April 18, 2024 • 23 mins
Lexi discusses Delaware's only serial killer, Steven Pennell.
https://delawaretoday.com/life-style/route-40-delaware-serial-killer/
https://allthatsinteresting.com/steven-brian-pennell
https://delawaretoday.com/life-style/route-40-delaware-serial-killer/
https://allthatsinteresting.com/steven-brian-pennell
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Episode Transcript
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(00:11):
This podcast discusses true crime, whichmay tell violence, and other material intended
for a mature audience. Listener discretionis advised. Hey, it's Kayla and
it's LEXI. I wasn't sure ifit was uncounting that for a second.
You were like, hey, watchyou freeze? Hey, what do you
have for us? So today I'mgoing to be covering a case that was
(00:34):
actually suggested to me a while backby a friend of mine. So Cole,
if you're listening, shout out toyou, I'm covering a case you
requested. So this is about aman named Stephen Brian Pannell, also known
as the Root forty killer. Thisman is, as far as we know,
Delaware's only serial killer in recent history. But I know Delaware is a
(00:59):
tiny state, but like one serialkiller, it's kind of like, I
don't know, it's kind of likeRhode Island. Does Rhode Island have one?
That's such a good question, becauseRhode Island's really small too. Rhode
Island, Yep, they do,sure do have one. Oh ooh recent
(01:21):
too, Oh between two thousand andthree and two thousand and four. Oh
oh, that's very recent. Oh, I guess one of us is gonna
have to cover that in a futureepisode. Wow, okay, killers of
tiny States, right, new section. So this man earned his nickname for
I mean a pretty apparent reason.He committed the murders in Newcastle County,
(01:42):
Delaware, where he abducted his victimsoff of primarily Route forty. So there's
not a lot of records about hisearly life, and what there is is
surprisingly tame, which I feel likeis not very common. It's very rare
that we start out these episodes withand they had a normal, healthy childhood.
So Pinell was born November twenty second, nineteen fifty seven in Wilmington,
(02:06):
Delaware, and he seemed to bea shy and unassuming child in his early
years and was apparently obsessed with policework as a child. Uh, he
was frequently like talking to local copsand they're off time and like quizzing them
on stuff. So that was reallyit just was really into police work,
but otherwise seemed relatively normal and shy. No like immediate red flags there.
(02:29):
I feel like that's like a verynormal thing for a kid to be into.
Yeah, it's like what do youwant to be when you grow a
cop? Cool? Right? Likecops munch of cops exactly. Yeah,
it's one of like there's there's likesix careers. When you're a kid,
that's like, yeah, that's that'swhat I'm gonna pick to be my personality
for the next like five years ofmy life. And then you learn that
like accounting as a thing, andyou're like, Okay, maybe I should
(02:51):
wag my rest benefit. You know, I feel like it's like veterinarian,
doctor, police officer, slash firefirefighter, construction, construction that's a big
one. Archaeologist may like astronaut isin there, and like pro athlete.
I feel like those are like thoseare pick one. You know, you're
five years old, pick one tomake your personality. So Panell did study
(03:17):
criminal justice in college and hopes ofbecoming a police officer, but he ended
up failing the physical assessment portion,so he never was able to become a
law enforcement official. Panell did,however, become an electrician instead in nineteen
eighty seven. At this time,he was married, He had a wife
with two sons, and his wifehad a daughter from a previous relationship.
(03:40):
So Panell was apparently just an absolutemountain of a person. He was nearly
six and a half feet tall overtwo meters for our listeners across the pond,
and roughly three hundred pounds, andhe worked as a bouncer as a
side gig to his electrician job.He did, Yes, he's huge,
(04:00):
Like what else are you gonna do? Exactly right, I will say I'm
a little bit shocked that it saidhe failed the physical fitness portion of being
a police officer. Like I feellike with that stature, you kind of
have a little bit of an advantage. Maybe it was somethings, but maybe
like he wasn't like his cardio wasn't. That's what I don't have to be
(04:23):
able to run like a mile inlike a certain amount of time. That's
what I'm thinking, Like maybe therewas, Yeah, there was like a
cardio portion or something like that,because you know, just the larger you
are, the harder it is tomove that mass. Really, so,
even though he looked intimidating, thepeople around him seemed to describe him as
anything but. And apparently he hada lot of difficulty holding down a job.
(04:46):
One quote that I was reading inan article basically said that his presence
quote unquote, did not demand respector did not command respect, whatever that
meant. So we do see thefirst major glaring red flag of violence in
his adulthood, where he did allegedlybeat his wife once, breaking her arm
(05:12):
during a domestic violence incident, whichdid not go on to be reported to
police, which is fairly common forvery severe and dangerous domestic violence incidents because
oftentimes reporting will sometimes escalate the abusewithout actually protecting the victim. So even
though I technically, like, youknow, you have to you know,
use the word allegedly like he hada history of domestic violence, and this
(05:36):
is a very significant predictor of thatviolence escalating too, something like family annihilation,
being a serial killer, et cetera. It's never something that just sort
of gets better now. So Pennellcommitted his first murder on November twenty ninth,
(05:56):
at nineteen eighty seven. The victimwas a woman named Shirley Anna,
and she was last seen leaving hershift at a hospital in Wilmington, Delaware.
