April Dawn Pennington, Msg May 1996 [MURDER CHARGES FILED]

[packy]

Originally posted by Cog1
Snipped

http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=13292df9-621c-4098-abfa-ca30fe8aa1ed

"Montville Man Charged with Murder of Missing Girl

The Day, New London Ct.
Published on 4/1/2008

State police have charged a repeat sex offender with the murder of 15-year-old April Dawn Pennington, who disappeared from her Montville home in May 1996.

George Leniart, 42, of Montville, was arraigned today in New London Superior Court. He was charged with three counts of capital felony and one count of murder.

Judge Susan Handy set Leniart’s bond at $2 million based on his extensive criminal history. The arrest warrant detailing why Leniart was arrested was sealed for two weeks.
Leniart’s next court date is scheduled for April 15.

[packy]

http://www.ct.gov/dps/cwp/view.asp?Q=412484&A=11

Today 04/01/08 at 7:30 a.m. the Connecticut State Police Major Crime Detectives at Troop-E Montville took an accused into custody and charges him in the 1996 disappearance of April Dawn Pennington.

This case involved a 15 year old girl April Dawn Pennington `who was reported missing by her parents Hazel and Walter Pennington in May 1996. She was reported to be missing from her home located 43 Orchard Drive in Montville. That was the last time April Pennington was seen in the town of Montville. Since her disappearance there have been few leads of information as to the whereabouts of April Pennington and to date she has not been heard from or seen since that initial missing person report in 1996. Connecticut State Police Major Crime Detectives have been actively involved in conducting a criminal investigation into her disappearance.

[packy]

http://ct.gov/dps/cwp/view.asp?a=2143&q=294126

Victim: April Dawn Pennington, a white female with brown hair and green eyes was born in 1980 (age 15 in 1996). April was 5'2" tall and weighed 100 pounds. She has a tan birthmark on her right tricep. April was last seen at her home on Orchard Drive in Montville. She possibly had a black duffel bag. There is no description of clothing available. Medical and Dental records are available.

Circumstances: April left her home in the early morning hours of May 29, 1996 to meet with friends and was never seen again. (more at link with picture)

[Nut44x4]

Posted Apr. 17, 2008
12:40 PM
Affidavit: Man charged in 1996 killing dumped body in ocean

New Haven (AP) _ Authorities say a man charged with killing a Montville teen who disappeared more than a decade ago told a prison cellmate he killed her and then dumped her body in the ocean in Rhode Island.

Those details are included in an arrest warrant affidavit for George Leniart that was unsealed Thursday. The 42-year-old prisoner at Corrigan Correction Center in Uncasville pleaded not guilty Tuesday to murder and three counts of capitol felony.

He was charged earlier this month with killing April Dawn Pennington, who had been missing since 1996.

Leniart was already in prison because he is accused of a sexual assault involving a teenage boy.

Leniart told a cellmate that he choked the girl during sex and then realized she was dead. The affidavit says Leniart told his cellmate he transported the body to a fishing boat in Rhode Island, chopped up her body and dumped her in the water.
http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=8181836

[Nut44x4]

April Dawn's photo and accused killer George Leniart (photo: CT Sex Offender Registry)

[packy]

I couldn't find any new on a court case for this murder but found a civil rights case in Fed. Ct. with the same name. No details available because I don't have a subscription to Pacer to see what that involves or if this is the same person. http://dockets.justia.com/docket/court-ctdce/case_no-3:2009cv00009/case_id-83854/

[grammybears]

I think this would be so hard for her parents. She has been gone so long. I don't know if I could take knowing what this jerk did to their daughter.
My prayers go out to her family and friends.

May justice be served by putting this man away for a very long time.

jmoo

[Nut44x4]

Cold case murder suspect to go on trial in January Published on 7/20/2009

A convicted sex offender accused of murdering 15-year-old April Dawn Pennington in 1996 will go on trial in January 2010, according to the New London state's attorney's office.

Prosecutor John P. Gravalec-Pannone said that the state and George M. Leniart could not resolve the case short of trial. Judge Susan B. Handy informed Gravalec-Pannone and Leniart's attorney, Norman A. Pattis, that the trial would commence in January.

State police charged Leniart, 43, of Montville last year with three counts of capital felony and one count of murder after spending thousands of hours investigating Pennington's disappearance. He is accused of kidnapping Pennington before sexually assaulting and murdering her. Her body was never found, so the state is not seeking the death penalty against Leniart.

Leniart is being held on a $2 million bond at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution. He was convicted of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl and nearly strangling her to death in 1995. The charges were pending and Leniart was free on bond when he allegedly killed Pennington. In the ensuing years, he has been charged with sexual assaults and with risk of injury to a minor, reckless endangerment, assault, marijuana possession and parole violations. He is a registered sex offender.
http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=25ca83a4-463c-4f40-9735-03dde95a9ac8

[MrzEzell]

This is what I'm talking about when I say things done in the dark come to light, it may have taken a long time but justice is sweet. I'm just glad he's caught definatly better then never. My prayers are with the family of this girl whom lost her life to this criminal.

