“48 Hours” is airing a one-hour program Saturday on the 2022 killing of nurse Alexandra Lee Pennig, who jurors found was shot in the head in her downtown St. Paul apartment by her ex-lover and didn’t die by suicide as he claimed. In February, Matthew Phillip Ecker, 46, of Fergus Falls, Minn., was convicted of second-degree intentional murder, not premeditated, in the 32-year-old’s killing and given a 30-year prison sentence two months later. The former emergency room nurse, who was married at the time of the killing, has since challenged the conviction with the state Court of Appeals, which has yet to hear the case. Alexandra Lee Pennig (Courtesy of Pennig’s family) The CBS program, which airs at 9 p.m. local time, is called “The Strange Shooting of Alex Pennig.” It includes interviews with family of both Pennig and Ecker and St. Paul police investigators, as well as body-worn video from officers who responded to the 911 call from Ecker at Lofts at Farmers Market in Lowertown in the early morning hours of Dec. 16, 2022. “I talked to her at 6 o’clock that evening,” Pennig’s mother, Mary Jo Pennig, told “48 Hours.” She was doing great.” Ecker told police that Pennig had shot herself with his gun after they returned to her apartment after a night out at three downtown bars. Officers found Pennig lying on her back in the bathroom with a gunshot wound to the left side of her head. “Ecker said it was weird since (Pennig) is right-handed,” the criminal complaint said. As officers continued to arrive, they started noticing inconsistencies in Ecker’s story, the prosecution argued during Ecker’s trial. Matthew Phillip Ecker (Courtesy of Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office) After Pennig shot herself, Ecker told police, he ran to the bathroom and broke the door down with his shoulder to get inside. Officers found Pennig’s feet straddling the door and a piece of the door’s lock underneath her, which, the prosecution argued, showed the door was open and not closed when she fell to the ground. Ecker’s attorney, Bruce Rivers, told jurors the medical examiner and a forensic pathologist hired by the defense both agreed that Pennig’s manner of death “is undetermined.” Ecker, who waived his right to testify, had no motive to kill Pennig, Rivers said, adding that he cared for her and even loved her. Prosecutors pointed out to jurors they did not have to prove motive to secure a guilty conviction. They offered one up anyway: Ecker had been financially supporting Pennig and she planned to live with her new boyfriend, who punched Ecker in the face at a bar about an hour before the killing. Related Articles Crime & Public Safety | St. Paul celebrity chef Justin Sutherland arrested for allegedly violating no-contact order Crime & Public Safety | Georgia men who killed Ahmaud Arbery want a new trial Crime & Public Safety | Prosecutors seek resentencing for Erik and Lyle Menendez in 1989 killings of their parents Crime & Public Safety | The RNC is rebuilding its legal operation after Trump allies’ failed effort to undo the 2020 race Crime & Public Safety | Trump says he will fire special counsel Jack Smith ‘within 2 seconds’ if re-elected