Copyright MassLive
Breanne “Breezy” Pennington had finally found the courage to leave her husband. “She said, ‘I’m safe. I’m moving sooner than later. I signed a lease on a house today.’ That was the last thing she ever said to me,” said Sarah Wilcox, one of Pennington’s closest friends. The 30-year-old mother from Gardner, a Latter-day Saint who loved astrology, raising chickens, heavy metal and above all, her children, was killed before she could take her step toward freedom. Two years later, her loved ones are still searching for answers and for Aaron Pennington, her husband and the man police say pulled the trigger. Officials are still searching for him, but some members of Breanne Pennington’s family question whether the suspected killer is alive or dead. “We have four children who have rights to the [Veterans Affairs] and Social Security benefits that we’re raising. We need a death certificate to obtain those rights ... it’s a huge deal to us,” said Brenda Hull, Breanne Pennington’s aunt, who raised her. “We need a body.” The Pennington marriage In the days before Breanne Pennington was shot and killed on Oct. 22, 2023, she’d made a concrete plan to leave her husband of 10 years and their Cherry Street home in Gardner. The couple had four children — at the time, aged 2, 5, 7 and 9 — whom she planned to take with her, according to court documents. Aaron Pennington documented much of their lives on social media — Breanne’s pregnancies, their children holding chickens in their yard and at their LDS church. The family was “deeply” committed to their faith and, at the beginning of their relationship, to each other, Wilcox said. A post from Aaron Pennington’s Facebook page on Valentine’s Day in 2017 read, “Breezy you are my best friend and better half. I have become better because of you.” Breanne Pennington was known for her “hysterical” sense of humor and her love of horses. She liked science, was “incredibly smart,” and always stood up for herself. But more than anything, Breanne Pennington loved being a mom, Hull and Wilcox said. “[Breanne Pennington] was known to be kind of the ‘mother of mothers,’” Wilcox said. “She was a great mom, and she had a really close relationship with her children ... she was really, really dedicated to them.” But Breanne and Aaron Pennington’s relationship dissolved over the years. Though they were still living together in Gardner in 2023, the two “did not have a marital relationship” since May of that year, said Wilcox. Wilcox, who lives in North Carolina, had met Breanne Pennington through a Facebook group for expectant mothers during Pennington’s third pregnancy in 2018. Wilcox became a close friend and confidante of Breanne Pennington’s and would travel up to Massachusetts for visits. Wilcox described Aaron Pennington’s nature as controlling during their interactions when she visited, especially when it came to any conversations around finances. Breanne Pennington confided in Wilcox about the abuse she endured from her husband, documented through their text messages and voice recordings — some of which were reviewed by MassLive. “He had a journal that he was using ... there was a prompt that said, ‘I lie to my wife when ... ’ and he wrote, ‘I tell her she’s pretty,’” Wilcox recalled. “Breezy read it and was very hurt and confronted him about it, and he said, ‘I only wrote that because I knew you would read it and I knew it would hurt you.’” Some of the couple’s marital issues stemmed from Aaron’s apparent mental health issues and repeated threats of suicide, Wilcox and court documents said. “He would suddenly become mentally ill or suicidal when things weren’t going his way, and then if he got his way, he’d be feeling better and be fine,” Wilcox said of Aaron Pennington. Neighbors told police the Penningtons had been “having marital issues for a while,” and Aaron Pennington had been dealing with mental health issues, according to court documents. Aaron Pennington served in the U.S. Air Force from 2015 to 2022, spending several years stationed in Japan with his family, with his last service station in Arizona. He transferred to the reserves and officially left the military in February 2023. Shortly after, he took a job at Raytheon Technologies, but a spokesperson said he left the company just a month later, in March. Wilcox said he’d lost the job, yet another catalyst for the Pennington marriage to fall apart. ‘I’m scared, but I’m armed’ Everything came to a head the weekend of Oct. 20, 2023, when Wilcox said Aaron Pennington was in California with his family, and Breanne Pennington was at home in Gardner. The two got into a fight over the phone, and