Sister Sentenced For Involvement Chatfield Woman’s Overdose Death

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Preston, MN (KROC-AM News) - An Albert Lea woman was sentenced today for her role in the drug overdose death of her sister at her family's rural Chatfield home two years ago on this date.

Court records show 50-year-old Jeanne Penhollow has been ordered to spend a total of 180 days in jail over the next three years. The jail time will be served in 60-day increments for the first two years beginning each time on the anniversary of her sister's death. The duration of her sentence will be reduced to 30 days in jail, starting on the grim anniversary, in 2026 and 2027.

Penhollow will also spend the next 10 years on supervised probation. The judge in the case did grant her a stay of adjudication, which means her conviction could be erased from her criminal record if she successfully serves the jail time and completes probation.

She earlier entered a guilty plea to a third-degree murder charge through a plea agreement that led to the dismissal of another count of third-degree murder, and two felony drug charges. Her guilty plea was to aiding and abetting third-degree murder, accomplice after the fact.

According to the criminal complaint, Pennhollow told an investigator she knew her sister used oxycodone and family members reported the victim had significant back pain, migraines, and a history of asthma. An autopsy determined her death was caused by the toxic effects of fentanyl and oxycodone.

About 10 months later, Fillmore County investigators were contacted by the victim's daughter who indicated she had information regarding the source of the pills that may have led to her mother's death.

The criminal complaint says the daughter showed the investigators text messages between herself and Penhollow during which Pennhollow admitted supplying the victim with some pills the night of her death. It read, "I got a few pills for her. I have gotten them before from that person, nothing happened to anyone else. She had a few different pills."

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