DA confirms Penner jail death was suicide, releases note
Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel said Wednesday his office has confirmed that a county jail inmate who killed his ex-girlfriend and left her body in a remote area 20 miles southeast of Bend died by suicide, and released a note he had penned denying the crime.
Hummel said in a news release he has completed his legal review into the March 11 death of Bryan Penner, 31, in the jail showers and “concluded the manner of death was suicide by hanging.”
Penner was arrested on charges of violating a restraining order Sara Gomez, 24, had taken out against him in December.
He was arrested shortly after Gomez disappeared in February, prompting extensive searches over a wide area east of Bend, until a hiker discovered her body, wrapped in a tarp, not far from Highway 20 late last month.
The DA said evidence found at his apartment confirmed Penner was the only person involved in her killing.
Immediately preceding his death, Penner wrote a note that he left on his bunk in the jail, Hummel said. In the note, Penner again denied that he killed Sara Gomez.
“And most disturbing was his false claim that Sara had gotten back together with him before she went missing,” the DA added.
“Sara I hope you’re happy cause you’ve crushed me once again, I hope you’re OK,” he wrote at one point, later adding, “I hope you’re not blaming me for the Sara s*** you know I’d never harm her.”
Hummel said, “The Deschutes County Major Crimes Team, under the leadership of Oregon State Police Sergeant Roberto Robles, conducted a thorough, professional, and competent investigation.”
And he issued this statement:
“I continue to be respectful of Bryan Penner’s family as they grieve his death and disdainful of Bryan Penner for what he did to Sara Gomez. I’ve previously expressed my contempt for Mr. Penner killing Sara.
“My contempt deepens because in his suicide note he had the gall to claim Sara got back together with him before he killed her. In Sara’s final months of life, she fled an abusive relationship, filed for a restraining order, and began a new relationship.
“Penner could not accept that Sara had moved on with her life, and this is why he brutally murdered her. Shame on him for thinking he could re-write the final chapter of her life.”
