Former New England Patriots defensive tackle Mike Pennel has been linked to a homicide investigation in the Dominican Republic, and ESPN is reporting that the longtime NFL veteran has been deemed a "person of interest." The body of a woman, 22-year-old Carli Franchesca Guzmán Roche, was found earlier this year after she had been missing since 2021. The body was found on a property that Pennel owned at the time of the disappearance in the town of Sosúa. ESPN says that Pennel had sold the property in 2025, and the body was discovered after a worker was digging a trench in January. Officials identified Guzmán after the DNA of the body matched that of her eight-year-old son. While a cause of death hasn't been released, the attorney general's office told ESPN that it is being investihated as a homicide. "This Is Fake News Being Reported" Pennel, in a text message to ESPN, dismissing the story as nothing more than "fake news." "This isn't a story," Pennel wrote. "I'm not legally involved.…