The Unusual Shooting of Alex Pennig

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Speaker 4 911, what is the address of your

Speaker 5 day I don't think I'll ever forget.

Speaker 4 Is she alive?

Speaker 4 Is she breathing?

Speaker 4 No.

Speaker 4 No.

Speaker 7 A sheriff's vehicle pulled up, and she informed us that Alex was dead.

Speaker 6 I don't remember what I did other than fall to my knees.

Speaker 9 What's her name?

Speaker 3 Sandra.

Speaker 10 Alex loved people.

Speaker 5 She was very caring.

Speaker 7 She loved animals.

Speaker 5 She'd bring home stray. She'd bring home all kinds of things.

Speaker 7 But she worked a lot of years to get her degree in nursing because she truly wanted to become a nurse.

Speaker 12 Thank you to my family for never once giving up on me when many times I'm sure you had wanted to.

Speaker 5 I talked to her at six o'clock that evening via text.

Speaker 6 She was doing great.

Speaker 5 And that was kind of the last thing.

Speaker 15 Her partner sucks.

Speaker 3 And what's your last name?

Speaker 16 Matthew Ecker was a nurse practitioner. He was well-educated, good-looking guy.

Speaker 10 We have a lot of nurses in my family and he is one of the best nurses I know.

Speaker 7 He was a friend that she had met through this part-time job she had.

Speaker 19 She called me.

Speaker 7 She had called him that she needed his help, that she was in trouble.

Speaker 16 She had been in a domestic dispute with her then-boyfriend, and Matthew Ecker thought she was being assaulted, and so he came down.

Speaker 7 He was on his way to work and detoured and came right to her apartment. He had brought a gun.

Speaker 16 He brought it with him everywhere he went. He had a permit to carry.

Speaker 8 We were briefed by the responding officers as we're entering the apartment and they were telling us their observations and what Matthew Eckert had told them.

Speaker 3 Were you guys arguing or something at all?

Speaker 3 No, Jesus crammed that wound into her head.

Speaker 8 Alex is laying on her back. She has a gunshot wound to her head.

Speaker 20 The handgun was facing this way. It was on her left shoulder like this.

Speaker 6 It just didn't look right.

Speaker 8 The scene didn't look right. How did she get in that position? It just didn't make sense.

Speaker 16 They're thinking they're not getting the whole story from Mr. Eckert.

Speaker 8 He's the only one that can tell us what happened. He was the only one that was there.

Speaker 16 The only evidence is that she touched the gun. There was gunshot residue on her left hand.

Speaker 11 Just as a mom and knowing your kid, I didn't.

Speaker 6 It didn't fit.

Speaker 16 He didn't have any motive to kill her. I mean, he was coming down to protect her.

Speaker 11 There's no way he did this. I would bet my entire life on the fact that he is innocent.

Speaker 10 The first thing he said to me is, Mom, I did not do this.

Speaker 6 What happened?

Speaker 7 Natalie Morales reports the strange shooting of Alex Pennick.

Speaker 22 The overnight hours, it's December 16th, 2022. What time do you get that call?

Speaker 20 On that night, the call came in around 2.50.

Speaker 24 It was a week before Christmas in 2022 when St. Paul Police Officer Ching Bang and his partner, Officer Justina Sur, set off on their regular patrol of the city.

Speaker 20 Dispatcher stated that a female was shot in the head.

Speaker 20 My partner and I, we went lights and sirens heading towards that call.

Speaker 22 And is it all units in the vicinity called in at that time?

Speaker 20 Yes, pretty much every unit hop on that call to come and assist.

Speaker 24 Within minutes, Bang, Sir, and several other officers, body cameras rolling, arrived at the location, a residential apartment building.

Speaker 24 Matthew Ecker, the man who had placed the 911 call, let them in

Speaker 24 and directed them to an apartment on the second floor.

Speaker 24 Officer Bang was the first to enter the apartment.

Speaker 20 I remember walking in. The bathroom was to the right, the very first door.

Speaker 24 32-year-old Alex Pennig was lying face up with a single gunshot wound to her left temple.

Speaker 20 I noticed a lot of blood around her head.

Speaker 24 Officer Bang had immediately spotted the gun laying on Alex's left shoulder, her hand resting on top. A team of of officers looked around the small studio apartment and questioned neighbors.

Speaker 24 No one had heard anything.

Speaker 3 That's funny because I was eager seeing her. That's why.