Her body was later found by Rootforty by two boys, and it
was clear that Ellis had been severelybrutalized, which was confirmed later by autopsy.
And it became a regular event forpanel to take long night drives up
(06:17):
and down Roots forty and thirteen inNewcastle, Delaware, as he apparently suffered
from insomnia. This also made iteasy for him to sort of abduct these
girls without witnesses. There were nowitnesses for Ellis's abduction that reported seeing her
get into a car, with anyonereported seeing her approach by anyone. She
(06:40):
was just last seen leaving the hospitaland then her body was later found on
the side of the road where itwas very very clear in the state of
it. They had found pieces ofduct tape in her hair, she had
significant budgeting on her head, andher clothing was significantly torn. Wow,
But no one had no no onehad seen her, you know, no
one had any idea what happened inbetween her leaving the hospital and then her
(07:04):
being discovered. So the second ofPinell's victims was a woman named Catherine Tomorrow
on June twenty eighth, nineteen eightyeight. So Tomorrow's remains were discovered at
a construction site around six am bythe workers the next morning. She had
been brutalized in a very similar fashionto Ellis, specifically with multiple hammer wounds
(07:27):
to her skull, but her bodywas also found to be covered in blue
fibers, which was not something originallyseen on Ellis. So this is where
we start to get a little bitof an idea of that, like a
little just a little more evidence,a little more something to work with on
who is taking these women. Ifeel like the hammer is also an escalation
because that wasn't on the first victim, right, it was actually, Sorry
(07:50):
I am I think I forgot tomention that, but yes, So basically
all of Pinell's victims were found beatento death by multiple blows from a common
hammer to this skull. Oh wow. I don't generally like to put a
lot of like a lot of gorydetails, Like I know it is a
(08:15):
true crime podcast, but it's alsojust not our vibe to just go into
the violent descriptions of the actual slayingitself in detail. But I will say
this one is at least a littlebit of relevant. Is something that was
common with all of the victims isalmost all of them were found bound in
some way, usually with duct tape, with significant head bludgeoning, usually the
(08:35):
instrument in question being identified as ahammer. None of them were found with
any evidence of sexual assault, andusually their clothing was found to be torn
or missing. I wonder what hismotive was, because if it wasn't robbery
and it wasn't like sexually charged,that I don't know and what's just to
do with that. What's strange tome is throughout the trial and throughout my
(08:58):
research, which in this case notto spoil anything, but that's never really
revealed. It's truly just never reallyrevealed why he decided to start doing this
someday. Maybe it was just likea power trip for him because he was
so big, he knew he couldlike ever power women. That's what I'm
wondering, That's what I'm wondering isis maybe it felt like he was it
(09:20):
was like something that he had controlover, and I guess maybe that was
his motive maybe. And you know, we know that there was always kind
of that violence bring out of thesurface, because even if there was nothing
formally documented in his childhood that wasabnormal. No one just wakes up one
day and is like, I'm goingto beat my wife so severely that I
(09:41):
break her bones. You know,something something has to happen before that.
That doesn't just come out of theblue. But the trial was weird,
which which I will get into sofollowing the second discovery, law enforcement had
determined that the two women were thework of the same serial killer and formed
(10:03):
a task force of sixty people totry and catch him. And on August
twenty second, nineteen eighty eight,a woman named Margaret Margaret Lynne Finner disappeared
and was found three months later nearthe Chesapeake, Delaware Canal. Her remains
were badly decomposed, but still showedsigns of similar torture to the two other
women. Her body was able tobe identified via dental records. Witnesses had
(10:26):
reported Finner being seen getting into ablue Ford with a white male the day
she went missing, so this oneat least there were some witnesses to her
abduction, and on September sixteenth,nineteen eighty eight, a woman named Michelle
Gordon was also seen entering a blueFord with a white male. Her body
was discovered on the twentieth of thatsame month near the same canal that Finner
(10:48):
would later be discovered. Gordon's autopsyshowed signs of being poisoned to death with
cocaine, likely by pinell as.Her injuries sustained were determined to be postmartem.
Post mortem on Attolite, and onSeptember twenty third, nineteen eighty eight,
a woman named Kathleen Meyer disappeared afterbeing seen getting into again a blue
Ford, which was later determined tobelong to Panel, but her body,
(11:11):
unfortunately to this day, has neverbeen found. He was brought to justice
relatively shortly so. In September fourteenth, nineteen eighty eight, an undercover cop,
My goodness, I am reading liketoo many words ahead today. I'm
so sorry. On September fourteenth,nineteen eighty eight, an undercover cop named
(11:31):
Renee Tashner, who was posing asa sex worker along Route forty, noticed
a blue Ford that passed by herseven times in twenty minutes. She continued
onto a more isolated section of road, hoping Panel would follow her, and
he did so. He did openthe door to try and convince Tashner to
get in his vehicle, and whenhe did that, Tashner noticed the interior
(11:52):
of the ford had blue carpet likethe ones found on tomorrow. Now.
