Marked for death, survivor of savage attack continues to ask "why?"

TOM MAI: There was quite a fear among the office - could someone else be a target?

JAN SCHUL: You're looking over your shoulder even at the office and when you're leaving the office and everywhere you go wondering who has done this to Marti. And if you know them.

TOM MAI: The Prairie Village detectives came to the office. ... Obviously they were just trying to get a sense of Marti's routine. ... Just looking for any ideas that perhaps would give them a direction to which to turn.

DET. LUKE ROTH: Marti's mother ... told us that there was a company by the name of B and J construction who had recently done work at her house who she had actually referred to Marti. She told me that the supervisor of that construction company was named Brian, and that he seemed to be a nice guy.

SHIRLEY ROTH | MARTI'S MOTHER: I thought Brian was a hard worker and a family man. ... And he did good work. Actually that is why Marti decided to go ahead and use him because he did some stuccoing inside my house and he did a really good job.

DET. JASON WAKEFIELD: When I initially called Brian, I didn't even know his last name. He called me back and told me that his last name was Pennington.

DET. LUKE ROTH: He was 26 years old, lived in Leeton, Missouri, approximately an hour-and-a-half from the Kansas City metro area. We decided that we wanted to just ask him some basic questions.

Sept. 10, 2010 | Two nights after the attack

DET. JASON WAKEFIELD: We arrived at Brian's house ... a little after 9 o'clock p.m. When we initially pulled up, it was a very dark house. It's kind of secluded.

When we knocked on the door, we were invited in the house. My partner and I followed Brian into the kitchen. He was very polite, cooperative.

Detective: How long did you work at Marti's house?

Brian Pennington: I'd say three or four days.

Detective: What you think when you heard that Marti got attacked?

Brian Pennington: I really didn't know what to think. She's a really, really decent lady.

Detective: Have you heard what happened to her at all?

Brian Pennington: No. ... My mother-in-law was looking on the news channel earlier. And it showed pictures of her house and stuff ... I really didn't know what to think.

DET. JASON WAKEFIELD: During this conversation, I noticed that Brian had several scratches on the left side of his face.

Detective: Where are the scratches from on your face?

Brian Pennington: That big dog sittin' outside.

Detective: What kind of dog you have?

Brian Pennington: Pit bull.

Detective: When did those happen?

Brian Pennington: Yesterday. ... She just jumps all over me. And when I bent down yesterday to unhook the chain, she jumped up and caught me in the side of the face.

Video

Pennington, wife, questioned by detectives »

DET. JASON WAKEFIELD: When I looked at the scratches, they didn't appear to be consistent with what a dog would do. ... I felt like he was hiding something from me.

I asked him if he had attacked Marti. ... He told me that he had not.

He kept stressing to us that he was having financial difficulties and there was no way he could drive to Kansas City to commit this crime due to the fact that he didn't have enough money for gas.

I talked to Brian's wife Jessica, in the living room of the house. ... I asked her if Brian had been home on the morning of the attack:

Jessica Pennington: He finished that job last month. ... And he's been here with me for two weeks.

Detective: OK, at night

Jessica Pennington: Night and day.

Detective: Night and day, both?

Jessica Pennington: Yeah, he ain't goin nowhere in the night. I can't sleep at night if he's not here.

DET. JASON WAKEFIELD: She said there was no way that he could have done this attack because he had been with her the entire time. I also asked Jessica about the scratches on Brian's face:

Detective: Do you know how he got those?

Jessica Pennington: They're from the dog, I swear.

DET. JASON WAKEFIELD: I did not believe Jessica. ... She seemed like she was very na»ve. She was very young. I think she was 20 years old at the time of this. She had two young children. And I thought she would say anything possible to help protect her husband and to have him around:

Detective: We have no doubt that we're gonna find the person that's responsible for this.

Jessica Pennington: Brian doesn't have the heart for that.

Detective: I hope so.

Jessica Pennington: He doesn't.

Detective: Believe me, I hope you're right.

Jessica Pennington: He doesn't.

Jessica Pennington: I'm just scared ... I've never been in this kind of situation.

Detective: Yeah, if you're telling me the truth, you don't have a thing in the world to worry about.

