GARDNER – Police have resumed their search for Aaron Pennington, the 33-year-old accused of killing his wife in their Cherry Street home in October.
Massachusetts State Police’s Special Emergency Response Team resumed it’s search for Pennington in the woods of Gardner and Ashburnham on Friday. Pennington has been missing since Oct. 22, 2023, and his whereabouts remains a mystery.
On Sunday, Oct. 22, at about 9:15 a.m., a neighbor of the Pennington’s called 911 after their frightened children came over to her house, claiming their mother was crying in her bedroom and their father was missing.
When first responders arrived at the Pennington’s home, located at 42 Cherry Street, they found Breanne lying in bed with “obvious signs of death from an apparent gunshot wound to the face,” court documents say.
Police believe Pennington shot his wife with her own gun. Breanne kept a firearm in their home for protection, which Aaron, without a state license, was not authorized to possess.
(Courtesy Photo/Kimberly Bookman‘s Twitter)
Court documents indicate that the couple had longstanding marital issues. Breanne intended to move to Texas with their four children, ages 2, 5, 7, and 9, leaving Aaron, who battled mental health problems and had previously expressed suicidal thoughts.
(Courtesy Family Photo/DA’s Office)
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After allegedly shooting his wife, Pennington left his home around 8:50 a.m. in a white 2013 BMW Model 320. The next day, in the afternoon of Monday, Oct. 23, Pennington’s vehicle was found by a bowhunter about 1,500 ft. down a wooded trail off Kelton Street near Camp Collier in Gardner.
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On the evening of Oct. 23, state troopers along with Gardner and Ashburnham police scoured the woods off Kelton Street which span approximately 400-acres. The search was conducted under the assumption that Pennington was alive in the woods and armed with a handgun.
After multiple large scale search operations of the woods and surrounding area, investigators suspended their search for Pennington on November 2.
Dave Procopio, Massachusetts’ State Police spokesperson, said police don’t have any new information about the case and that resuming their search Friday was “just another effort.”