I know this was the eighties,but I feel like blue blue carpet in
a car is not very common.No, that has to be like a
specialty car thing. Yeah, likeblue upholstery is like I've seen gray,
I've seen Champagne, I've seen black. I don't think I've ever seen blue
(12:13):
even like navy now, I don'tthink I have. Yeah. Panell did
try to nervously convince Tashner to getinto his vehicle, and Tashner had managed
to convince Panel that she was tootired, but still managed to tear some
blue carpet from the ford at theedge of the door for forensic testing and
wrote down the license plate number.Police were able to obtain a warrant to
(12:35):
search Panel's vehicles and property and initiallybugged his van, where Panell did actually
find and remove the bug, butat that point the police had plenty of
evidence to secure a warrant and onhis property. In his van, they
found evidence of hair, blood,and prints that all matched the victims,
and this was also a oh I'msorry. There was also discovered what was
(13:03):
described as a torture kit in thisvehicle, which contained duct tape, restraints,
knives, pliers, handcuffs, andneedles. Oh the needles are just
yeah, yeah, So he was. I mean, it's very clear that
he was not just murdering these women. I mean, he was torturing them
to death. That made me thinkof have you heard of the toy box
(13:26):
Killer? I think so? Ithink so. Didn't we cover that in
a much earlier episode. I'm notcovering that one oh one is like he
had like severe toys quote unquote,and like he would tie you up and
then have this record playing of likethis recording that he made of like what's
going to happen to you? Ohthat's horrific. I have heard of the
(13:48):
toy box Killer. I don't know. I don't know if like I know
the full details about the case,but the name sounds extremely familiar. I
wonder for something that maybe I talkedabout in a forensic class in college.
Maybe it's a pretty like well knowncase. So something interesting is when Panell
(14:11):
was arrested, he allegedly said,quote well, I guess it's time unquote
to the arresting officers, like hejust knew he was eventually gonna get caught
and was like, oh yeah,might as well be now. Just baffling
this is it's just a very bafflingcase. So nonchalant about the whole thing.
Yeah, like, oh yeah,I guess it's time. Yep.
(14:33):
So Panell was arrested November twenty ninth, nineteen eighty eight. Interesting thing about
when he was arrested. I wastalking about this case with a coworker of
mine and I was talking with uh, actually, I was talking about two
coworkers of mine about I'm like,yeah, this is the case I was
covering. Because a bunch of mycoworkers follow the podcast, and you know,
(14:54):
they last met about it. We'lltalk about it, and I'm like
yeah. I was like, I'mactually covering a case that someone suggested about
a zero killer, you know,basin Delaware. And my other coworker walks
by. He's like, oh,are you talking about panel? And I
was like, yeah, how youknow? I mean, how'd you know?
Maybe assuming they just knew it wasDelaware's only serial killer. He was
like, yeah, I was therethe day he got arrested. So I
(15:16):
work with someone who was on ajob site with Panell when he worked in
construction, and I guess what hesaid is he said Panell just gave him
the creeps, like he just methim that day. He's like, that
guy just gives me the creeps.He's like, I don't like him.
I don't get good vibes. Likehe's like, he hasn't done anything,
(15:37):
but he is making me really uneasy. And I guess he must have joked
with like his supervisor at the time. He's like, I wonder if you
know he's got any connection with thegirls that have been going missing. And
I guess they sort of looked athis plates told my coworker like lay low,
and we're kind of like, yeah, just stay away from him.
He's creepy. And then eventually theyrevealed to him that they were like the
(16:00):
police are en route, like theyare coming to arrest him, and he
said, like five cop cars showedup and took him into custody. That's
crazy. So I just happened toknow someone personally who met this guy right
before he got arrested and was like, he just scared the you know what
enemies like he gave me such thecreeps, And when I told my supervisor
about it, I'm like, hey, that guy just makes me really uneasy.
(16:21):
They kind of looked into it alittle bit and we're like, hmm,
that's a license plate that's wanted,and they like it's all it's all
clicking yep. And they basically theynotified the proper authorities and had him taken
in. So I don't know ifhe just happened to be right place,
right time, or if him actuallysaying something to his supervisor spurred them to
contact law enforcement, or if theywere already in pursuit. Yeah. So,
(16:45):
but yeah, that's that's kind ofa very wild degree of separation that
I found out yesterday that I havefrom this case. Yeah, that's I
how rare is it to like knowsomebody that like met I guess I kind
of met the serial killer? Yeahyeah, yeah, I mean he did,
he did meet him, he did, I guess. I guess he
(17:07):
spoke with him at the work siteand just just said he just added awful
vibes. I mean, now weknow why. So let me see here.