Jessica Pennington: Besides my kids. I know he did work on that house. ... That's what I'm scared about.

DET. JASON WAKEFIELD: And then, I asked Brian if he happened to have any clothes that had blood on them in his house. He immediately told me he did not. I asked him if I could look through his clothing, his dirty clothing. And he told me that I could.

I saw a hamper in the corner of the bathroom. ... When I started pulling clothes out, I found a pair of jeans near the bottom of the hamper. When I pulled the jeans out, I immediately saw that they were covered in a red stain. Most of the stain was towards the knees and down towards the bottom portion of the pant leg.

Detective: You know what this stuff is on the bottom?

Brian Pennington: Grease, Grease. Something, I don't know.

Detective: Not blood thought, right?

Brian Pennington: No.

Detective: OK.

DET. LUKE ROTH: When I saw the red stains, it was definitely a moment of we might have something.

DET. JASON WAKEFIELD: I tried to remain calm and friendly with Brian and asked him if he would give me consent to take the jeans from his house.

Brian signed a written consent form that I could take jeans, shoes, DNA swabs, and also pictures of the scratches on his face.

DET. LUKE ROTH: I guess the best word, we were surprised that we were getting this sort of cooperation with the recovery of these items.

DET. JASON WAKEFIELD: I think Brian Pennington thought ... we would ... not follow up, we would not do any other investigation, that we would just believe what he said and believe what his wife was telling us.

My partner and I drove directly to the crime lab. I think we got there around 11:00 at night.

DET. LUKE ROTH: Actually within 30 minutes of being at the crime lab ... we were told that the stains on the jeans tested positive for human blood.

DET. JASON WAKEFIELD: We did not know who the blood belonged to, it could have been anybody's blood at that point. And we would have to wait a couple more days to determine who the blood belonged to.

We did not tell anybody about this. ... We were told that Marti ... would be able to talk to us eventually. ... We did not want to interfere with the investigation and have them give Marti ideas. We wanted anything that Marti would say to come directly from Marti and nothing we gave her thoughts or suspicions about.

So, we were kinda in a holding pattern waiting to get Marti's side of the story.

DET. LUKE ROTH: And in fact, on that Saturday morning, the morning after leaving Mr. Pennington's house, we were contacted ... that Marti was talking at the hospital.

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[Kdawg3511]

I don't understand "the system." Why do people like Pennington go to prison with even the option to get out or live? Yes, it's 28 1/2 years, but he is still eventually being set free. He ruined many people's lives forever. I will never understand criminal justice (an oxymoron).

[thinkpeople_think]

Get It Together People!!!!

To The Family,

All My Best Wishes & Prayers.

[thinkpeople_think]

**And Victim,

[Jonseen]

I wonder why they expect Brian to tell them WHY? I'm a little curious about that. I suspect if they knew his real reasons it would be too chilling to live with. Such as, "I just wanted to kill a person with my bare hands so I'd know what it feels like." Or, "I just wanted to find out what it feels like to slit someone's throat and watch them bleed."

Reasons such as THAT are going to make this family feel better about what happened? I don't think so. And yet, THAT seems to be the motive of this vile creep.Was he playing with murder, just for the heck of it? I can't see any other reason or motive, IMO.

I think they're better off not knowing.

[travelers345]

What an unusual thing to have happen!

[jakkman]

For all we know, satan could have told him to do this. There is no apparent motive just pure hate and meanness behind his actions. Whenever crimes like this occur, I think that the criminal wants to go to jail so he can be around his own kind. Let the government support him and he doesnt have to work another day for a very long time.

[jakkman]

For all we know, satan could have told him to do this. There is no apparent motive just pure hate and meanness behind his actions. Whenever crimes like this occur, I think that the criminal wants to go to jail so he can be around his own kind. Let the government support him and he doesnt have to work another day for a very long time.