Aaron Pennington hopped on a flight back to Massachusetts. “Breezy was texting me and said she felt really uncomfortable ... in one of our last text exchanges, she’s like, ‘I’m scared, but I’m armed,’” Wilcox said. “I said, ‘I would rather you not feel like you have to be armed to feel safe.’” Breanne Pennington called the non-emergency Gardner Police Department line that Friday to “find out what her rights were, if she had to let him into the house,” Wilcox said. She told officers to “‘let me have the weekend’” to decide on a restraining order, Wilcox said. MassLive requested a recording of that call, but Gardner police denied the request, citing an active investigation. “I can’t, for the life of me, understand why she let him back in,” Wilcox said. “You just feel so upset and so angry that you can’t will time to go back and let you be more forceful with her, or drive up and just tell her, ‘No, you’re getting in the car and we’re going.’” Breanne Pennington was found lying in her bed with a fatal gunshot wound to the face on Oct. 22, 2023. Their four children ran to their neighbor’s house after she was shot, “scared because they could not find their father and their mother was in her bedroom crying,” the neighbor told police after she called 911. The scene inside the home on Cherry Street was difficult for Hull, who had to go back into the house weeks later to clean it and retrieve items for the woman she’d raised, to stomach. She described how the pillowcases were still soaked in blood where her niece’s head had rested, after she was shot in the face. “She was asleep. It’s disgusting. Who’s capable of that? A sociopath, period,” Hull said. Police found notes written in Aaron Pennington’s phone dated the night before she was killed, according to court documents. A note from 7:04 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 21 read, “‘Don’t say anything. Be (quiet.) If she wakes up just say you’re getting nasal spray. “‘Get on side of bed — very close proximity to head,’” the note continued. “‘Put hole in her head.’” Aaron Pennington’s car, a white 2013 BMW, was found by a bow hunter the day after Breanne Pennington was killed, five miles from their home in the woods of Camp Collier — an area frequented by Aaron Pennington, Hull said. A murder warrant was issued for his arrest the next day. At the time, Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early said that with Pennington’s military background, he would have the ability to survive in the woods. He’d also said, “I don’t know when or where we might’ve found the car” without the hunter. There were several searches of the area in the following days and months, which included investigators from Gardner and Ashburnham police, state environmental police and troopers who used K-9s, cadaver dogs and the air wing. Two years too long As of Oct. 22, 2025, Aaron Pennington still hasn’t been found. Worcester officials say the investigation remains “active and ongoing,” and that “future searches may be conducted.” Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. has said his office is committed to bringing justice to Breanne Pennington and her family. But the question of whether Aaron Pennington is alive or dead weighs heavily on Hull’s mind. He hasn’t been officially declared either, but law enforcement continues to warn the public not to approach him if spotted, saying he’s “considered armed and dangerous.” After two years without any solid leads, Hull wants federal investigators to take over. She says she still trusts the state police and the DA’s office, calling them “really good people,” but feels they’ve exhausted their resources — and that their current approach suggests they believe Aaron Pennington is already dead. “If he’s deceased — let’s say it’s 50-50 — well, if that’s what law enforcement truly believes, then they need to go search the area,” Hull said. “It’s not just like someone will stumble upon a skull one day ... We need a death certificate. We need a body.” Hull says Breanne’s four children are “happy” and “doing wonderful,” but they still need their father — dead or alive — to come home, whether for closure or to access a death benefit. She’s asking the public — hunters, hikers, horseback riders — to keep an eye out for any sign of a body. Still, she believes Aaron is alive and has escaped New England. She’s taken matters into her own hands, building a presentation for state law enforcement that includes evidence she’s gathered, like Aaron Pennington’s journals found in the home and testimony from community members. She also plans to launch a social media campaign to bring more attention to the case.