So during the trial, Panel's defensetried to claim that the carpet fibers
were illegally obtained from Panel's vehicle,making the evidence moot. The claim was
(17:30):
dismissed by Judge gebeline By stating thecarpet was immediately visible once Penell's door was
opened and therefore was fair game.The persecution had overwhelming DNA evidence against Penell
as well, and this was thefirst trial in the us to utilize DNA
evidence as absolute legal evidence, anda team of experts and scientists were also
(17:53):
present for the trial to verify theaccuracy and validity of the DNA results.
So this is kind of a majorpresident because DNA as the structure and function
was only discovered in the fifties,So being able to you to be used
as effectively damning forensic evidence in theeighties was like kind of a pretty big
deal at the time, and nowit's standard. DNA evidence is very very
(18:15):
standard in forensics now. On Novembertwenty third, nineteen eighty nine, Panell
was initially charged guilty of the murdersof Tomorrow and Ellis, but acquitted of
Gordon's murder due to lack of evidence. He was given two life sentences.
Panel's lawyer had attempted to appeal thecourt about the carpet fibers being obtained illegally,
but was unsuccessful and Penell dismissed hislawyer and elected to represent himself after
(18:38):
this. After dismissing his lawyer,Penell had pleaded to receive the death penalty,
quoting verses from the Bible regarding thepunishment he should receive, but he
fired his lawyer and requested the deathpenalty. Yeah, that doesn't make any
(19:02):
sense. Yes, again, everythingabout this case motive wise is very very
very confusing to me. That isconfusing. Like wow, Like as a
criminal, what you want like thelesser sentence instead of like, oh,
you know, it just killed me, you would think me whatever. So,
in nineteen ninety one, due tonewer evidence, he was convicted of
(19:26):
both the murders of Gordon and Meyer, to which he pleaded no contest,
But he did refuse to reveal thelocation of Meyer's body, which is why
to this day it's still not beenfound. Panell was formally put to death
by lethal injection on March fourteenth,nineteen ninety two. Wow, and that
that's what we wanted. So yeah, and that is what I have for
(19:48):
you on Stephen Panell, Delaware's onlyserial killer and someone I have one degree
of separation from that twisted that's aweird, twisted one. Yeah, yeah,
yeah, So this one had,Like I said, I was really
(20:08):
hoping for a little bit more oflike some early life stuff to kind of
help explain his propensity to violence,and I just I found so little.
This was definitely a weird one.I'm looking on Kindle. No, if
there's no books on him that Ican find. I almost feel like for
(20:29):
it being such a strange case,such strange behavior for a serial killer,
that it would be more popular.But I mean, I guess that's kind
of why we're here on this podcast, is to give you guys the stuff
you haven't already heard of before.It's why we haven't covered like Ted Bundy.
Yeah, you guys know who thatis. Yeah, Like because normally,
(20:51):
like I feel like there's like maybeone other we covered where they had
like an okay childhood, like oneor two were their child was like somewhat
normal. Yeah, then like theymaybe have had like a traumatic brain injury,
and there's like it's so controversial andif that even causes anything, yeah,
some might want to touch on that. Yeah. And there's also the
other thing too, is sometimes evenwhen they're reported to have a really normal
(21:14):
childhood, like someone can be lyinglike the you know, the neighborhood cats
could all be going missing, butthey're like not, my boy, you
know, it's just a coincidence,right. I Mean I feel like we
all know at least like one parentthat like their child can do no wrong.
And their child is like already aserial killer. Oh my gosh,
(21:37):
it makes me think of the you'veprobably hadn't heard of this, a Stupenville
rape case. Yes, yes,how his mom was like his biggest defender.
Yeah, like, oh, hecan do no wrong. He doesn't
deserve to be punished. Like,no, he does very much, does
I swear? Some I think someparents like have kids and their brain just
(22:03):
falls out, Like I don't.I don't know a better way to describe
it, because I mean I've seen, We've covered other criminal cases where the
mother defends them or is in totaldenial or even enables them. I was
reading about a case today where therewas a woman who was using a teaching
job to traffic students for her adultson. Yeah, oh my god.
(22:26):
Yeah, just I just was seeingthat on Twitter today scrolling by, and
it's that was really horrific. That'sbeyond enabling, that's just yeah promples,
Yeah exactly exactly. Yeah, you'rea more than an accessory at that point,
like you're you're a human trafficker's Yeah, that's excessive, yes, exactly,
(22:48):
But that is what I have foryou today. On Stephen Panel,
the Root forty killer if you guyshave any suggestions any more. Discussion is
the best place for it. We'vealso got our Patreon and I think we've
got some new members recently. Welcome, Welcome. It's a lot of fun
having new people on the Patreon.Please vote, Please vote for the bonus
(23:11):
episodes. Otherwise you will give mefree rein once again. And I did
weird things last time I was givenfree rein. I go to Reddit and
I find whatever speaks to me.And I feel like that was that was
strangely wicked, That was confusingly wicked. Yeah,
This podcast discusses true crime, whichmay tell violence, and other material intended
for a mature audience. Listener discretionis advised. Hey, it's Kayla and
it's LEXI. I wasn't sure ifit was uncounting that for a second.
