DE DE - Kathleen Meyer, 26, New Castle, 16 Oct 1988

The Doe Network:
Case File 2909DFDE

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/2909dfde.html

Kathleen Anne Meyer
Missing since October 16, 1988 from New Castle, New Castle County, Delaware
Classification: Endangered Missing



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Vital Statistics

Date of Birth: March 24, 1962
Age at Time of Disappearance: 26 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'3-5'4"; 115-120 lbs.
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown hair; green eyes.
Clothing: White top 3/4 length sleeves, blue jeans. No shoes. Silver necklace and bracelet. A black purse.
Dentals: Available


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Circumstances of Disappearance
Kathleen Meyer was last seen on October 16, 1988 in an area where two other females were reported missing and later found murdered. She left her home in Brookmont Farms off Route 40, on foot, at about 21:30.
Because a missing person, Margaret Finner, was last seen entering a blue van, the police were on the look-out for such a vehicle. That evening, by chance, an off-duty police officer saw a young woman hitchhiker matching Meyer's description enter a blue van on Route 40 near the entrance to Brookmont Farms. The officer made a note of the blue van's license number. It was later determined that the registered owner of the van was Steven Pennell.

Serial killer Steven Brian Pennell was captured 10 days after Kathleen disappeared. Even though Kathleen’s body was never found, Pennell pled guilty to her murder and was subsequently executed for her killing and several others.



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Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

New Castle County Police Department
302-395-8112

Agency Case Number: 32-88-68846

NCIC Number: M-320690215
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:
Namus

https://www.findthemissing.org/cases/5755/573
NamUs Profile:
Dental: Charting available and entered
DNA: NA
Fingerprints: NA

A detective is working her case file, his POC info is listed on Namus under Police Information.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/m/meyer_kathleen.html

All archived articles are pay per view.

Kathleen has been missing 22 years. Come home soon.

Can't find any new information out there in the online world but I did find an article with pictures of Kathleen so I will post that here in hopes that someone can help find her.

Kathleen Anne Meyers - Delaware Missing Person Directory

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
NamUs #MP5755
Kathleen Anne Meyers
Circumstances of Disappearance - Kathleen Meyer was last seen on October 16, 1988 in an area where two other females were reported missing and later found murdered. Serial killer Steven Brian Pennell was captured 10 days after Kathleen disappeared. Even though Kathleen's body was never found, Pennell plead guilty to her murder and was subsequently executed for her killing and several other murders.

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Meyer, circa 1988

• Missing Since 09/10/1988
• Missing From New Castle, Delaware
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Date of Birth 03/24/1962 (61)
• Age 26 years old
• Height and Weight 5'3 - 5'6, 115 - 130 pounds
• 
  
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A white top with three-quarter length sleeves, blue jeans, a silver necklace and bracelet, and no socks or shoes. Carrying a black purse.
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• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, green eyes. Some agencies give Meyer's last name as "Meyers."

Details of Disappearance​

Meyer was last seen walking westbound on Route 40 in the area of the A-OK campground in New Castle, Delaware at 11:00 p.m. on September 10, 1988. She has never been heard from again. She lived in the 30 block of west Plover Drive in the Brookmont Farms area of Newark, Delaware at the time of her disappearance.

The serial killer Steven Brian Pennell, known as the Corridor Killer or the I-40 Killer, was already in prison for life after pleading guilty to the murders of two women when he was charged in Meyer's case and in the death of a third woman whose body was found ten days after Meyer's disappearance.

Pennell pleaded no contest to two counts of murder in October 1991 and was sentenced to death. He is also the prime suspect in a fifth woman's homicide, but when that victim's body was found it was too decomposed to yield any evidence.

All of the women were in their early- to mid-twenties and died between November 1987 and Pennell's arrest in November 1988. Authorities stated he would lure women into his van, bind them with tape, torture them and beat them to death. Their bodies were dumped near the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.

Pennell maintained his innocence, but when his death sentence was automatically reviewed before the Delaware Supreme Court as mandated by law, he acted as his own attorney and argued that he should be put to death. He stated he didn't want to spend a prolonged period in prison.

He refused further appeals and was executed by lethal injection in March 1992. His execution had been the first in Delaware since 1946.

Meyer's body has never been found.

Investigating Agency​

• New Castle County Police Department 302-395-8112

Source Information​

• NamUs
• The New York Times
• The Philadelphia Inquirer

Updated 2 times since October 12, 2004. Last updated April 15, 2012; four pictures added.

Identifiers​

Dentals: Available
Fingerprints: Available
DNA: Available
<<Because a missing person, Margaret Finner, was last seen entering a blue van, the police were on the look-out for such a vehicle. That evening, by chance, an off-duty police officer saw a young woman hitchhiker matching Meyer's description enter a blue van on Route 40 near the entrance to Brookmont Farms. The officer made a note of the blue van's license number. It was later determined that the registered owner of the van was Steven Pennell.

Serial killer Steven Brian Pennell was captured 10 days after Kathleen disappeared. Even though Kathleen?s body was never found, Pennell plead guilty to her murder and was subsequently executed for her killing and several others.>>


Dec 16, 2020