Speaker 24 In the hallway, Officer Sir was talking to Matthew Ecker.

Speaker 1 You gotta keep breathing.

Speaker 8 He's gotta keep breathing.

Speaker 27 He was on the floor by himself, so I just went and approached him.

Speaker 21 Just started talking to him.

Speaker 3 Oh, God, what?

Speaker 13 Are you concerned about him?

Speaker 6 I was.

Speaker 27 Because that at the time, we didn't know what was going on.

Speaker 28 And I was shocked.

Speaker 3 I I was hard.

Speaker 27 I just told him to just slow down, take your time. We're not in a rush.
Whenever you're ready, I'm ready to listen.

Speaker 24 Matthew did eventually calm down and he started talking.

Speaker 27 Are we going to argue it or something?

Speaker 24 Telling officers he lived almost three hours away, but drove to Alex after she placed a frantic call to him earlier.

Speaker 15 So I came if she wasn't a guy.

Speaker 24 Matthew told police Alex had gotten into a fight with her current boyfriend. His name was Shane Anderson.
That things had gotten physical and she was scared of what he might do.

Speaker 24 So Matthew took his gun and brought it with him to Alex's apartment.

Speaker 29 Because I was worried that her boyfriend would come.

Speaker 22 So he was going there, he said, to protect her.

Speaker 13 Yes.

Speaker 24 Matthew arrived at Alex's around 2 p.m.

Speaker 24 Shane wasn't there.

Speaker 24 That evening, he said they went out to local bars. When they walked into a place called Camp Bar, Shane was inside.

Speaker 19 He came to her and they were arguing. And I came across and I stood in between them and then he punched me.

Speaker 24 Shane hit him, he says, and then was kicked out of the bar.

Speaker 15 And then her and I sat there and talked with other people for another 45 minutes.

Speaker 19 We came back here and I thought everything was fine.

Speaker 29 And then she just

Speaker 15 grabbed the gun.

Speaker 3 Did she make any threat before that she was gonna kill something?

Speaker 3 She just crammed that wound into her head.

Speaker 24 And with the gun in her hand, she backed into the bathroom, he says, and locked the door.

Speaker 24 Moments later, a single shot rang out.

Speaker 24 Matthew says he quickly broke the door open and saw Alex on the floor. He told the officers he tried using his nursing skills to stop the bleeding by putting pressure on the wound.

Speaker 15 I tried to do what I could. Okay.

Speaker 19 And then I washed my hands.

Speaker 15 And then you washed your hands?

Speaker 19 Correct. That's why I don't have anything.

Speaker 15 And then you

Speaker 15 call the police.

Speaker 24 The news that Alex had fired a gun, taking her own life, was unfathomable to Alex's parents, Mary, Joe, and Jim.

Speaker 13 That just was completely out of character for Alex.

Speaker 7 She had never shot a gun. She didn't like guns, so it didn't make any sense.

Speaker 24 And Alex's mom, Mary Jo, had just texted with her daughter a few hours earlier, and she didn't seem depressed at all.

Speaker 6 She was doing well, you know, and that's what's hard.

Speaker 8 Yeah, did you see this?

Speaker 6 See that part?

Speaker 24 Detectives Abby DeSanto and Jennifer O'Donnell were called to the scene.

Speaker 8 You get a call in the middle of the night, so you know it's not good.

Speaker 24 Inside the apartment, there was alcohol and six bottles of prescription medications, including antidepressants and amphetamines, all prescribed to Alex.

Speaker 24 But if that suggested maybe Alex had been depressed and took her own life, there were other things that didn't seem to add up in Matthew's account.

Speaker 24 The first was the position of Alex's body, says the investigators, shown here in the CBS News animation.

Speaker 8 The door to the bathroom was ajar, and you immediately see Alex's feet on either side of the door.

Speaker 24 If Matthew had broken down the bathroom door after hearing the gunshot, as he told officers he had, we think that if that had been the case, her legs would have been swept behind the door.

Speaker 24 And even though Matthew had said he washed his hands before calling 911.

Speaker 32 When responding officers arrived, the sink was dry. And if he had said, you know, he called the police right away and that sink probably would have been still wet.

Speaker 24 The detectives decided to take a deeper look at Matthew's story. He had told police his only mission that day was to protect Alex from Shane Anderson, the boyfriend he claimed was violent.

Speaker 24 And in fact, there were these holes in the closet door across from the bathroom, kind of like punch marks. Holes Matthew said Shane was responsible for.