You were like, hey, watchyou freeze? Hey, what do you
have for us? So today I'mgoing to be covering a case that was
(00:34):
actually suggested to me a while backby a friend of mine. So Cole,
if you're listening, shout out toyou, I'm covering a case you
requested. So this is about aman named Stephen Brian Pannell, also known
as the Root forty killer. Thisman is, as far as we know,
Delaware's only serial killer in recent history. But I know Delaware is a
(00:59):
tiny state, but like one serialkiller, it's kind of like, I
don't know, it's kind of likeRhode Island. Does Rhode Island have one?
That's such a good question, becauseRhode Island's really small too. Rhode
Island, Yep, they do,sure do have one. Oh ooh recent
(01:21):
too, Oh between two thousand andthree and two thousand and four. Oh
oh, that's very recent. Oh, I guess one of us is gonna
have to cover that in a futureepisode. Wow, okay, killers of
tiny States, right, new section. So this man earned his nickname for
I mean a pretty apparent reason.He committed the murders in Newcastle County,
(01:42):
Delaware, where he abducted his victimsoff of primarily Route forty. So there's
not a lot of records about hisearly life, and what there is is
surprisingly tame, which I feel likeis not very common. It's very rare
that we start out these episodes withand they had a normal, healthy childhood.
So Pinell was born November twenty second, nineteen fifty seven in Wilmington,
(02:06):
Delaware, and he seemed to bea shy and unassuming child in his early
years and was apparently obsessed with policework as a child. Uh, he
was frequently like talking to local copsand they're off time and like quizzing them
on stuff. So that was reallyit just was really into police work,
but otherwise seemed relatively normal and shy. No like immediate red flags there.
(02:29):
I feel like that's like a verynormal thing for a kid to be into.
Yeah, it's like what do youwant to be when you grow a
cop? Cool? Right? Likecops munch of cops exactly. Yeah,
it's one of like there's there's likesix careers. When you're a kid,
that's like, yeah, that's that'swhat I'm gonna pick to be my personality
for the next like five years ofmy life. And then you learn that
like accounting as a thing, andyou're like, Okay, maybe I should
(02:51):
wag my rest benefit. You know, I feel like it's like veterinarian,
doctor, police officer, slash firefirefighter, construction, construction that's a big
one. Archaeologist may like astronaut isin there, and like pro athlete.
I feel like those are like thoseare pick one. You know, you're
five years old, pick one tomake your personality. So Panell did study
(03:17):
criminal justice in college and hopes ofbecoming a police officer, but he ended
up failing the physical assessment portion,so he never was able to become a
law enforcement official. Panell did,however, become an electrician instead in nineteen
eighty seven. At this time,he was married, He had a wife
with two sons, and his wifehad a daughter from a previous relationship.
(03:40):
So Panell was apparently just an absolutemountain of a person. He was nearly
six and a half feet tall overtwo meters for our listeners across the pond,
and roughly three hundred pounds, andhe worked as a bouncer as a
side gig to his electrician job.He did, Yes, he's huge,
(04:00):
Like what else are you gonna do? Exactly right, I will say I'm
a little bit shocked that it saidhe failed the physical fitness portion of being
a police officer. Like I feellike with that stature, you kind of
have a little bit of an advantage. Maybe it was somethings, but maybe
like he wasn't like his cardio wasn't. That's what I don't have to be
(04:23):
able to run like a mile inlike a certain amount of time. That's
what I'm thinking, Like maybe therewas, Yeah, there was like a
cardio portion or something like that,because you know, just the larger you
are, the harder it is tomove that mass. Really, so,
even though he looked intimidating, thepeople around him seemed to describe him as
anything but. And apparently he hada lot of difficulty holding down a job.
(04:46):
One quote that I was reading inan article basically said that his presence
quote unquote, did not demand respector did not command respect, whatever that
meant. So we do see thefirst major glaring red flag of violence in
his adulthood, where he did allegedlybeat his wife once, breaking her arm
(05:12):
during a domestic violence incident, whichdid not go on to be reported to
police, which is fairly common forvery severe and dangerous domestic violence incidents because
oftentimes reporting will sometimes escalate the abusewithout actually protecting the victim. So even
though I technically, like, youknow, you have to you know,
use the word allegedly like he hada history of domestic violence, and this
(05:36):
is a very significant predictor of thatviolence escalating too, something like family annihilation,
being a serial killer, et cetera. It's never something that just sort
of gets better now. So Pennellcommitted his first murder on November twenty ninth,
(05:56):
at nineteen eighty seven. The victimwas a woman named Shirley Anna,
and she was last seen leaving hershift at a hospital in Wilmington, Delaware.