[forever-family]

you all sit here and talk and say Brians a monster maybe you should relize his way of life before you go making comments you watch and read all the things marti is telling but do you not see the many times she changed and or added things to her story. i count multipal if you ask me marti is a lier and shes scared that she might be found out well she has iv watched and read every thing annd i see a big gap that no one else is seeing im sorry but brian would never have a heart to attack a woman such as marti. i mean look kick boxing saved her life some one please tell me where the bruises were on Brian that she so surly put on him from "kick boxing" i see a lie there look at the evidince people honestly none of this adds up if you open your eyes and payed attention you would relize this instead of going for marti and feeling so bad for what happend im sorry i dont feel bad because i dont believe Brian did what shes stating he did. so go ahead get mad at this comment report it if you want all im saying is i dont feel bad for her nore ever will because to me shes nothing but a lier. and she deserves to be in prison for the next 28 years for fauls information. thanks.

[BCM1023]

Okay Sister-Cousin. Unreal. Shame on you, maybe you "thought" you knew Brian, but it's pretty clear that HE IS responsible for this crime. It's decent of you to want to stand by your man, but to call the victim a liar?! to victimize someone who went through so much? You are no better than he.

As for your kick boxing comments, this piece of **** MAN outweighs her by more than 40 pounds, was behind her, grabbed her around her neck and was at least a full foot higher than her level bc of the stairs.... pretty much takes away any advantage kick boxing could have brought to her. But your backwoods ass prob didn't give that much thought... kind of like your spelling and grammar.

My aunt is a personal friend of Marti's. I remember the fear this crime brought to their community, the stress it caused and the outpouring of love that followed. People like you and yours disgust me. There's always an excuse. She's changed her story?!! HE BEAT HER HEAD AND FACE INTO HER CONCRETE BASEMENT FLOOR AFTER STRANGLING HER FROM BEHIND AND THEN HE SLIT HER THROAT AND LEFT HER FOR DEAD. What's never changed is her determination to get better and her words when first asked WHO did this to her. She still suffers greatly from this and it's possible she'll never fully recover. Her nightmare is no where near over. He's where he deserves to be and she's still with us, thanks to her angels from work. <3 U Marti

[ama204]

How many times did he have to bash your head in to make you illiterate? What does it matter his way of life? There is absolutley no excuse for what he did. None!!! You should be ashamed of yourself. Not just because of your spelling and your grammar but for trying to accuse this poor lady of being a lier and for protecting that MONSTER. Thats right I called him a monster and thats what he is. You both need help.

[ama204]

And since she is lying and you seem to know everything........why was her blood on his pants???

[shrinkrapt58]

Forever-family, you weren't listening were you!? The kick boxing was taken up as part of Marti's rehabilitation, after the attack, not before. Secondly, no amount of kickboxing training prepares a petite female for a cowardly, vicious & homicidal attack from behind, especially when the attacker was rendered even more powerful than normal by the extra leverage gained by being 1-2 steps above the victim. As Marti & her mum knew Pennington as a handyman who seemed harmless, Marti had no reason to suspect that he was there to murder her. Even if she had thought that he might want money or was casing her home, not in her wildest nightmares would she have been able to predict the attack. As a Psychiatrist, I can tell you that the only valid indicator of future violence is past violence & due to people hiding their criminal history & the various privacy barriers that vary from State to State, most people wouldn't do a Police Check on every handyman they employ. But you know what? From now on, I think I will......You cannot tell any other way & gut feeling isn't something I'd risk my family on! Now you better do the decent thing & apologise to Marti, her family & all of the people who read your disgraceful post.

[msmomo52]

I watched the show last night...who will ever know why he did it by the doer himself...but I also watch shows like Criminal Minds. One show was about a guy who they called a Dark Triad...three 3 crazy personalities in one...but basically this a person that has no soul, no heart, no conscious, no remorse for things they do to hurt people..just a cold heartless person. Someone somewhere in his family knew something was wrong with this dude a long time ago when he was a kid. Someone should have got him help then. My heart goes out to Marti and her family for being so brave, for living, and being able to cope...Let Brian do the worrying about why...Marti does not need to. I have been in abusive relationships. I am also lucky to be living today. I know it was not my fault, they were crazy, they need help, I did not do anything to cause the abuse.

[sanfran1]

Unbelievable. So glad the police were able to quickly put this monster behind bars. Marti's recovery is nothing short of miraculous...best wishes to her and her website.

[nohater]

criminals don't have to answer the why behind their criminality.

[bearfoot33]

brilliant!