The first-degree murder trial for a St. Anthony man accused of killing his estranged wife remains on track following an appearance in Supreme Court this morning.

It’s going on nine years since 38-year-old Jennifer Hillier-Penney disappeared from the town on the tip of the Northern Peninsula.

And for more than seven of those years there was little if any sign of progress in the investigation, with no arrest or suspect identified.

Then, in December of 2023, the break and news that the woman’s family and friends had been hoping for — the arrest of her estranged husband, Dean Penney, for first-degree murder, with police describing it as a case of intimate partner violence.

That’s despite the fact that a body has not been found, though it’s not for a lack of trying — with numerous searches of waters around St. Anthony.

Those searches have been the result of evidence gathered by RCMP over the past seven years, the details of which are under strict publication bans which extend to undercover officers involved with the case.

Hillier-Penney was last seen at Dean Penney’s house on Husky Drive in St. Anthony on Nov. 30, 2016, while Penney was reportedly hunting at his cabin in nearby Northwest Arm. She had been living with her father while in the process of separating from her husband.

A preliminary inquiry held last year determined that there is enough evidence to warrant a trial.

Penney has remained in custody since his arrest, and appeared by video this morning in Supreme Court in St. John’s, as lawyers continued to carefully lay the groundwork for that judge and jury trial.

The case returns to Corner Brook Supreme Court next month to deal with additional applications ahead of the trial, due to start in April of next year.