[Nut44x4]

Updated 02/27/2010 01:45 PM
http://www.theday.com/article/20100227/NWS02/302279910/1018

Detectives take case of missing teenager to heart

Emotions running high in Leniart trial as jurors continue deliberations

Cops learn quickly that it's unhealthy to "take their work home," but the state police detectives who investigated the disappearance of Montville teenager April Dawn Pennington could not help themselves.

The case of the missing 15-year-old girl and the repeat sex offender charged with kidnapping, raping and killing her has consumed members of the Eastern District Major Crime Squad, and now all they can do is wait as a jury deliberates the fate of George M. Leniart.

The 12-member jury started deliberating Thursday afternoon and spent Friday relistening to the testimony of four key witnesses. The panel won't resume deliberations until Monday, meaning this will be another unrestful weekend for Sgt. Bill Bundy and his squad.

The detectives know the people most impacted by the trial - April's family - are awaiting the outcome in Pleasant Garden, N.C., but they, too, feel they have a stake in the verdict.

Bundy, who supervised the investigation for the past five years out of the detective bureau at Troop E in Montville, said it was not unusual for one of the guys to call him at home on a Sunday afternon with an idea about the Pennington case. Both Bundy and Joseph "Jay" Masson, the lead investigator, admit their wives are all too aware of the mystery of the missing teenager.

"We've lived this case," Bundy said Friday. "We've put our hearts and souls into this. Regardless of the outcome, we're still looking for her. Her remains are out there somewhere, and if she can be found we want to find her."

Bundy wore the suit he usually puts on only for weddings and funerals to the closing arguments Thursday in New London Superior Court. Masson, who had testified earlier in the week, opted not to attend for personal reasons, as did Sgt. Bill Blanchette, who once took Leniart fishing in an effort to glean information in the case. Detectives John Patterson and Michael Hoagland, who also played key roles, were in court for the attorneys' arguments as were other members of the crime squad.

The detectives conducted searches throughout the region and interviewed dozens of witnesses over the years while keeping close tabs on Leniart, a Montville native who was in and out of prison.

In the spring of 2008, the investigators convinced John P. Gravalec-Pannone, a senior prosecutor with a winning track record in sexual assault and murder cases, and inspector Thomas Pedersen, a former police captain who works in the state's attorney's office, to take a chance on the case. Masson prepared an 11-page arrest warrant, signed by Pannone and Judge Stuart M. Schimelman.

The troopers and television cameras were in court on April 1, 2008, when Judge Susan B. Handy arraigned Leniart on three counts of capital felony and one charge of murder and ordered him held on a $2 million bond. Bundy said that day the objective was to bring closure to the Pennington family, and the arrest was "the first step in a long journey."

In January 2009, while in prison awaiting trial on the capital felony and murder charges, Leniart filed a federal lawsuit against the crime squad detectives and four parole officers. In the "pro-se" lawsuit, Leniart alleges they violated his constitutional rights and falsely arrested him for a parole violation following an unlawful search of his mother's home at 300 Massapeag Side Road in Montville in September 2007. Leniart is seeking $1 million in damages.

Assistant Attorney General Steven R. Strom is representing the law enforcement officers and in June 2009 denied the allegations in an answer to Leniart's complaint. The case is pending.

Pannone and Stephen M. Carney, another senior state's attorney, prosecuted Leniart at trial, and Pedersen coordinated witnesses and paperwork. Leniart qualified for a public defender because he is considered indigent by the state. He drew well-respected defense attorney Norman A. Pattis of Bethany as a special public defender.

In a phone call from North Carolina last year, Hazel Pennington said she would try to attend the trial of the man accused of killing her daughter. But this winter, as the date approached, she was ill and a doctor advised her to stay away. April's father, Walter Pennington, testified at the trial, his voice cracking as he recalled kissing his only daughter good night on May 29, 1996.

The state admittedly faced an uphill battle in convincing a jury of Leniart's guilt without ever having found the girl's body and with a group of convicted felons serving as key witnesses.

The two-week trial, which drew the attention of the legal community because of its unique nature, featured chilling testimony from Patrick "PJ" Allain, who said he and Leniart sexually assaulted April Pennington on the night she went missing and that Leniart told him the next day that he had killed the girl after dropping off Allain and disposed of her body.

Following a ruling by Judge Barbara B. Jongbloed that bolstered the state's case, the jury also heard from a woman who had been raped by Leniart just six months before April went missing.

The most problematic testimony came from the jailhouse informants who said Leniart confessed the murder to them and laughingly boasted that state police would never find the girl's body. Pattis was quick to challenge their credibility during cross-examination and in his closing argument.

[Nut44x4]

Leniart convicted of murdering missing girl

Published 03/03/2010
Life-without-parole sentence likely; parents of victim still want answers

A guilty verdict in the capital murder trial of George M. Leniart brought some comfort Tuesday to the parents of a teenage girl who went missing from her Montville home 14 years ago.

Walter and Hazel Pennington know now that Leniart, a 44-year-old repeat sex offender, will be spending the rest of his life in a maximum-security prison. The 12-member jury convicted him on three capital-felony counts and one count of murder, so there is no doubt Judge Barbara Bailey Jongbloed will sentence Leniart to life in prison without the possibility of parole on April 27.

