Defensive tackle Mike Pennel, who played in eight games for the Cincinnati Bengals during the 2025 season, had an ongoing relationship with a woman whose body was found on a property he owned in the Dominican Republic when she went missing in 2021, according to a report by ESPN’s TJ Quinn and Juan Recio.
Quinn and Recio reported in April that Pennel was considered a person of interest in a case involving the woman’s death.
Quinn and Recio reported that witnesses told police in 2021 that Pennel had a relationship with Carli Franchesca Guzmán Roche, who was 22 years old when her body was found in January 2026.
“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, per the report from Quinn and Recio.
After the Bengals released Pennel last October, the Kansas City Chiefs signed him one day later.
Pennel had 15 tackles in the eight games in which he played for Cincinnati, which had signed Pennel to the active roster off the practice squad in September.
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This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Former Bengals DT knew woman whose body was found | Report
Reporting by Dave Clark, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
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By Dave Clark, Cincinnati Enquirer | USA TODAY Network
