A Colorado woman has been convicted of poisoning her father and encasing his body in concrete in a crawl space under his home.
The Denver Post reports 45-year-old Dayna Michele Jennings was convicted on Monday, July 15, of first-degree murder and tampering with a human body.
JUST IN: Woman who poisoned her father and buried him in a crawl space is convicted of murder in Adams County https://t.co/thn0VfcUKQ via @kierannicholson
— The Denver Post (@denverpost) July 16, 2019
The body of 69-year-old William Mussack was found by investigators in January 2018, about a month after family and friends stopped hearing from him.
Mussack was found at a suburban Denver home in the 10000 block of Eliot Circle, Federal Heights, FOX8 reported.
Authorities say Mussack’s son told police his father sent a text message on Dec. 7 saying Jennings had “drugged” him.
“William Mussack described the feeling of being drugged and falling asleep in a recliner chair for 15 hours,” a portion of an arrest affidavit from Federal Heights Police reads.
“He recalled taking a bite from a hamburger, and the hamburger was still on an end table with one bite taken out of it when he awoke.”
An autopsy determined Mussack was poisoned by acepromazine, an animal tranquilizer.
Jennings was arrested on the same day the remains of her father’s body were found encased in concrete—and out of sight in a crawlspace area of his home.
Police say Jennings told investigators she poured the concrete into the crawlspace, where the remains were found.
Jennings is scheduled to be sentenced in August.
Investigation
Jennings and Mussack shared a house together. Neighbors also told FOX8 that the daughter’s boyfriend lived at the home.
When police investigated Jennings’s home they said, “The odor in the home was bad, smelling like sewage and something rotting,” according to the affidavit.
Jennings ex-husband said her life went into a “downward spiral” adding that her massage business had abruptly closed in November 2017, according to 9NEWS.
According to the affidavit, Jennings sent a text to her brother complaining that her father was being abusive to her and that he was too poor to pay the house rent.
But Mussack’s family and friends told police that the assertions were out of character for Mussack.
Epoch Times reporter Bowen Xiao and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