But the parents of April Dawn Pennington, who sneaked out a basement window after they had gone to bed on May 29, 1996, would like to know exactly what happened to their 15-year-old daughter that night. They never saw her again.

"I still have plenty of questions, and he (Leniart) is still not talking," Hazel Pennington said in a phone interview from Pleasant Garden, N.C.

Leniart had bragged that state police would never find April's body and would, therefore, never charge him with murder, according to jailhouse informants who testified at the trial. He fished commercially out of Point Judith, R.I., in a boat he had named after his own young daughter, and told a fellow prisoner he had dismembered April's body and put it in lobster pots. Others said Leniart told them April's body was "in the mud" in the Thames River, in Long Island Sound or in a well.

Despite his bravado, the Eastern District Major Crime Squad did charge Leniart in April 2008 after prosecutors agreed to take on the murder case without a body or other physical evidence. They relied heavily on jailhouse witnesses, whom Leniart's attorney called "snitches" and repeatedly attempted to discredit at the trial.

The state had another key witness, however, whose testimony the jury listened to a second time Tuesday before announcing the verdict. A 28-year-old Norwich woman had described being sexually assaulted by Leniart just six months before April Pennington disappeared.

The woman said she is pleased Leniart is locked away.

"I think that he is where he should be, and April's family can have a little closure," she said. "May April rest in peace with the angels."

Leniart, who opted not to testify on his own behalf, shook his head slightly but did not change his facial expression when the jury foreman announced the verdicts. Somebody whispered "Yeah!" from the back of the courtroom.

Prosecutors John P. Gravalec-Pannone and Stephen M. Carney were "psyched."

"We're grateful on behalf of the Pennington family and for the jury's hard work in this difficult task they had," Pannone said as well-wishers congregated in the state's attorney's office.

State troopers who investigated the case hugged and high-fived each other in the courthouse hallway.

"I'm thankful for the state's attorney's office for having the courage to prosecute what was a difficult case, and thankful to the jury for seeing George for what he is," said Sgt. William Bundy, who had supervised the investigation for the past five years.

"I'm proud of all the guys who have investigated this case over the years," Bundy added. "It goes back many, many years."

Bundy said that if April's body is out there to be found, the detectives want to find it.

Defense attorney Norman A. Pattis spoke to Leniart in a holding cell following the verdict and left the courthouse without taking a pile of dress clothes he had provided his client. He could not be reached to comment later in the day, but is expected to be heard at Leniart's sentencing.

The jurors also left quickly after Jongbloed thanked them for their service. Reached later by phone, the foreman said he had no comment.

Walter Pennington, a retired Navy sailor who was stationed at the Naval Submarine Base in Groton when his daughter disappeared, flew from North Carolina to testify on the first day of the trial and caught a return flight the same day. Hazel Pennington has been ill and was advised by a doctor not to attend the trial.

The family, who moved back to their hometown of Pleasant Garden in late 1996, has been reading on the Internet of the graphic testimony about the last hours of their daughter's life.

Patrick "PJ" Allain, a friend of April, testified he and Leniart picked her up and raped her that night in May 1996. Allain said Leniart dropped him off at home first and told him the next day that he had killed the girl and disposed of her body.

Hazel Pennington said she would like to have seen Allain prosecuted, though she knows the statute of limitations for rape has expired.

"He's the one who lured April out that night," she said. "April never knew Leniart. She met him that night, and PJ lured her out knowing he was putting her life in danger."

Allain, who is serving a 10-year prison sentence for an unrelated sexual assault, is hoping to have his sentence reduced in exchange for cooperating with the state.

The testimony of the woman who, at age 13, was raped by Leniart had also bolstered the state's case. The judge had ruled the damaging testimony admissible because of similarities between the two cases. The rape victim told the jury she sneaked out to meet her 15-year-old boyfriend, Allain, in November 1995. Leniart, who was 30, picked her up, she said, and they went back to a camper behind Leniart's parents' home on Massapeag Side Road to wait for Allain.

She said Allain never showed up, and when she tried to leave Leniart locked her in and forced her to have sex with him. She said Leniart choked her until she passed out, and that she woke up the next morning and ran for her life when he left to make a phone call.

Leniart was free on bond, awaiting trial for that case, when April Pennington disappeared. He later pleaded guilty in the first matter and was sentenced to four years in prison.

Thomas A. "Tad" DiBiase, a former federal prosecutor in the District of Columbia who tracks "no-body" murder cases, lists two other such convictions in Connecticut on a Web site devoted to the issue.

In the infamous "woodchipper murder," Richard Crafts was convicted in 1989 of killing his wife, Helle, even though Crafts had put her remains through a woodchipper and only fragments were recovered.

In October 2003, Miguel Estrella of Meriden was found guilty of murdering a rival gang member. He suffocated Juan Disla, then dismembered his body with a chain saw and dissolved it in acid.

"It's amazing the lengths some people will go through to dispose of a body," DiBiase said in a phone interview Tuesday.
http://www.theday.com/article/20100303/NWS02/303039930/1017