Speaker 14 St. Paul, police.

Speaker 24 The detectives were now eager to speak with Shane.

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Speaker 21 It's the most devastating knock on my door I've ever had in my life.

Speaker 14 Hey, it's St.

Speaker 26 Paul Police.

Speaker 24 Hours after Alex Pennig was found dead, police were at her boyfriend Shane Anderson's front door did you hear what happened two police officers they asked me who Alex was and I said that's my girlfriend is she okay

Speaker 21 just passed away

Speaker 21 no

Speaker 21 Alex Pennig

Speaker 6 you're kidding me and I

Speaker 6 I don't know,

Speaker 25 blacked out after that, pretty much.

Speaker 25 Thank God.

Speaker 24 Shane says he was desperate for answers and willingly went to the police station to speak with detectives Abby DeSanto and Dan Zebro.

Speaker 28 I want to know what happened to her. Okay, that's what I'm trying to figure out, okay?

Speaker 24 Shane told the detectives he'd been dating Alex for around four months and painted a rosy picture.

Speaker 25 She was sweet, like she was fun.

Speaker 25 Everything that you'd want in a woman.

Speaker 24 According to Shane, they spent nearly every day together and loved to lounge around with her two cats.

Speaker 25 I'm not a cat person. I'm more of a dog person, to be honest, but

Speaker 25 she kind of made me a cat person.

Speaker 24 He told the detectives that although it was early in their relationship, they were planning a future together.

Speaker 28 Literally, yesterday we were talking about like me breaking my lease and moving into her place.

Speaker 25 We both wanted families.

Speaker 22 You imagined yourself with her.

Speaker 25 100%.

Speaker 24 Shane's description was in stark contrast to what Matthew Ecker had told police. Matthew said Alex told him she was fighting with Shane and scared of him.

Speaker 24 But when the detectives asked, Shane denied it.

Speaker 31 So did the argument that you guys had in that morning, did they get physical?

Speaker 26 No, no, not at all.

Speaker 25 God, no. It was about basically why I haven't moved in yet and like why that was taking so long.

Speaker 24 But what about those punch marks in Alex's apartment?

Speaker 25 That was from a few weeks back.

Speaker 26 That was me.

Speaker 15 Yes.

Speaker 25 I was drunk.

Speaker 26 I didn't put my hands on her, though.

Speaker 25 We argued like a married couple. Like it wasn't anything like crazy or like violent or like weird.

Speaker 24 But remember, Matthew told detectives Shane was arguing with Alex just hours before her death at camp bar. And Shane even punched Matthew.

Speaker 19 I came across and I stood in between them and then he punched me.

Speaker 24 Shane didn't deny hitting Matthew. He says seeing Alex with another man upset him.

Speaker 15 Alex showed up with a guy.

Speaker 31 He doesn't look familiar.

Speaker 28 I have no idea who this guy is.

Speaker 25 I was wondering why this guy is hanging out with my girlfriend and

Speaker 6 I

Speaker 25 decided to throw a punch which is not in my character but it just

Speaker 25 felt like the thing to do at the time.

Speaker 35 So Camp Bar is the last bar that Alex and Matthew went to.

Speaker 24 Detectives DeSanto and O'Donnell reviewed security footage from inside Camp Bar.

Speaker 8 So as Alex and Matt walked in, Shane was sitting right across from the bar.

Speaker 24 They took us through the altercation and we zoomed in for a closer look.

Speaker 35 Matt was sitting here when they walked in and then really oddly, Alex walked around the bar and sat across the bar over there.

Speaker 8 Shane walked over to her first and then she is talking to Shane and then Matt comes over, and it appears that he's introducing himself because he holds out his hand to shake hands with Shane.

Speaker 8 Then there's a confrontation. Shane ended up assaulting Matt.

Speaker 24 Shane then is asked to leave.

Speaker 6 Yes.

Speaker 25 I had no idea that that was going to be the last time that I ever saw her.

Speaker 24 After Shane left, the footage showed Alex hanging at the bar with Matthew for about another hour, drinking and chatting.

Speaker 24 Detectives were no closer to understanding why, just a little while later, she would, as Matthew told them, take her own life.

Speaker 24 And the medical examiner ruled that Alex's manner of death could not be determined.

Speaker 24 So detectives dug into her past, looking for anything that could explain what happened.

Speaker 36 She's been every hair color.

