A dead man speaks: Jury hears from ‘alternate suspect’ in Jennifer Hillier-Penney’s disappearance
Derick Hillier, who died in 2020, was interviewed by NL RCMP officers in December 2016. The jury heard his statement in Dean Penney’s trial May 6
Dean Penney sits in the prisoner box in the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador in Corner Brook on Wednesday, May 6, 2026. Mark Gruchy, one of his lawyers, told the court he anticipates the defence concluding its case by Friday, May 8, 2026. Diane Crocker/THE TELEGRAM
A dead man’s voice echoed through Courtroom 1 in the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador in Corner Brook on Wednesday, May 6, as an audio recording of a statement Derick Hillier gave to police was played.
Derick Hillier’s name has been brought up in Dean Penney’s first-degree murder trial as an “alternate suspect” in the disappearance and death of Jennifer Hillier-Penney on the night of Nov. 30, 2016.
Penney, her estranged husband, confessed to an undercover police officer in a Mr. Big operation that he killed her in two interviews held on Nov. 30, 2023, and Dec. 8, 2023.
It’s a confession his defence team, lawyers Mark Gruchy and Jeff Brace, claim is not true, suggesting that Penney was desperate for money and confessed because Penney believed there was a job for him as the captain of a fictitious crime boss’s boat.
From Day 1 of the trial, they have planted the seed that Derick Hillier, Hillier-Penney’s cousin, was responsible for her death, and not their client.
Derick Hillier is known to have suffered from a mental condition. A few months before Hillier-Penney disappeared, it’s alleged he called her, claiming to be Jesus Christ. He told her he was coming to get her and take her to a party. The other people who would be with him were all relatives who were dead.
Derick Hillier’s statement to police
Derick Hillier died in 2020, but a statement he gave not long after Hillier-Penney went missing was played in court.
In the recording, the jury heard him tell an RCMP officer that he was in St. John’s the night Hillier-Penney went missing.
His statement was given to Cpl. William Miller at the RCMP’s White Hills Headquarters in St. John’s on Dec. 19, 2016.
Miller appeared via Zoom briefly on Wednesday to confirm that he had taken the statement, which was being entered as evidence in the trial.
In the statement, Derick Hillier tells Miller the last time he saw Hillier-Penney was in August 2015, when they met at a gas station in River of Ponds. She had come from St. John’s, and he was headed there, he explained.
The last time he spoke with her was on the phone in mid-November 2016, he said. He’d called her while out walking to suggest they go for coffee. She was at the mall and said she’d call him back, but she didn’t.
He said he’d heard that she and Penney had split up, and she was living with her father in St. Lunaire-Griquet.
Derick Hillier said he left St. Anthony at 7 a.m. on Nov. 30, 2016, and drove the whole way to St. John’s, getting there at 7 p.m.
He said he heard Hillier-Penney had gone missing at 8:30 p.m.
Derick Hillier said he stopped in Rocky Harbour for gas, in Buchans for something to eat, and in Gander to meet up with his mother. He said they met around 3:30 p.m.
Derick Hillier tells Miller that he was just getting over a rough time and had spent eight months in hospital. He said he was bipolar and had been doing cocaine every day.
He had been out of the hospital for five months when he went to St. Anthony in November.
Asked if he’d heard any rumours about Hillier-Penney’s disappearance, he said he never heard much, just that her purse and cellphone were there, and she had a bath drawn.
“She just went and vanished like thin air,” said Derick Hillier.
Jennifer Hillier-Penney’s family is hoping for justice as her estranged husband stands trial for her murder in the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador in Corner Brook. Diane Crocker/THE TELEGRAM
Parents gave the same account
His parents, Norma Hillier and Graham Hillier, both gave statements to police on Feb. 15, 2017, two months after Derick Hillier gave his statement.
They were called as witnesses by the defence on Tuesday, May 5.
And while Gruchy pointed out inconsistencies in their statements and testimony, both said their testimony was the truth.
Norma Hillier said her son met her in Gander at around 3 p.m. on Nov. 30, 2016, as he was driving back to St. John’s.
She’d been living in Jackson’s Arm at the time. She said her son had intended to leave the day before, but she talked him out of it because she was going to Gander on Nov. 30, 2016, and suggested they meet up there.
She said they talked by phone throughout his drive from St. Anthony to Gander. When he got to Gander, they met at the Irving on the highway, picked up some Tim Hortons, and then ate in her vehicle. She said he was there less than an hour, as the weather was getting bad and he wanted to continue to St. John’s.
She said she spoke with him by phone later that evening after he got back to St. John’s.
In her statement, she refers to talking about Hillier-Penney’s disappearance with her son that day.
When the defence suggested their meeting had actually occurred on Dec. 1, 2016, Norma Hillier denied it and was adamant that it occurred on Nov. 30, 2016.
She says she made a mistake in her original statement to police and said repeatedly there was no way they could have talked about Hillier-Penney’s disappearance on Nov. 30, 2016, because at that point she wasn’t missing.
Graham Hillier said Derick Hillier had been home in St. Anthony for about three weeks in November 2016 and that he provided him with the Ford Escape SUV that he was driving on Nov. 30, 2016.
He said Derick Hillier left St. Anthony early that morning after stopping at his garage to retorque the tires on the SUV.
In his original statement, Graham Hillier says he didn’t remember the specific date.
In his testimony, he said he had no reason to have the date marked down, but knew that his son left St. Anthony in the morning and that Hillier-Penney went missing that night.
“I’m 100 per cent sure as I’m sitting here,” he said with conviction.
Graham Hillier also said in his statement that he couldn’t say 100 per cent that he saw his son drive out of town, but in his testimony, he said he was 100 per cent sure now.
He said the garage was right on the highway, and he watched as his son pulled out and headed out of town.
Defence has more witnesses to call
The defence did not call any other witnesses on Wednesday, and the jury was dismissed for the day at lunchtime. The lawyers were to discuss some legal issues in the afternoon.
Gruchy said they had more witnesses to call when the trial resumes on Thursday, May 7, including another RCMP officer.
He said they anticipate presenting the conclusion of their evidence on Thursday and Friday.
The defence has said that it will be calling Penney to testify.
SOURCE: saltwire
