Missing girl's father testifies at murder trial

Walter M. Pennington Jr. recalled giving his daughter April a little goodnight "sugar" - a kiss on the cheek and a hug - before she went to bed at the family's Uncasville home on May 29, 1996.

It was the last time he ever saw her.

His voice cracking at times, the father of the missing girl testified for more than two hours Monday as the capital murder trial of George M. Leniart got under way in New London Superior Court.

State police say the 15-year-old Montville High School sophomore crawled out a basement window of the Orchard Drive home later that night and hopped into the pickup truck of a killer. Leniart, a convicted sex offender from Uncasville, is accused of kidnapping, sexually assaulting and murdering April. Her body has never been recovered, but the state brought charges against Leniart in 2008. He has pleaded not guilty and opted to take his case to trial.

Photos, high school friends

Pennington, a retired Navy sailor, traveled from Pleasant Garden, N.C., to testify as the state's first witness. He leaned on a cane as he made his way to the witness stand.

April's mother, Hazel, spoke to the media many times over the years about her daughter's disappearance. Pennington said his wife was ill and that her doctor recommended that she not attend the trial.

The state introduced April to the jury through photographs and testimony from her father and three high school friends, Jackie Scott, Crystal Kalin and Patricia Lavallee-Holdridge. All of them said she was "a normal teenager." She went to the mall. She sang in the chorus. She was bubbly, outgoing and made friends easily. She sneaked cigarettes and talked about boys.

None of the witnesses knew Leniart, who was 30 years old and living at his parents' house on Massapeag Side Road in 1996. They did know Patrick "PJ" Allain, the teenager who told police that he and Leniart picked up April and had sex with her on the night she disappeared.

Allain, who is serving a prison sentence for an unrelated sexual assault, is expected to testify this afternoon. He has told the police that April was still in Leniart's pickup truck when Leniart dropped him off that night. Allain said when he saw Leniart the next day, Leniart told him he had killed April.

Pennington testified that April was not happy about the family's upcoming move to New Jersey because she had friends in Montville and a boyfriend, Michael Eldridge. He said his daughter's reaction did not cause him concern, because the family had been transferred before.

He said he was aware that April had sneaked out of the home on other occasions, and that she had been punished. Pennington said he knew something wasn't right when April was not in her bed on the morning of May 30.

"She was always there the next morning," the father said.

He said April put a teddy bear under the sheets of her bed to make it look like somebody was sleeping there.

The father also admitted that he and his wife had each slapped April once before, and that the girl called police after the incident with her mother. No arrests resulted, and the family was never involved with the state Department of Children and Families, he said. He also said that April had "scraped her arm up with a piece of tin." She had intentionally cut herself with a soda can.

"That was an attention-getter," the father said.

He denied that his daughter had mental health issues and admitted he was aware that she had tried marijuana. He said his daughter's disappearance struck him as "not right."

"We had discussed before that she should always contact us no matter what," Pennington said.

Defense attorney Norman A. Pattis honed in on April's failing school grades and other problems in the Pennington household during his cross-examination of Mr. Pennington. April had broken up with her boyfriend, Michael, a few days before she disappeared.

"Were you aware that on May 25, they had broken up and she threatened to kill herself?" Pattis asked.

"No," Pennington answered. "Just that they had broken up. They had fought some."

Pattis also grilled April's friends, causing all three to cry. Oddly, all of them said they were close friends of April, but none knew about the boyfriend. All admitted they did not remember some details of the case, because so much time had passed.

Scott and Kalin testified they had planned to sneak out of their houses, meet up with April and go to a party in Waterford on that May night in 1996. Scott said she didn't go because another friend came to her house to sleep over, and she got tired. Pattis asked her why she didn't take the other friend to the party.

"She (April) said they were being picked up in a truck and there wasn't room," Scott testified.

Kalin said she did not go because she was afraid she would get caught by her father.