Speaker 37 Brunette and then blonde and then black.

Speaker 6 She put some red in there.

Speaker 37 They put a little red in there and it was like she would just be every color.

Speaker 24 Jillian Kubacek and Sarah Hansen have known Alex since grade school.

Speaker 13 Tell me about Alex as you knew her back then.

Speaker 37 Spunky, a little child, full of energy, always up to something.

Speaker 24 Jillian played ice hockey with Alex and together they won a state championship.

Speaker 22 What was she like?

Speaker 37 Fire on ice. Luckily I was always on her team so I never had to play against her but she was feisty.

Speaker 36 She was so fun.

Speaker 22 I don't really remember anything other than happiness, really,

Speaker 36 especially in the younger years.

Speaker 24 But detectives learned that as a young adult, Alex struggled. Her parents, Mary, Joe, and Jim, said that in college, Alex would get depressed and she got hooked on prescription pills.

Speaker 7 It was very difficult. One day in 2016, she went up to her room and took a handful of meds and then

Speaker 7 had told her mom that she was attempting suicide by meds and then promptly threw it up, stuck her finger in her throat and threw it up.

Speaker 6 I felt like it was a cry for help.

Speaker 24 And they got Alex that help.

Speaker 24 Inspired by the nurses who helped her recover, in 2019, she got her licensed practical nursing degree and was chosen to speak at graduation.

Speaker 12 I have climbed out of the darkness with permanent scars, but a heart of gold and the promise that as a nurse,

Speaker 12 I will try my best for people like me to not be alone and help them like those nurses had helped me.

Speaker 5 Alex didn't make that choice to get well and she did.

Speaker 22 Her life was back on track.

Speaker 6 Her life was on track.

Speaker 13 And we watched the camp bar video, right?

Speaker 24 That's detectives also learned all about Alex's history with Matthew Ecker. She met him in 2020 when she got a job at a walk-in clinic.

Speaker 24 Her parents say their daughter described Matthew as someone she worked with. But according to Matthew's parents, Blaine Ecker and Terry Randall, there was a lot more than just friendship.

Speaker 24 Alex and Matthew, they say, were having an affair back then, even though Matthew was married with four kids.

Speaker 10 She knew he was married. She knew he had four children.

Speaker 24 Terry says the romance didn't last.

Speaker 10 In the summer of 2022, they had ended the physical part of their relationship and were just friends.

Speaker 24 Still, she says her son was a source of support for Alex. She says Matthew told her Alex was drinking heavily and as a result, lost several jobs.

Speaker 10 She wouldn't show up. She'd go on a binge.

Speaker 24 Without a job, Matthew's family says Alex struggled to pay her bills. So unbeknownst to her parents, Matthew stepped in.
He gave Alex money and helped her pay her rent.

Speaker 24 Matthew's sisters, Molly and Amy, aren't surprised their brother wanted to help.

Speaker 37 He cared for her and he has a big heart and he

Speaker 37 didn't want to just walk away.

Speaker 12 He couldn't couldn't walk away.

Speaker 24 And just three days before Alex died, Alex sent Matthew these text messages.

Speaker 24 I shut myself out to the world. I needed a mental health break and I'm not very hopeful at the moment about life.

Speaker 24 Even with those texts though, and Alex's past attempt years earlier, detectives still weren't convinced she took her own life.

Speaker 8 Just because you say, I need a mental health day, or it's not a good day, doesn't mean you're suicidal.

Speaker 24 Detectives suspected Matthew was lying to them, and here's why.

Speaker 24 Remember, the gun was found on Alex's chest with her left hand on it. Turns out, Alex was right-handed.

Speaker 24 When detectives Abby DeSanto and Jennifer O'Donnell reviewed security footage from Alex's apartment building,

Speaker 24 they were able to see what happened after Matthew and Alex left camp bar.

Speaker 32 So that's Alex and Matt, and they're just in the vestibule of Alex's apartment walking in.

Speaker 22 About two o'clock in the morning or so. Yes.
Time frame.

Speaker 24 You can see Matthew and Alex walk out of view as they go up to her apartment. But a short while later, they walk back through the lobby and out the door.

Speaker 24 Matthew would say it was to get his headphones from his car.

Speaker 24 Alex returns to the lobby and waits. For the detectives, what happens next is key.

Speaker 8 She seems impatient, just looking at her body language.

