Dolores Marie Della Penna was born on December 13, 1954, in Tacony, Philadelphia, the second of two children born to Ralph and Helen (née DiMichele) Della Penna. Her father worked as a chemist, and her mother was a homemaker. The family lived in a semi-detached house in a blue-collar section of Tacony, mostly occupied by families of Polish or Italian descent.
Della Penna graduated with honors from St. Hubert Catholic High School for Girls. Her parents described her as a kind, obedient, and family-oriented girl who was studious and avoided conflicts. She had plans to attend college in September 1972, aiming to become a radiographer. Although she didn't have a car, her parents had plans to surprise her with one for her eighteenth birthday. By 1971, Della Penna's older brother, Ralph Jr., had married and moved into his own house.
Graduation
Following her graduation in June 1972, Della Penna opted not to attend her high school prom. She viewed the upcoming summer as a last chance to enjoy herself before starting work. By January 1972, she had befriended some teenagers from Kensington who occasionally experimented with drugs. By spring 1972, she was socializing with them about four times a week.
After graduation, Della Penna and three new female friends rented a bungalow on Forget-Me-Not Road in Wildwood Crest, New Jersey, for the summer, about 95 miles from her parents' home. Her parents paid for the rental as a gift for graduating with honors.
In late June, Della Penna learned her family planned to visit Walt Disney World. She insisted on joining them and they went on a 10-day vacation from July 1 to July 10.
Abduction
On the morning of July 11, 1972, Della Penna helped her mother with chores and composed songs on the organ. She later bought cigarettes and talked to friends on the phone, planning to meet Carol Nichols and Betty Nicastro that evening.
At around 8 p.m., Della Penna, Nichols, and Nicastro hitchhiked from Tacony to Kensington to visit Nichols's fiancé. They left his home around 11 p.m., with Della Penna planning to take a trolleybus home. She missed her connecting bus and had to wait about 20 minutes for the next one.
She boarded the Route 56 trolleybus at around 11:39 p.m. and got off at Knorr Street, about a mile from her home, between 11:50 and 11:55 p.m. A witness saw her being attacked and dragged into a maroon Chevrolet by a slender, brown-haired young white male. She was driven away, leaving behind her jacket, door key, a small cross, and a crucifix, all gifts from friends at her high school graduation.
Initial Investigation
Police quickly determined that Della Penna had been abducted, leading to a large-scale investigation. Eyewitnesses reported seeing her being forced into a Chevrolet by more than one person. Additionally, residents heard screams from the area where she was abducted, confirming the eyewitness account. Over 20,000 circulars describing the abduction vehicle were distributed in Philadelphia, but no leads emerged.
Investigation and Discovery
Despite leads extending to New York, no useful information was found. Over 150 individuals in Philadelphia and New Jersey, particularly in the Jersey Shore district, were questioned. Some individuals involved in drug activities failed polygraph tests, suggesting a possible conspiracy of silence, but no evidence linked Della Penna to drugs.
Della Penna's torso and arms were found in a wooded area near Oakwood Avenue in Jackson Township, New Jersey, on July 22, 1972, with her legs discovered seven days later in Manchester Township. Her body was identified through X-ray records. The autopsy couldn't determine the cause of death or if she had been sexually assaulted. The precision of the dismemberment suggested the perpetrator had anatomical knowledge. Her fingertips were severed to prevent identification, and her head was never found.
Funeral and Further Investigations
Della Penna was laid to rest on August 4, 1972, following a Roman Catholic Mass. The case generated significant public interest, leading to an intense manhunt by the Philadelphia Police Department, New Jersey State Police, and FBI. Over 1,500 individuals were questioned, and inquiries expanded nationwide and even to Scotland. Despite the efforts, the case gradually turned cold, remaining open with periodic reviews over the following decades.
On what would have been her eighteenth birthday, the Philadelphia Daily News increased the reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of her murderer(s) to $10,000, generating several tips but no arrests. Despite the case becoming a cold case, it remained open for further investigation.
Later Developments
In June 1990, a 34-year-old prison inmate testified before a grand jury about witnessing events leading to Della Penna's murder. He claimed to have seen her tied to a car seat with tears and blood streaming down her face, falsely accused of stealing drugs by her roommates in Wildwood Crest. The motive for her murder was revenge, and the inmate witnessed her being beaten before leaving the scene. He had not come forward earlier out of fear for his safety but decided to speak up while in prison.
Investigators spent two years scrutinizing the inmate's claims and later interviewed others who corroborated his account. One confession came from a former national officer of the Pagan's Motorcycle Club, who had loaned the vehicle used in Della Penna's abduction to a fellow gang member. These accounts confirmed Della Penna's innocence of the drug theft.
Suspects' Identification
By 1994, investigators had identified the murderers and understood the events surrounding Della Penna's abduction and murder. However, they lacked sufficient evidence to charge the five known suspects still alive. District Attorney Lynne Abraham believed a successful prosecution based on inmates' testimony was unlikely.
Truthful Events and Circumstances
Three months before the 1996 announcement, two homicide detectives visited Della Penna's parents to relay the full details of their daughter's abduction and murder:
Roommates' Drug Theft and Scapegoating
Two of Della Penna's roommates had stolen drugs from a local dealer in June 1972. They blamed Della Penna for the theft upon her return from vacation, leading the dealers to plan her kidnapping for ransom. The roommates, their boyfriends, and others involved denied any involvement or tried to appease the dealers. Della Penna was unaware of the theft or initial confrontations but became the scapegoat upon her return.
Misdirected Retribution
At least nine individuals were involved in the abduction and murder. The abduction took place near Della Penna's home just before midnight, with two perpetrators pretending to fix their car to deceive her. She was grabbed, beaten, gagged, and threatened before being taken to a garage in Kensington. There, she was bound to a car seat, informed of the false accusation, and threatened with death if she did not comply with their demands.
Della Penna endured hours of mental and physical torture, including beatings that left her unconscious. Despite her pleas of innocence regarding the drug theft, she was murdered on July 12, her body beheaded in the garage.
Body Disposal
After her death, her body was taken to the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge, where her torso was mutilated further, and her arms and legs were severed. Her head was wrapped in a car seat cover, bound with wire, and thrown into a lake near Franklin Mills Mall.
Aftermath
In 1973, the Eugene Alessandroni lodge of the Order Sons of Italy in America established an annual scholarship in Della Penna's memory. Her parents relocated in 1976, recreating her bedroom in their new home. They observed Mass on the anniversary of her murder and her birthday, continuing this tradition until their deaths in 2004 and 2015.
No one was ever charged with Della Penna's murder, and by the twenty-fifth anniversary of her death, several suspects had died.
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