Her body was later found by Rootforty by two boys, and it
was clear that Ellis had been severelybrutalized, which was confirmed later by autopsy.
And it became a regular event forpanel to take long night drives up
(06:17):
and down Roots forty and thirteen inNewcastle, Delaware, as he apparently suffered
from insomnia. This also made iteasy for him to sort of abduct these
girls without witnesses. There were nowitnesses for Ellis's abduction that reported seeing her
get into a car, with anyonereported seeing her approach by anyone. She
(06:40):
was just last seen leaving the hospitaland then her body was later found on
the side of the road where itwas very very clear in the state of
it. They had found pieces ofduct tape in her hair, she had
significant budgeting on her head, andher clothing was significantly torn. Wow,
But no one had no no onehad seen her, you know, no
one had any idea what happened inbetween her leaving the hospital and then her
(07:04):
being discovered. So the second ofPinell's victims was a woman named Catherine Tomorrow
on June twenty eighth, nineteen eightyeight. So Tomorrow's remains were discovered at
a construction site around six am bythe workers the next morning. She had
been brutalized in a very similar fashionto Ellis, specifically with multiple hammer wounds
(07:27):
to her skull, but her bodywas also found to be covered in blue
fibers, which was not something originallyseen on Ellis. So this is where
we start to get a little bitof an idea of that, like a
little just a little more evidence,a little more something to work with on
who is taking these women. Ifeel like the hammer is also an escalation
because that wasn't on the first victim, right, it was actually, Sorry
(07:50):
I am I think I forgot tomention that, but yes, So basically
all of Pinell's victims were found beatento death by multiple blows from a common
hammer to this skull. Oh wow. I don't generally like to put a
lot of like a lot of gorydetails, Like I know it is a
(08:15):
true crime podcast, but it's alsojust not our vibe to just go into
the violent descriptions of the actual slayingitself in detail. But I will say
this one is at least a littlebit of relevant. Is something that was
common with all of the victims isalmost all of them were found bound in
some way, usually with duct tape, with significant head bludgeoning, usually the
(08:35):
instrument in question being identified as ahammer. None of them were found with
any evidence of sexual assault, andusually their clothing was found to be torn
or missing. I wonder what hismotive was, because if it wasn't robbery
and it wasn't like sexually charged,that I don't know and what's just to
do with that. What's strange tome is throughout the trial and throughout my
(08:58):
research, which in this case notto spoil anything, but that's never really
revealed. It's truly just never reallyrevealed why he decided to start doing this
someday. Maybe it was just likea power trip for him because he was
so big, he knew he couldlike ever power women. That's what I'm
wondering, That's what I'm wondering isis maybe it felt like he was it
(09:20):
was like something that he had controlover, and I guess maybe that was
his motive maybe. And you know, we know that there was always kind
of that violence bring out of thesurface, because even if there was nothing
formally documented in his childhood that wasabnormal. No one just wakes up one
day and is like, I'm goingto beat my wife so severely that I
(09:41):
break her bones. You know,something something has to happen before that.
That doesn't just come out of theblue. But the trial was weird,
which which I will get into sofollowing the second discovery, law enforcement had
determined that the two women were thework of the same serial killer and formed
(10:03):
a task force of sixty people totry and catch him. And on August
twenty second, nineteen eighty eight,a woman named Margaret Margaret Lynne Finner disappeared
and was found three months later nearthe Chesapeake, Delaware Canal. Her remains
were badly decomposed, but still showedsigns of similar torture to the two other
women. Her body was able tobe identified via dental records. Witnesses had
(10:26):
reported Finner being seen getting into ablue Ford with a white male the day
she went missing, so this oneat least there were some witnesses to her
abduction, and on September sixteenth,nineteen eighty eight, a woman named Michelle
Gordon was also seen entering a blueFord with a white male. Her body
was discovered on the twentieth of thatsame month near the same canal that Finner
(10:48):
would later be discovered. Gordon's autopsyshowed signs of being poisoned to death with
cocaine, likely by pinell as.Her injuries sustained were determined to be postmartem.
Post mortem on Attolite, and onSeptember twenty third, nineteen eighty eight,
a woman named Kathleen Meyer disappeared afterbeing seen getting into again a blue
Ford, which was later determined tobelong to Panel, but her body,
(11:11):
unfortunately to this day, has neverbeen found. He was brought to justice
relatively shortly so. In September fourteenth, nineteen eighty eight, an undercover cop,
My goodness, I am reading liketoo many words ahead today. I'm
so sorry. On September fourteenth,nineteen eighty eight, an undercover cop named
(11:31):
Renee Tashner, who was posing asa sex worker along Route forty, noticed
a blue Ford that passed by herseven times in twenty minutes. She continued
onto a more isolated section of road, hoping Panel would follow her, and
he did so. He did openthe door to try and convince Tashner to
get in his vehicle, and whenhe did that, Tashner noticed the interior
(11:52):
of the ford had blue carpet likethe ones found on tomorrow. Now.