Speaker 24 They note how, when Matthew returns, Alex doesn't hold the door for him

Speaker 24 and how he shrugs his shoulders as he follows behind her. The detectives wonder if Matthew and Alex had gotten into a fight.

Speaker 32 Something was going on with him. That's huge because that's the last time we see Alex alive.

Speaker 24 20 minutes later, at 2:50 a.m., Matthew placed that call to 911.

Speaker 4 A girl who shot herself like fast.

Speaker 24 The lobby security footage had no audio, so there was no way to know for sure if the two had gotten into a fight. But when Alex's family and friends saw it, you could tell she was mad.

Speaker 37 You could tell the way she ripped open that door. You could tell Alex

Speaker 37 stomping in.

Speaker 5 Whenever she was mad, she'd like stop.

Speaker 6 And she

Speaker 5 was visible in this video.

Speaker 11 So they were definitely in a fight.

Speaker 24 But when detectives questioned Matthew, he denied any problems.

Speaker 26 We were laughing. We home.
Everything was fine.

Speaker 38 You guys weren't arguing or anything.

Speaker 28 There's a whole fight in between.

Speaker 24 And Matthew's family believes there could be a different reason for the change in Alex's demeanor. In the footage, Alex is on her phone.

Speaker 24 They wonder if she was messaging Shane and arguing with him about the altercation that had just happened at Camp Bar.

Speaker 7 I truly believe there's a lot of information, a lot of texting, and we think having gotten those interactions would have given us a lot more insight into her state of mind.

Speaker 24 But the detectives couldn't get into Alex's phone because no one knew the passcode. And Shane said he had lost his phone the night before, so they couldn't search his either.

Speaker 22 It seemed that there was some kind of exchange happening. Was she

Speaker 22 talking to you at all?

Speaker 25 I didn't have a phone, so.

Speaker 22 Facebook message or anything like that?

Speaker 25 Uh, no.

Speaker 24 Unable to know for sure what was really happening in the lobby, when Detective DeSanto and her colleague Dan Zebro interviewed Matthew, they focused on what he said happened in the apartment.

Speaker 38 How was she holding the gun when she was backing it to the bathroom?

Speaker 28 She was, she had it down here first,

Speaker 28 and then she cocked it.

Speaker 26 her left hand cocked it but she ended up holding it to her left temple so I remember okay

Speaker 15 I mean she might have

Speaker 26 she's not not so much weird

Speaker 8 he said she did all this with her left hand but then he told us she was right-handed you don't use a weapon with your non-dominant hand.

Speaker 8 It just another inconsistency or another part of the puzzle that doesn't match.

Speaker 24 There was also the nagging question about the sink being dry. Matthew had told first responders he washed his hands after trying to help Alex, which is why his hands were clean.

Speaker 24 But the sink was dry when police arrived. DeSanto asked if he did, in fact, call police right away.

Speaker 26 And then you called the police, right, right?

Speaker 15 Yeah, I've been calling the police, yeah.

Speaker 38 So, you know, when you

Speaker 28 get blood on your hands, and then you go into the sensing tool. Yeah.

Speaker 38 Or the handle to the sink, right?

Speaker 28 There should be blood on the handle. There should be no blood.

Speaker 38 There's no.

Speaker 28 There's no blood in the handle of the sink.

Speaker 24 And there's no nothing in the sink.

Speaker 28 And the sink. It was the sink.
I didn't rinse my hand.

Speaker 32 The sink's dry.

Speaker 38 There's no water or anything.

Speaker 28 No, I washed my hands in the sink.

Speaker 3 I didn't.

Speaker 24 But DeSanto thought Matthew was lying. Either he hadn't helped Alex and didn't wash his hands, or he had not called 911 right away.

Speaker 38 Right now, all this evidence is not bad enough.

Speaker 28 I can't.

Speaker 38 I just want you to just think. I just want you to think about this and what

Speaker 31 you're.

Speaker 31 You're asking me to confess to something I didn't do. No, I'm not.

Speaker 38 I'm asking you just to think.

Speaker 38 We're just going to give you some time here just to think.

Speaker 24 We got to grab that stuff.

Speaker 38 Anyway, think about everything that we discussed a few.

Speaker 24 But soon, Matthew called them back in.

Speaker 24 It was more than two hours into his interview, and he wanted to change his story.

Speaker 26 So, the change that I have, I did take the gun and I put it in my suitcase.

