evidentiary value," according tothe court documents.

Other itemsfrom the cabinare still awaiting forensic testing.

Continuing to hang onto all the items "is required for the purpose of the ongoing investigation, and production at any future criminal proceedings," said RCMP Const. Christopher Pittman, in sworn affidavits.

• N.L. judge agrees to unusual ban in Jennifer Hillier-Penney case

The Fifth Estate aired a two-part investigation into Hillier-Penney's disappearance on CBC Television in October. Prior to its airing, the Supreme Court granted a publication ban prohibiting media from publishing ifthe RCMPhas identified anyone involved in Hillier-Penney's "disappearance, alleged kidnapping and murder."

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