I know this was the eighties,but I feel like blue blue carpet in
a car is not very common.No, that has to be like a
specialty car thing. Yeah, likeblue upholstery is like I've seen gray,
I've seen Champagne, I've seen black. I don't think I've ever seen blue
(12:13):
even like navy now, I don'tthink I have. Yeah. Panell did
try to nervously convince Tashner to getinto his vehicle, and Tashner had managed
to convince Panel that she was tootired, but still managed to tear some
blue carpet from the ford at theedge of the door for forensic testing and
wrote down the license plate number.Police were able to obtain a warrant to
(12:35):
search Panel's vehicles and property and initiallybugged his van, where Panell did actually
find and remove the bug, butat that point the police had plenty of
evidence to secure a warrant and onhis property. In his van, they
found evidence of hair, blood,and prints that all matched the victims,
and this was also a oh I'msorry. There was also discovered what was
(13:03):
described as a torture kit in thisvehicle, which contained duct tape, restraints,
knives, pliers, handcuffs, andneedles. Oh the needles are just
yeah, yeah, So he was. I mean, it's very clear that
he was not just murdering these women. I mean, he was torturing them
to death. That made me thinkof have you heard of the toy box
(13:26):
Killer? I think so? Ithink so. Didn't we cover that in
a much earlier episode. I'm notcovering that one oh one is like he
had like severe toys quote unquote,and like he would tie you up and
then have this record playing of likethis recording that he made of like what's
going to happen to you? Ohthat's horrific. I have heard of the
(13:48):
toy box Killer. I don't know. I don't know if like I know
the full details about the case,but the name sounds extremely familiar. I
wonder for something that maybe I talkedabout in a forensic class in college.
Maybe it's a pretty like well knowncase. So something interesting is when Panell
(14:11):
was arrested, he allegedly said,quote well, I guess it's time unquote
to the arresting officers, like hejust knew he was eventually gonna get caught
and was like, oh yeah,might as well be now. Just baffling
this is it's just a very bafflingcase. So nonchalant about the whole thing.
Yeah, like, oh yeah,I guess it's time. Yep.
(14:33):
So Panell was arrested November twenty ninth, nineteen eighty eight. Interesting thing about
when he was arrested. I wastalking about this case with a coworker of
mine and I was talking with uh, actually, I was talking about two
coworkers of mine about I'm like,yeah, this is the case I was
covering. Because a bunch of mycoworkers follow the podcast, and you know,
(14:54):
they last met about it. We'lltalk about it, and I'm like
yeah. I was like, I'mactually covering a case that someone suggested about
a zero killer, you know,basin Delaware. And my other coworker walks
by. He's like, oh,are you talking about panel? And I
was like, yeah, how youknow? I mean, how'd you know?
Maybe assuming they just knew it wasDelaware's only serial killer. He was
like, yeah, I was therethe day he got arrested. So I
(15:16):
work with someone who was on ajob site with Panell when he worked in
construction, and I guess what hesaid is he said Panell just gave him
the creeps, like he just methim that day. He's like, that
guy just gives me the creeps.He's like, I don't like him.
I don't get good vibes. Likehe's like, he hasn't done anything,
(15:37):
but he is making me really uneasy. And I guess he must have joked
with like his supervisor at the time. He's like, I wonder if you
know he's got any connection with thegirls that have been going missing. And
I guess they sort of looked athis plates told my coworker like lay low,
and we're kind of like, yeah, just stay away from him.
He's creepy. And then eventually theyrevealed to him that they were like the
(16:00):
police are en route, like theyare coming to arrest him, and he
said, like five cop cars showedup and took him into custody. That's
crazy. So I just happened toknow someone personally who met this guy right
before he got arrested and was like, he just scared the you know what
enemies like he gave me such thecreeps, And when I told my supervisor
about it, I'm like, hey, that guy just makes me really uneasy.
(16:21):
They kind of looked into it alittle bit and we're like, hmm,
that's a license plate that's wanted,and they like it's all it's all
clicking yep. And they basically theynotified the proper authorities and had him taken
in. So I don't know ifhe just happened to be right place,
right time, or if him actuallysaying something to his supervisor spurred them to
contact law enforcement, or if theywere already in pursuit. Yeah. So,
(16:45):
but yeah, that's that's kind ofa very wild degree of separation that
I found out yesterday that I havefrom this case. Yeah, that's I
how rare is it to like knowsomebody that like met I guess I kind
of met the serial killer? Yeahyeah, yeah, I mean he did,
he did meet him, he did, I guess. I guess he
(17:07):
spoke with him at the work siteand just just said he just added awful
vibes. I mean, now weknow why. So let me see here.