Speaker 28 I put it in the suitcase, went back,

Speaker 24 looked at her,

Speaker 15 and said,

Speaker 28 went back to the suitcase, grabbed the gun, and put it back there.

Speaker 28 What my plan was there was.

Speaker 10 Why would you move that gun?

Speaker 22 Did he explain why he moved the gun?

Speaker 8 He was scared.

Speaker 24 When Matthew put the gun back, he said he put it on Alex, the way first responders found it, with her hand on top.

Speaker 38 I mean, why would you lay your hand back down?

Speaker 28 I was moving stuff.

Speaker 31 I was moving her. I was looking at her.
That's all I know.

Speaker 32 At that point, we're like, oh, what innocent person would do this?

Speaker 24 Yet Matthew continued to insist he was innocent.

Speaker 26 That gun went off and closed her.

Speaker 28 I did did not shoot her. I knew him.

Speaker 22 And he kept saying the door to the bathroom was shut. I don't know what happened.

Speaker 24 But you didn't buy it.

Speaker 22 No. And neither did Detective Zebro.
Nope.

Speaker 24 But the detectives didn't know how they could prove it.

Speaker 24 And then they discovered a new piece of evidence.

Speaker 22 This is a big piece of the puzzle for you.

Speaker 13 Yes.

Speaker 7 What do you think of Alex and Matthew's body language in the lobby? See a timeline of the case at 48hours.com.

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Speaker 24 For hours, Matthew Ecker insisted he did not kill Alex.

Speaker 24 That she locked herself in the bathroom and fired the shot. He said he had broken open the door only after the gun went off.

Speaker 31 I heard the gun go off and that's when I opened it up.

Speaker 24 But then Detective O'Donnell got a call from the forensic unit processing the scene.

Speaker 8 Once Alex was moved, they found underneath where Alex had been laying was a round metal piece.

Speaker 13 Which is this piece right here. Yes.

Speaker 24 O'Donnell says it's a piece of the bathroom door lock. And because it was discovered on the floor under Alex's head, as seen in the CBS News animation.

Speaker 24 It had to have gotten there while Alex was still alive.

Speaker 8 For us, it meant that the door was forced open before she was shot.

Speaker 24 The detectives suspected Alex had locked the door to get away from Matthew.

Speaker 32 I believe that Alex and Matthew got in an argument. I believe that she went into the bathroom to be alone, not wanting to be with him.

Speaker 24 But when he broke open the door, they say that small piece of metal from the lock landed on the bathroom floor he forced his way in and shot her shot they say alex fell on top of the metal piece to the detectives it was the only way the piece could have ended up under her

Speaker 24 matthew ecker was charged with second-degree murder

Speaker 7 his family was stunned it's like no there's there's got to be a mistake it's just not

Speaker 5 his character he's not

Speaker 11 going to harm somebody on purpose.

Speaker 24 They hired criminal defense attorney Bruce Rivers.

Speaker 16 There's reasonable doubt all over the place that this was a homicide.

Speaker 24 Rivers says there's another explanation for how that metal piece got under Alex. He said it could have ended up under her head when Matthew Ecker attempted to help her.

Speaker 16 Because he did lift her head up.

Speaker 24 But detectives point to the way Alex was found with her legs straddling the door.

Speaker 24 If Matthew Ecker had broken open the door after hearing the gunshot, detectives say Alex's legs would have been pushed to the side.

Speaker 24 But Ecker's defense attorney says there was enough space in the bathroom that when the door was broken open, it went in between her legs.

Speaker 16 That is consistent, in my opinion, with her laying there and having shot herself.

Speaker 24 And importantly, claims Rivers, if his client had shot Alex, there would have been blood splatter on him. And that's not the case.

Speaker 16 There was not one speck of blood on his shirt, on his pants, on his face, anywhere whatsoever.

Speaker 24 The detectives say that's because Ecker most likely had reached around the door while he was trying to force his way in and fired the shot.

Speaker 8 I believe the door shielded him from the initial. Blood splatter.

Speaker 24 But Rivers says it makes much more sense that Alex took her own life. And he says, forensic testing proves Ecker wasn't the one who fired the gun.
It was Alex.

Speaker 16 There was gunshot residue on her left hand.

Speaker 22 And was her DNA found on the gun?

Speaker 7 It was.

Speaker 24 There was also no gunshot residue on Ecker. And his DNA was not found on the gun.
Detectives suspect that's because he wiped it clean before putting it on Alex.

