Steven Brian Pennell

Steven Brian Pennell
Booking Mugshot (1988)
Born November 22, 1957
Died (aged 34)
James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in Smyrna, Delaware
Cause of death Execution by Lethal injection
Other names The Route 40 Killer, The Corridor Killer, The Route 13 Killer
Criminal penalty Death
Details
Victims 5
Country United States
State(s) Delaware
Date apprehended
 November 29, 1988

Steven Brian Pennell (November 22, 1957 – March 14, 1992), aka The Route 40 Killer, was Delaware's only known serial killer, convicted of the murders of two New Castle County, Delaware women and suspected of killing three others.

Pennell, an electrician by trade, picked up his victims in his van along U.S. Route 40 near Bear, Delaware. The key evidence against him was the blue carpet fibers found on the first in a series of women which police and the FBI had determined to be have been killed by a single person. An undercover policewoman posing as a prostitute was approached by Pennell in his van and was able to pull some fibers from the van's carpet while "admiring" it. While the fibers were being analyzed Pennell was placed under surveillance, during which he was observed to drive late at night along U.S. Route 40. The fibers from the van were found to match those from the victim.[1]

He was arrested November 29, 1988 and convicted of killing Shirley A. Ellis, 23, in November 1987, and Catherine A. DiMauro, 32, in June 1988. He pleaded no contest to killing of Michele A. Gordon, 22, and Kathleen Anne Meyer, 26, in September 1988, on the condition that he be executed.[2] Pennell was also suspected of the August 1988 murder of Margaret Lynn Finner, 27.

Pennell was the first condemned man to argue his own case before the Delaware Supreme Court,[2] arguing to affirm his own death sentence. Without admitting guilt, he said he wanted "to spare his wife and two children the prolonged pain of his spending the rest of his life in prison."[3] He was executed March 14, 1992 by lethal injection, the first person executed in Delaware since 1946.[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Mordock, Jeff (29 October 2014). "Route 40 Killer Remains an Enigma After Being Convicted 25 Years Ago". Delaware Today. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
  2. 1 2 Kanaley, Reid (12 February 1992). "Serial Killer Pleads - For Execution: The Grisly Delaware Killings Deserve A Swift Punishment, The Killer Calmly Told The Justices". philly.com. The Inquirer.
  3. ↑ Pennell v. Delaware (Supreme Court of Delaware 18 February 1992).
  4. ↑ Thompson, William (15 March 1992). "Delaware killer gets last wish -- death". Baltimore Sun.



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