Editor’s note: This story contains details that some may find disturbing. Discretion is advised.
MURRAY – A woman arrested in April after law enforcement officers found a decomposing body in her Riviera Courts home pleaded guilty in Calloway Circuit Court this morning to one count of abusing a corpse.
Gwendolyn Penny, 68, was indicted on April 19 on one count of abuse of a corpse, a class D felony, for intentionally treating a corpse “in a way that would outrage ordinary family sensibilities,” and one count of knowingly abusing and/or neglecting an adult in her care, a class C felony.
In court this morning, Penny pleaded guilty to one count of abuse of a corpse pursuant to a plea agreement whereby the prosecution agreed to dismiss the abuse/neglect charge.
According to the uniform citation, a Calloway County Sheriff’s Office deputy found a deceased male in advanced states of decomposition after going to a residence in Riviera Courts to serve papers and contacted the Murray Police Department (MPD) to investigate.
MPD Detective Justin Swope wrote that, when he spoke to Penny, she told him that she “had not noticed anything wrong with the victim and he had just been sleeping.” According to his report, after Penny signed a Miranda waiver, she told him that, a little more than two weeks prior, the victim told her he had “spoken to God and would be going through the process of ‘Going all the way down,’ which she explained was down to death.”
Swope recounted Penny telling him that the next day, she found the victim unresponsive in his chair, unable to move or speak. Three to four days later, she noticed that he was not breathing.
“She said under any other circumstances,” Swope wrote, “she would have been concerned about his health and would have given him care, but this was the process and she had to trust in the Lord. She said over the last couple weeks she noticed worms and flies on his body. He was swelling and his skin was peeling. He was dripping blood and liquid onto the floor. She stated she would peel the skin off, clean off the worms, and attempted to change his clothes this morning.”
Officers found a journal in the home that documented, in detail, describing the decomposition process and the changes to the victim’s body. The coroner advised he believed the victim had been deceased for some time and posited a time frame consistent with Penny’s account.
“Evidence and statements show Gwendolyn observed a drastic change in the health and well being of the victim and made no effort to get him care,” Swope wrote. “She acknowledged he stopped breathing nearly one and a half weeks ago. She admitted that any other person seeing him in this condition would be concerned for his well being and would get him help. Gwendolyn made a conscious decision to ignore the health crisis the victim was suffering as part of a religious test which potentially caused the death of the victim due to lack of medical care.”
Swope determined that, based on the investigation, Penny “knowingly neglected the well being of the victim who she proclaimed to the care take of and failed to get him aid during a medical emergency. She then allowed the deceased to decompose in her home and admitted to peeling skin from his body, cleaning worms off him, and otherwise abusing his corpse.”
Penny is facing five years of imprisonment. Her sentencing is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 21, at 8:30 a.m.
We can’t do what we do without our community! Journalism isn’t free. The story you just read could only be written because a reporter scoured dockets, read court records and spent hours in the courtroom – including 3.5 today alone. Our reporters volunteer their time to tell these stories and keep the community informed. Your financial support will allow us to start paying them. Please consider donating today. You can make one-time or recurring gifts on our Donorbox page: donorbox.org/support-the-sentinel