Speaker 32 There should be his DNA. It's your gun.
You told us in an interview that you grabbed the gun. Your hands were all over that gun, but it was

Speaker 32 very clean.

Speaker 22 He admitted to having held the gun and moving the gun after the fact, yet none of his DNA was found on the gun. How do you explain that?

Speaker 16 That's not uncommon. Just because you touch something doesn't mean the DNA is going to be there.

Speaker 24 At the time of her death, Alex had almost three times the legal limit of alcohol and four different prescription medications in her system, including Prozac and Valium.

Speaker 24 Although it wasn't the cause of her death to Rivers, it showed she was struggling, as did those texts she had sent Ecker just a few days before her death.

Speaker 16 She was depressed because of her financial conditions, depressed because of her job situation. All these things compounded themselves.

Speaker 24 But detectives would discover something unusual about those prescription medications found in Alex's body. It turns out Matthew Ecker had prescribed them.

Speaker 32 He didn't tell us that he was prescribing your medication.

Speaker 22 During the investigation, you found that out.

Speaker 17 Yes. Yeah.

Speaker 24 As a licensed nurse practitioner, Ecker had the authority to write prescriptions, though normally that authority is used for a patient. Alex was not.

Speaker 8 You would think you would send her to a doctor and have her see someone else.

Speaker 13 Was his prescribing medication considered illegal, though?

Speaker 8 No, it's unethical, but it was not illegal.

Speaker 24 According to Ecker's family, Matthew had good reason.

Speaker 10 She was prescribed those medications originally by a medical doctor, so she had asked Matt if he could refill them. She would badger him.

Speaker 24 And they point to multiple texts Alex sent him days before her death, asking him to refill medications, including, I need you to send in my immediate release Adderall script.

Speaker 24 Make sure I have refills for my trazodone and metaprolol too, please. I have like three bottles of Prozac, so I'm good with that.

Speaker 24 Still, Alex's family and friends say there is no excuse.

Speaker 7 I can't get over that. As a nurse practitioner, he should have known better.

Speaker 22 So his feeling sorry for your daughter or feeling like he was doing this in the best way to try to help her, you don't believe

Speaker 13 that's the case.

Speaker 7 I don't believe it at all.

Speaker 37 Especially for someone that has a history of addiction. You don't prescribe it.

Speaker 13 As a nurse practitioner, you say no.

Speaker 24 In February 2024, Matthew Ecker's trial began. The detectives were confident they had an idea of why Matthew Ecker would have wanted Alex dead.
And it centered around their past romance.

Speaker 32 Maybe she said that she was going to call his wife and tell his wife everything.

Speaker 22 And as far as a motive, what would be the motive?

Speaker 8 Keep her quiet so the wife doesn't find out.

Speaker 16 Sure, it'd be nice if there there was some evidence of that. I mean, it was just sheer speculation.
There's nothing, not one scintilla of evidence that they were in any kind of dispute whatsoever.

Speaker 24 Instead, Rivers says he's sure that night everything came to a head for Alex, and she couldn't take it anymore.

Speaker 22 So when it boils down to it, this is a case about what the jury is going to believe, whether it's suicide or homicide.

Speaker 24 And because the medical examiner had ruled Alex's manner of death could not be determined, Rivers brought in a second one who came to the same conclusion, undetermined.

Speaker 16 If they can't determine it was a homicide, neither can you.

Speaker 24 But what would the jury think?

Speaker 24 When it was time for deliberations, everyone was nervous.

Speaker 10 It was obvious to me Matt was concerned.

Speaker 7 Selfishly, as a parent of Alex, we wanted to believe that he was guilty, but believing it and proving it are two different things.

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Speaker 6 We got a call that there had been a verdict.

Speaker 13 You just take this huge, deep breath.

Speaker 6 I'm like, oh, my gosh.

Speaker 24 In February 2024, after nine hours of deliberation, the jury came to a decision about Matthew Ecker.

Speaker 7 Matthew was guilty.

Speaker 24 Guilty of second-degree murder.

Speaker 7 Once we heard that,

Speaker 6 we were very happy.

Speaker 7 We were sad a relief. We didn't bring Alex back, but at least there was some justice served.

Speaker 24 But for Matthew Ecker's family, it was like a knife in the heart.

Speaker 17 I couldn't even function.

Speaker 22 What did you see in your brother in that moment when the jury read the verdict?

Speaker 6 Just

Speaker 11 absolute tragedy.

