Two-time Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl champion Mike Pennel has reportedly been named a person of interest in the death of a missing woman.
According to ESPN, the body of a woman who had been missing in the Dominican Republic since 2021 was found earlier this year on a property owned by Pennel at the time she vanished.
Pennel’s attorney told ESPN he didn’t know the woman and was not in the Dominican Republic when she went missing. He reportedly called it ‘fake news’.
In a text to ESPN, Pennel said: ‘This isn’t a story. I’m not legally involved. This is fake news being reported. I’d advise you to speak with my agent/lawyer … before writing a false story. Damaging my reputation.’
Carli Franchesca Guzman Roche was 22 when she was declared missing on September 13, 2021. She had just moved to the coastal town of Sosua, where Pennel had a house in a luxurious gated community.
ESPN reports that Pennel sold that home in 2025 and the woman’s body was only found in January 2026 while a worker was digging a trench.
Ex-Chiefs star Mike Pennel is reportedly a person of interest in the death of a missing woman
The body of a woman was found earlier this year on a property previously owned by Pennel
Guzman’s body could only be identified when officials matched her DNA to her eight-year-old son. A cause of death has not been announced but police are treating it as a homicide.
At the time of her disappearance, Pennel was without an NFL team after being released by the Chicago Bears in August 2021. He then signed with the Atlanta Falcons on September 15, two days after Guzman was declared missing.
Her grandmother told ESPN that she was never told who owned the property where the remains were found. She said she had ‘no idea at all’ why Guzman might have been there.
Pennel deleted his Instagram on Thursday after accounts started to connect him to Guzman’s death on social media.
He won two Super Bowls with the Chiefs, having had three spells in Kansas City between 2019-2020, 2023-2024 and in 2025.
The 34-year-old defensive tackle has also played for the Green Bay Packers, New York Jets and, most recently, the Cincinnati Bengals in his long career.
His Dominican attorney, Alexander Valbuena, said Pennel told his lawyers ‘to offer his full cooperation to the Dominican authorities and help clarify the situation.’
Pennel has been suspended for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy three times in his career.
He was also sued by the widow of former NFL quarterback Dwayne Haskins in 2024 after she claimed Pennel defrauded her out of $275,000 as part of a dog breeding business in the Dominican Republic.