So during the trial, Panel's defensetried to claim that the carpet fibers
were illegally obtained from Panel's vehicle,making the evidence moot. The claim was
(17:30):
dismissed by Judge gebeline By stating thecarpet was immediately visible once Penell's door was
opened and therefore was fair game.The persecution had overwhelming DNA evidence against Penell
as well, and this was thefirst trial in the us to utilize DNA
evidence as absolute legal evidence, anda team of experts and scientists were also
(17:53):
present for the trial to verify theaccuracy and validity of the DNA results.
So this is kind of a majorpresident because DNA as the structure and function
was only discovered in the fifties,So being able to you to be used
as effectively damning forensic evidence in theeighties was like kind of a pretty big
deal at the time, and nowit's standard. DNA evidence is very very
(18:15):
standard in forensics now. On Novembertwenty third, nineteen eighty nine, Panell
was initially charged guilty of the murdersof Tomorrow and Ellis, but acquitted of
Gordon's murder due to lack of evidence. He was given two life sentences.
Panel's lawyer had attempted to appeal thecourt about the carpet fibers being obtained illegally,
but was unsuccessful and Penell dismissed hislawyer and elected to represent himself after
(18:38):
this. After dismissing his lawyer,Penell had pleaded to receive the death penalty,
quoting verses from the Bible regarding thepunishment he should receive, but he
fired his lawyer and requested the deathpenalty. Yeah, that doesn't make any
(19:02):
sense. Yes, again, everythingabout this case motive wise is very very
very confusing to me. That isconfusing. Like wow, Like as a
criminal, what you want like thelesser sentence instead of like, oh,
you know, it just killed me, you would think me whatever. So,
in nineteen ninety one, due tonewer evidence, he was convicted of
(19:26):
both the murders of Gordon and Meyer, to which he pleaded no contest,
But he did refuse to reveal thelocation of Meyer's body, which is why
to this day it's still not beenfound. Panell was formally put to death
by lethal injection on March fourteenth,nineteen ninety two. Wow, and that
that's what we wanted. So yeah, and that is what I have for
(19:48):
you on Stephen Panell, Delaware's onlyserial killer and someone I have one degree
of separation from that twisted that's aweird, twisted one. Yeah, yeah,
yeah, So this one had,Like I said, I was really
(20:08):
hoping for a little bit more oflike some early life stuff to kind of
help explain his propensity to violence,and I just I found so little.
This was definitely a weird one.I'm looking on Kindle. No, if
there's no books on him that Ican find. I almost feel like for
(20:29):
it being such a strange case,such strange behavior for a serial killer,
that it would be more popular.But I mean, I guess that's kind
of why we're here on this podcast, is to give you guys the stuff
you haven't already heard of before.It's why we haven't covered like Ted Bundy.
Yeah, you guys know who thatis. Yeah, Like because normally,
(20:51):
like I feel like there's like maybeone other we covered where they had
like an okay childhood, like oneor two were their child was like somewhat
normal. Yeah, then like theymaybe have had like a traumatic brain injury,
and there's like it's so controversial andif that even causes anything, yeah,
some might want to touch on that. Yeah. And there's also the
other thing too, is sometimes evenwhen they're reported to have a really normal
(21:14):
childhood, like someone can be lyinglike the you know, the neighborhood cats
could all be going missing, butthey're like not, my boy, you
know, it's just a coincidence,right. I Mean I feel like we
all know at least like one parentthat like their child can do no wrong.
And their child is like already aserial killer. Oh my gosh,
(21:37):
it makes me think of the you'veprobably hadn't heard of this, a Stupenville
rape case. Yes, yes,how his mom was like his biggest defender.
Yeah, like, oh, hecan do no wrong. He doesn't
deserve to be punished. Like,no, he does very much, does
I swear? Some I think someparents like have kids and their brain just
(22:03):
falls out, Like I don't.I don't know a better way to describe
it, because I mean I've seen, We've covered other criminal cases where the
mother defends them or is in totaldenial or even enables them. I was
reading about a case today where therewas a woman who was using a teaching
job to traffic students for her adultson. Yeah, oh my god.
(22:26):
Yeah, just I just was seeingthat on Twitter today scrolling by, and
it's that was really horrific. That'sbeyond enabling, that's just yeah promples,
Yeah exactly exactly. Yeah, you'rea more than an accessory at that point,
like you're you're a human trafficker's Yeah, that's excessive, yes, exactly,
(22:48):
But that is what I have foryou today. On Stephen Panel,
the Root forty killer if you guyshave any suggestions any more. Discussion is
the best place for it. We'vealso got our Patreon and I think we've
got some new members recently. Welcome, Welcome. It's a lot of fun
having new people on the Patreon.Please vote, Please vote for the bonus
(23:11):
episodes. Otherwise you will give mefree rein once again. And I did
weird things last time I was givenfree rein. I go to Reddit and
I find whatever speaks to me.And I feel like that was that was
strangely wicked, That was confusingly wicked. Yeah,
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