Speaker 6 It was awful.

Speaker 24 Two months later, on April 3rd, 2024, Matthew Ecker was back in court for sentencing.

Speaker 23 All right.

Speaker 14 We're in the next session. The Honorable Ian Hilter is presiding.

Speaker 14 I understand there are people who wish to make statements today, so how this will work.

Speaker 24 Alex's friend Jillian addresses the court.

Speaker 6 Countless times, I picked up the phone to call out, only to realize I won't ever hear her voice again.

Speaker 24 Sarah echoes their loss.

Speaker 36 Alex really was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of friend and i remember sarah you were giving your statement and

Speaker 37 unfortunately that meant i was at the level of where matt was he was sitting and i was standing and i just kept looking over at him just so she could finally focus trying to feel something you know trying to figure out what you're feeling and there was just nothing nothing

Speaker 24 Alex's parents, Mary, Joe, and Jim, implored the judge to impose a stiff sentence.

Speaker 7 Our hearts have been broken beyond repair, and the future trajectory of our lives has been changed forever.

Speaker 7 And the world lost a special soul,

Speaker 7 and we lost our baby.

Speaker 24 But Matthew Ecker's family appealed for leniency.

Speaker 10 Matt is one of the kindest and most compassionate people we know.

Speaker 18 He has spent most of his adult life helping people and caring for people.

Speaker 18 I truly believe that Matt has so much more to offer to this world.

Speaker 24 In the end.

Speaker 14 It is the sentence of the law and the judgment of the court that you serve 360 months with the Department of Corrections.

Speaker 24 The judge sentenced Matthew Ecker to 30 years for killing Alex.

Speaker 14 You are remanded to the custody of the Department of Corrections.

Speaker 6 Being

Speaker 11 him sitting in prison for 30 years is just

Speaker 6 not acceptable.

Speaker 10 He's not a murderer. He didn't do this.

Speaker 10 We will fight until it's made right.

Speaker 17 And we will not give up on him.

Speaker 24 Ecker and his wife are now divorced, and she has full custody of their four children. His family says they have not been allowed any contact with the kids.

Speaker 11 That has to be very hard as grandparents not having that connection. Yeah.

Speaker 6 Absolutely terrible.

Speaker 17 I miss them so much.

Speaker 10 Is there something you would want them to know about their dad?

Speaker 27 He loves them and

Speaker 27 cares for them and misses them and we love them.

Speaker 24 As for Alex's family, there are questions they'd still like Ecker Ecker to answer.

Speaker 11 Why'd you do it? Why?

Speaker 24 Questions with answers that may never come. What they do know is how they choose to honor Alex.
One way is through her love for animals, including a serendipitous encounter.

Speaker 7 Maybe somebody had dumped off a little baby rooster and somehow it just migrated to our house.

Speaker 7 So we built a chicken coop and we now have 12 chickens

Speaker 6 at home.

Speaker 11 And it's properly named Alex's coop.

Speaker 6 Yes.

Speaker 22 I have a feeling Alex maybe had a hand in bringing you that rooster.

Speaker 24 And every month, the Penn Eggs get together with Sarah and Jillian.

Speaker 37 And we just sit there and

Speaker 37 talk and cry and tell stories that, oh, Al would not want us to be telling Mary Joe, but we tell them because we're like, we have to relive some of these stories.

Speaker 6 Yes, they know.

Speaker 24 Alex's boyfriend, Shane, also struggles.

Speaker 21 It's heartbreaking because

Speaker 6 I love that girl.

Speaker 6 And

Speaker 21 she deserves to be here.

Speaker 21 She absolutely deserves to be here.

Speaker 24 The cemetery where Alex is buried is a short drive from where her parents live, and they visit her as often as they can.

Speaker 6 I miss you kidding.

Speaker 6 Yeah.

Speaker 6 Love you, honey.

Speaker 6 Let me at peace.

Speaker 7 I miss you, sweetheart.

Speaker 7 Matthew Ecker is appealing his conviction.

Speaker 1 Join me Tuesday for post-mortem from 48 Hours, where we'll dive even deeper into today's episode and answer your questions about the case.

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Speaker 44 Dearest Eva, I think about you all the time. Once I find you and your daughter, then I will kill you both.

Speaker 9 Those words and those threats were absolute psychological terrorism.

Speaker 15 Surviving 12 years of terror. You be prepared for my arrival.

Speaker 11 Oh my God.

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